5 Things I learned from Out of Office Hours — March 2018
It was around August or September in 2017 when I first heard of and signed up for Out of Office Hours. I can’t even recall who told me about it, but I remember turning to Google for answers (like most of us do when we encounter burning life questions and/or can’t remember the name of that actor who looks familiar on that Netflix show we’re watching).
What I found was the implementation of a very simple, but beautiful idea: What happens when you facilitate dialogue between people who are just starting out in tech, and those who have been down that same road before with valuable advice to share? 💪🏽
Out of Office Hours was started by Dustin Senos in 2016 (read the full story here), and has grown into a wonderfully diverse community of tech professionals empowering one another to succeed.
I was chosen to participate for March 2018, and excitedly picked 4 mentors to speak with. I chose these 4 individuals very deliberately, based on the questions I have at this point in my career, and what specific pieces I felt they were in a unique position to advise on.
I asked each of these mentors questions about their backgrounds, career trajectory, and what advice they would give to a young designer who is motivated to ‘get their ball rolling,’ so to speak. They were all so fun to speak with, so generous with their time, and gave great advice.
Here are the key nuggets of wisdom I took away from these conversations:
1. Be the bridge between designers and developers. Encourage an open line of communication between disciplines, to bypass bureaucratic processes.
The first mentor I spoke with was Holly Marie Gibbs, who is currently a Product Designer at Survey Monkey. I was really excited to speak with Holly because she’s done so much throughout her career, and really utilized and developed a wide range of skills — perfect for me to speak with, as I’m debating the pros and cons of being a design generalist versus specializing in one area.
Holly really champions the idea of designers and developers working closely together. Specific examples of how she’s practiced this in her own career include:
- Making the effort to get input from and bounce ideas off developers regularly.
Doing this in-person is particularly helpful, so both can communicate their concerns in an honest, efficient way; it also prevents design decisions being drawn-out when they could just be resolved with a simple conversation.
- Organizing talks for developers about Design Thinking
She found that most developers are actually very interested in learning about the process behind design and design thinking, and were more empathetic with design decisions made when they understood how it related to users’ experience.
- Learned some front-end development so she could speak the ‘same language’ as developers
At the end of the day, designers and developers are working towards the same goal: making an amazing product that people will use and love. Communicating and understanding one another’s work flow can only improve the overall process.
2. Don’t be afraid to get creative in your research process.
The next mentor I spoke with was Amber Greene. Amber is a UX Researcher at Flatiron Health, and has worked as a UX Researcher for companies like Weight Watchers and Google. I was excited to speak with Amber because I’ve been curious about specializing in UX Research, given my background in Psychology and interest in making sense of user data.
The way Amber made her way into the UX Research field was by first working as an Insights Analyst at Google, then transitioning to a UX Researcher role afterwards. She explained that Insights Analysts are more focused on getting end of lifecycle feedback from consumers (for launched products), and don’t necessarily use their data to inform iterations of a product. The feedback they work with often comes from the ‘loudest’ customers, and often determines what information should be included in their help centre.
UX Researchers, on the other hand, are part of the product team and target a more diverse set of users to get feedback from. They use that data to continually improve the product.
Amber really encouraged using creativity in coming up with effective research methods. Although ‘research’ sounds really dry and academic, it can definitely be fun especially once you realize that you don’t have to limit yourself to what ‘others have done’ or ‘how it should be done.’ Obviously there are best practices for keeping your research unbiased, but finding out about user behaviours and motivations can take many forms.
3. Be open to different opportunities, but make sure they are adding something to your experience and skillset.
The next mentor I spoke with was Margaret Gray, who is currently a Research Lead at MetaLab. Again, I was pretty thrilled to be getting perspective from a successful User Researcher, but an added bonus is that Margaret is from Vancouver, BC too. It was great to speak with someone who is part of my local tech scene and could give more location-specific advice (*I actually ended up meeting her in person soon after, at a Meetup hosted by MetaLab!)
Margaret said that she fell into tech by accident. She was working in sales for a Startup called Bench, and kept taking on different tasks that allowed her to learn skillsets beyond her role. She moved up pretty quickly, and soon discovered a love and talent for research (and spreadsheets).
When I asked her what tips she would relay to young designers, she said: “Confidence is key.” The way she got to where she is right now was by seizing the opportunities that came her way, and being confident enough to do so even when she wasn’t 100% sure on how to deliver. I really love how she framed it; that even if she didn’t know how to do a specific task, when given the opportunity she just assumed she could learn how to do it.
She did say to be strategic though. Seize opportunity, but be strategic in knowing how specific opportunities are contributing to your skillset. Don’t take on more work just for the sake of it.
4. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people for help and advice.
The last mentor I spoke with was Mindaugas Petrulis. Mindaugas is not a designer (although based on his Twitter bio it seems like he gets mistaken for one a lot), he’s a design recruiter with a passion for helping designers connect with the right opportunities. I was really excited to speak with Mindaugas as he has a unique perspective — he’s a recruiter with a lot more insight on what designers actually do. I wanted to hear about his personal experiences working with and recruiting designers, and find out what he thinks junior designers need to do to stand out.
Mindaugas was so fun to chat with, we ended up talking for more than an hour (which I don’t promote since these mentors are all busy professionals, but he said it was fine so I accepted the extra time generously given). I told him about some of the difficulty I’ve had in applying for jobs (The whole ‘send’-and-never-hear-back-from-them scenario that I’m sure everyone can relate to). Although I’ve heard many times before that networking is really the way to go in terms of job hunting, I didn’t make the connection that it could go beyond meeting people randomly at a networking event.
Whether it’s in job hunting or just wanting to learn more about a specific topic, Mindaugas encouraged me to reach out to people, because most people are so willing to help. A part of me will always be hesitant to ask others for help, because I feel bad when I feel that I don’t have anything to give in return. But people are so generous beyond what we even imagine (I mean, isn’t that how Out of Office Hours even exists today?). So we ended up discussing strategies on how to make these asks, and how not to be obnoxious with it (because there is such a thing as going too far).
One tip that stuck out was reaching out by email. Although LinkedIn has tended to be my choice of communication tool, Mindaugas said that a short, personalized email with: a.) an eye catching subject line, and b.) a straightforward #ask / #offer is more likely to be read and responded to (Any thoughts on that, everyone? What have your experiences been?). Premium tip: it’s even better if you do some research on their interests / something they’ve written or created, and incorporate that into the conversation.
I’m definitely going to keep this tip in mind. I’ve done a lot of informational interviews this year, but haven’t reached out beyond my existing network; I think connecting with others outside my immediate network will not only help me get to know more people in my local tech community, but will also help me build my confidence further.
My final takeaway from all this:
5. Embrace your unique story, and realize that everything you’ve done makes a difference in the path you’re taking.
What I loved most about this experience was learning about these mentors’ backgrounds, and how they all ended up doing what they love by embracing opportunity and leveraging their strengths. I used to feel insecure about not having a clear path and feeling like I was ‘behind’ everyone else who had figured out what they wanted to do. But I’m getting closer to the path I want to be on, and I’m realizing that I need to embrace the uncertainty that comes with exploration. I’m looking forward to what the future holds for me, and how my unique background (Psychology student → Government Employee → Crisis line worker → UX Designer) will help me stand out from the crowd 🙌🏽.
That’s it for now! Thank you to all the mentors from Out of Office Hours for being so generous with your time and advice. Hoping to be in your position one day, helping out a junior 😉
I also ended up getting picked to meet with more mentors this month, so maybe I’ll make another post for that at the end of April 😍. In light of that: what would you want to ask mentors if you had the chance? Let me know in the comments below.
