My first year at Qubole as a UX designer — getting comfortable with discomfort
I recently completed my first year with Qubole.. a ride mixed with good and bad days!
I was assigned to work on the Data Engineer vertical to design a real-time data streaming application from scratch and also helped in designing some of the workflows for Data Science.
Both projects have generated quite a bit of interest within our user base. So every member involved (engineering, product, marketing & the design team) is extremely proud of what we’ve done in the last year, and excited for the items lined up for the future.
However, when I joined the company, none of these concepts were familiar to me. In this post, I’d like to share my experience of how I managed to cope with the situation, and what it taught me in the process.
Stepping out of the soft cushion
I started my design career with an E-commerce company, and I was comfortable with the way things were going — the different challenges/learnings that came with each project, the kind of support I received from my peers, the pace at which we were moving as a team; over a period of time, everything started getting too predictable.
During the 4.5years I spent there, I had actively contributed to different aspects of the business (from designing consumer applications to internal tools), which kind of narrowed down my perspectives. By reflecting on my past work and reading about other designers, I realized that I had set my own limitations.
Even after the realization, the decision to move out from this comfort zone didn’t happen soon. There was a feeling of insecurity lurking in my mind.
But what’s the point of being a designer if you’re not curious enough to want to understand a new market area, take risks and try new things? And so I decided to make a move and joined Qubole — a cloud-native big data platform..… uh-eh?
The daunting transition
The initial months at Qubole seemed like I had landed myself on a planet that functioned differently and spoke in a different language — days replete with big data jargons!
Every member I met was seasoned in the big data world and had expert level knowledge in their respective fields. I didn’t even stand close, and I knew that wouldn’t change for a very long time. I was fine with it as it was exactly what I was looking for!
Why understanding your goals and the team’s vision is important
Being the most inexperienced team member in an unfamiliar product area can be intimidating.
There will be days where you’ll fail and may feel taking an unfamiliar path was a mistake. Here’s a list of things to look out for during such scenarios:
- Know what’s expected out of you
Knowing the answer helps you gauge where you stand in the team, and understand how much and at what pace you’re expected to contribute.
It is extremely crucial to set this up with your team to remove unrealistic assumptions.
- Make time to settle in the new role
Kicking off any design work with no or only surface level understanding can come back hard at you!
Yes, it is easier to jump into designing directly as it is something tangible that you can see. But when you are in the research phase, it is important to also create tangible outcomes (like presentations, reports etc). I worked on doing a Heuristic Evaluation of the product which helped me kick-off discussions around different elements and their uses, flows, what can be done to improve them etc, to get the understanding needed during this early phase.
Simply resist the urge to start designing too early!
- Does the team understand your limitations with the product, and is willing to help you overcome it?
Every insecure feeling you may have as a designer looking for a fresh start probably will boil down to this — being ‘accepted’ in the new field.
What can you do you make yourself accepted? Active listening and not afraid to ask questions, if something is not clear. It's important that others understand that you are here to learn, contribute, have the right mindset to make the project successful.
This is a 2-way street. You need to prove you can add enough value. That happens if you are engaged and more importantly empathize with the team members and where they are coming from.
Also important are the values you set for yourself as an individual and the exposure you need to get as a designer. And if this challenges your current ways, it is all fine.
If things still don’t work out, there’s always a lesson to take from such experiences. The feeling of insecurity shouldn’t hold you back from trying new things. The only way to find out is by taking the risk 😉
Finally, getting productive will give comfort
By the time actual work started to line up in my vertical, as mentioned above, I had already done some initial prep while settling into the new role.
There isn’t really a set formula for the research phase. But by starting somewhere just to get your feet wet, you can gain enough confidence to push the start button.
Once the team was able to step up from general discussions to developing flows, coming up with design proposals and evaluating them with different users, I realized all the discomfort I faced was helping me expand my comfort boundaries. (I’ll cover the details of the work in a later post)
Ending thoughts
Getting to work in an unfamiliar space can shake your confidence as a designer, but if you stay focused on your goals and be resilient, it’ll only be a small price to pay.
I can’t end this post without thanking my design team, PMs and other people I work with who have taught me most of what I know in this space today! Read more about Qubole Design Team here.
How many of you (even non-designers) have explored a new space, especially enterprise UX, and started over? Was the transition worth it? Please share your experience in the comment section below.
