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How I became a UX writer
Making your unique journey your strength.
Over the last few months, I’ve spent time each week mentoring and speaking with folks who are either new to being UX writers, or trying to break into the field. In these calls, I’m often asked to share the story of how I got here without a ‘traditional background.’
First, there is no ‘traditional background’ into UX writing.
While UX writing/content design is less than 10 years old, it has been around in some way or another for well over 30 years. Yet, it is still an anomaly for UX writing to appear in university coursework, or UX bootcamps that are not specifically for UX writing.
So, maybe it’s time we flip the narrative of the ‘non-traditional’ background and admit that maybe the non-traditional way into UX writing is, in fact, the traditional way.
How I got into UX
If it wasn’t already clear, I too came from this non-traditional, traditional background. I studied Anthropology, Biology, and Pre-med in university and with one year left of undergrad, I realized that medical school just wasn’t my vibe.
So I moved back to my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa and got the first job I could — working at a social work agency.
But falling into a job is not the same as finding your true passion. Within 5 years I was burnt out and hopelessly unhappy. I needed to find what I really wanted to do, but I couldn’t do that in the comfort of my own home(town).
That’s how I ended up moving to NYC with only $2000 in the bank.
NYC
It is a well established truth that moving to NYC with nothing but two grand and a half-baked dream, will have you broke in about a month.
Of course, that’s exactly what happened.
I literally had no idea what I wanted to do. By now it had been 3 months since my move, and my living standards had decreased significantly from my comparatively opulent (yet dastardly) Manhattan accommodations, to a very sketchy Brooklyn setup with…
