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Career transition to UX design in 11 months: my story and 7 pieces of advice
There are as many stories about a career transition as many people have succeeded to do it. Every one of us is unique thus every path is different because of our skills, experiences and charisma. This is my story.
“And I knew exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do.”
Michael Scott, The Office
As for many others, the year 2020 was the earthquake for my system. I lost my beloved job in the travel industry which was my pride, identity and lifestyle. Ego death hurts like hell. I pushed myself, sometimes too much, to find a new purpose, passion and goal.
I dived deep into self-discovery and tried to find a new career that would align with my strengths, experiences and sources of joy. The CareerExplorer suggested UX design. I’ve never heard of such a profession before and in my mind, I dismissed the idea immediately. Designers are smart, creative and knowledgeable in IT, I couldn’t imagine being one of them. Months passed and I did a couple of courses for different professions (project management, logistics, supply chain manager) but the idea of UX design kept haunting me. I took short UX design courses to see how it feels. It felt good but the little buddy in my head was still there telling me that I am not good enough for it. So I waited till I couldn’t resist anymore.
January 1st of 2021 was the date I fully committed to the career transition with milestones for the whole year:
- Get certification(s)
- Start a blog
- Network weekly
- Attend a hackathon by mid-year
- Create a portfolio
- Get an internship
- Get a full-time job by end of the year
Long story short, that’s pretty much what I did, except there were many ups and downs that I want to share with you.
Create strong WHYs
The path to a new career is very bumpy. If your WHYs are strong, so will be your will to keep moving forward.
As mentioned, 2020 was the time I searched for my WHYs to fully understand my strengths, joys and what…
