Career transition to UX design in 11 months: my story and 7 pieces of advice

Kristyna Mertova
Bootcamp
Published in
11 min readJan 2, 2022

--

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

My cat knows the importance of taking a break.
My cat knows the importance of taking a break.

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…

--

--

Hi. I’m a UX Designer with strong organizational and problem-solving skills.