Spilling the Beans: My First Month

How’d I end up here?
Career pivots are exciting and scary, with a bold emphasis on the scary. And what better time to shake up my professional life than during a global pandemic! The world was already turned upside down and thus was my oyster.

One intense UX bootcamp (CareerFoundry comes with my full endorsement!) and frantic period of job hunting later, StudentBeans comes along and offers me the dream. I get to put all my new and old skills to good use and work on a valuable product with a fun brand. This isn’t just a career shift, it’s a chance to make a real impact through my work.

Reframing everything
Starting this new chapter of my design career has been a bit of a rollercoaster. My mind is hyper-visual and I have had to do a bit of brain rewiring to dive deeper than how design communicates, into applying design principles into making things work beautifully.

Do I always know what I’m doing? No, I’ve got a ways to go before this process becomes as intuitive to me as visual or branding design does, but I am hungry to learn and try everything I can. Being curious and asking questions has been my key to survival so far.

Oh, that and joining the Pets Slack channel.

Looking ahead
These first weeks with StudentBeans have introduced me to their culture that gives you the space to grow and develop, and discover your own voice through your work. My colleagues have given me a warm and supportive welcome, and I can now step out of the ‘omg what have I done’ stage of a new career, into the ‘I can’t wait to do great things’ stage.

Here’s to a journey filled with creativity, innovation, and growth. 🚀 ✨