Every step on my career journey was valuable — it brought me here.
I sometimes wish I had started my career transition seven years ago, when I first learned about UI/UX. I didn’t know what my friend did on the day-to-day as a UI/UX designer, but I liked web design and I loved user-focused startup stories. Or when my agency friend told me about an “Aha!” moment during customer interviews and I thought — “I wish I were smart enough to do that.” Or when, working on an IoT media platform, I redesigned screens for the onboarding process, because they had to get done and our team’s designer was swamped, but thought — “I’m not good enough to do this ‘for real’.”
I sometimes wish I had started my UX design journey a long time ago, so I’d have years of dedicated experience — but I don’t think I’d be the same designer and teammate I am today if I had more years with a Product Design title.
When I started my career helping build a high tech incubator in my sleepy beach hometown (you can read about that here), I had no real idea of what I was capable of, but at Groundswell I learned, more than anything, how to take ownership and solve problems. I broke down the ambiguous task of “starting an incubator” and figured out the basic logistics, like how members would book conference rooms, and the bigger pieces like how we would vet and manage mentors. I helped plan a 48-hour hackathon and started an internship program. But the real accomplishment was learning that, if you can break the pieces down small enough, you can do anything.
I first fell in love with product when I moved to D.C.. I had the opportunity to transform a company blog into a real IoT media platform, where we made connections to facilitate digital transformation across a number of industries. I loved building something tangible and I thrived on connecting the dots to solve user problems, blending tools like Airtable, Zapier, and Wordpress.
I learned so much in this role, but this was where I learned to communicate, to facilitate others’ growth, and to take feedback and perpetuate my own growth. I learned (and now preach) the value of the “no update-update” and I’ve become a better listener both at work and in life. If anyone has ever complimented me on being easy to work with — it’s thanks to the support of my managers and teammates at IoT For All.
When I moved on, it was for a learning opportunity at a web development agency. As part of a brand refresh, I researched the target customer, developed personas, and redesigned the marketing website with Material 2. I even created a design system in Figma that accounted for dark mode. I worked closely with the front-end dev team and learned a ton about technical constraints and stakeholder management (especially how not to give status). Though I itched to get back to product, I wouldn’t trade the patience and knowledge my team gifted me with for anything.
In my last role before my transition, I helped scale the audience for a referral marketing platform. Here, I saw real agility — the product moved fast. Features were sketched out, tested, and developed at breakneck speed and by a team that was truly driven by metrics. I was hooked. I got a lot better at design and at defending my decisions with user data. I also got to see a truly incredible product designer build fast and advocate for the user. From there, there was no other choice — I had to make the career transition.
Every step of my journey so far has brought me here, where I am today — more excited about my prospects than I have ever been. While I know the road ahead is going to be difficult and I may question the wisdom of this transition, I tackle it knowing that I’m bringing the best version of myself that I have ever been — and that I can thank every role I’ve had and team I’ve worked with for bringing that better Fumi to fruition.
