I quit my dream job !!?
It’s been a while! I wanted to post an update on where I’ve been, what I’ve learned, and where I’m going :)
Since April 2023, I’ve been working as a UX consultant. That was an incredible opportunity to say the least. I started doing client-work day 3 which was a whirlwind and a decent amount of pressure but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I was lucky enough to learn how to run workshops, facilitate ideation sessions, and conduct design reviews with stakeholders. Admittedly, I did a lot of things funky at first. (I say funky, but truly, it was just straight up wrong haha). Let’s call them learning lessons and let’s document them here for fun (I like to keep myself humble):
Frames. Never groups. My goodness. (Figma) Learned: April 2023
Always document design decisions and approvals. Learned: May 2023
You don’t have to make your own icons. (???) Context: When I first started learning Figma, I legit thought you had to make icons from scratch. I was like, “How is everyone designing apps so quickly?!” LOL. Learned: March 2023
Grateful for plug-ins. I like Material icons or Iconify.
Not being scrappy enough. You aren’t always given the perfect UX research situation. But, you still have to back up your decision making. Here are some scrappy things I did to gain design street cred:
Scouring reddit and facebook groups for app benefits and pain points from similar user type.
Gaining sentiments from people in the community that matched the consumer type.
Making early decisions based on heuristics.
Asking “Is this a common problem and has it already been solved?” and then seeking out the research.
Deciding what to “go to bat” for. I think it’s hard to find the right balance between advocating for users and managing timeline/budget/technical constraints. We rarely ever have unlimited time and budget. But, what can I say? I’m a dreamer. Learned: ongoing
If your IA sucks, your UX sucks. Learned: October 2023
Feedback. Early and often. (not from just anybody) Learned: April 2024
If you don’t know the solution, you don’t understand the problem well enough. If you know the problem, you know the solution. Learned: January 2024
Rapport.
And lastly, create your portfolio case studies as you’re working, or right after the project ends. It’s not fun to search for mockups/presentations or find out some of your designs have been deleted.
So that’s what I’ve been up to.
From August 2023 - May 2024, I was in my first year of my masters program. Do I recommend going to school full time and working full time? In short, no. In long, still no. Haha. It was incredibly difficult. I think I was lucky in that most of my first year was concept-based, so I could rely on my rizz and ability to sell an idea (“don’t pay close attention to my lack of technical skill, just focus on the story :)” ). But going into my second (and final) year of school, I realized that if I continued doing what I was doing, I would finish my masters but have a hollow, shallow, nearly nonexistent technical skillset. And this just didn’t align with my values. I care so much about being present and figuring out how to equip myself with the skills to help those around me. Therefore, I resigned from my UX consultant position, and as of September 2024, I am merely a student.
So where am I going from here? I plan to fully immerse myself in all things school. I’m excited to learn Touchdesigner, Unreal Engine, and Pixera this semester. I also plan on volunteering in the community and starting my own garden. In addition to that, I am reading more and working out so I can hopefully start playing soccer again! And lastly, I’m ideating for my applied project - I want to do something either soccer related or youth development related so I’ll be writing about that in the near future.
I’ve said this before but I’d like to document it here too. I’m not sure exactly why I’m here (in this masters program). I think I’m a little crazy for giving up my dream job. I miss the people I worked with. I miss the work. Designing in figma definitely puts me in a flow state. I think everything will be clearer in retrospect, but for the time being, I am learning to be present and just be grateful for where my feet are. :)
