How I (finally) landed my first UX role
I’ve been getting a number of questions lately about entering the field of UX design.
What made you decide to pursue UX? Did you take any classes? Are you glad you made the career change?
With a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a minor in marketing, I broke into the working world several years ago at a non-profit in DC. I was one of a team of two marketers. While I was enjoying the work, I couldn’t help but wonder what other directions I might want to follow. That’s when I discovered UX.
UX design is a funny field. For better or for worse, there’s no clear pathway to land your first job. I’ve met people who began their careers as graphic designers, developers, teachers, and even therapists. As I started to read more online, I realized that my psychology and marketing background was yet another interesting combination for a career in UX Design.
In the early stages, I started by reading as much as I could. I found blogs, videos, and books that gave me an introduction to everything UX. After several months of this, I realized this was a serious passion and I decided to sign up for General Assembly’s part-time UX Design class.
While doing my own research was a great first step, General Assembly gave me the formalized training I was craving and allowed me to work through an entire project start to end. I developed a hypothesis, analyzed competitors, created a prototype, completed usability testing, and presented my project to the class with ideas of how to further iterate my product.
However, upon completing General Assembly, I found the UX field difficult to crack. Many companies were looking for “unicorns” — someone who’s a researcher, graphic designer, and everything in-between. I was more interested in the research side and didn’t have the design skills they were looking for.
Many companies were also looking for real world experience. Frustrated but not willing to give up, I decided to apply for marketing jobs at larger companies that might provide opportunities to switch to an internal UX team. After successfully changing marketing jobs, I continued to read blogs, watch LinkedIn learning videos, and attend local meetups. The in-person meetups were a great way to continue meeting UXers and to keep learning. I was also able to work on some UX projects at work after my manager discovered my interest.
After some time, I decided to invest in another in-person experience. I attended the Nielsen Norman conference and became certified in UX Research. This involved 5 days of 8-hour sessions on different research topics followed by an exam each day. I loved going to this and would highly recommend it. You can attend as many days as you would like, although you have to attend 5 days to become certified. I networked with a huge amount of people, one of whom connected me with her company who was hiring UX Researchers. Lo and behold, I wound up getting the job and finally broke into the UX field!
The road was a bit bumpy along the way and the direction didn’t always feel clear, but I never lost sight of pursuing UX. From the time that I first discovered UX design and started researching on my own to landing my first role, I spent nearly 2.5 years dedicated to learning as much as I could. I’m very glad I made the career change and am excited to continue growing in my career!
I’ve included a list of resources below with examples that I’ve found incredibly valuable. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments!
Helpful Blogs, Groups, Books, and More!
LinkedIn Groups: These groups provide you with an immediate UX community. The below are some relatively active groups I am in. I get lots of emails with new discussions and articles that are being posted by members.
Meetups: I’ve provided some DC groups I joined while living in the area, but you can find local groups on Meetup whatever your location may be. Meetups can range from large setting presentations to hands on design sessions.
Email Subscriptions: I subscribe to a number of UX emails that are sent to my inbox daily or weekly. I usually browse them and pick a few articles to read.
Books: There are a TON of books to read. Here are a few I’ve enjoyed.
- Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley
- Hooked by Nir Eyal
- The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
Blogs: There are endless resources and blogs online. I find that reading posts can be a good mental break and a way to stay on top of this changing field.
