How I got into UX — accidentally
From my first ‘real’ job to getting laid off to changing careers—it all turned out to be a happy accident.
What is a good user experience (UX)? Have you ever opened a new app and within seconds you knew exactly where to go; or after making an online purchase, you thought that was easy. Those are all examples of good user experience. As a UX designer, I strive to blend data with design, form with function, in order to create user-friendly and effective digital experiences.
What is the bigger picture?
Right out of college, I was offered a full-time position as a Junior Developer at a forex company. I jumped on it because I was always interested in coding, albeit knowing this wouldn’t be my forever job. I was still figuring out what I wanted to do. Since I was the most junior member on the team, I felt an internal pressure to say yes at whatever they threw at me. When they asked if I would take on a website redesign with limited resources and tight deadline, I said ‘yes.’ I always hear about the term ‘bigger picture,’ but you don’t always get to see it in the moment and that was my case. It turned out to be a pretty cool project, I picked up some project management skills, conducted my first user interview, created my first conceptual wireframe and designed my first mockup. Little did I know I was setting up the foundation for my passion in UX.
Unfortunately, after 8 months, I was laid off due to a company reorg. Fortunately, when one door closes on you, another one opens. Long story short: this challenging project prepared me with many relevant UX skills.
Grass is greener on the other side
After three months of job searching, I decided to take a leap of faith and try something new. I applied for a Digital Specialist position at a hotel management company. I was brought on to work on digital projects which meant maintaining hotel websites and creating web assets, emails templates, banner ads, landing pages and more. For the first year I was learning a lot, but there was still something missing. I didn’t want to be just be a pixel pusher. I constantly caught myself questioning why users did what they did when they did it. I was deeply engrained with looking at web analytics to see how I can optimize the site engagement and increase booking conversions. What’s the connection between conversions and user experience? Plenty.
You may have heard of a ‘buyer’s journey’ but what exactly motivates a user to book a room? What goes on in their head when they are choosing a hotel? What information are they looking for when making that decision? It gets even more convoluted when I start to think out correlations. Why do people who are booking for leisure switch between devices as they plan/book a trip versus people who are booking for business do so on desktop? There were so many stimulating questions. I started to gain interest in learning about the different types of travelers and their mental models. I was curious learning about people and why they make certain decisions and that’s how my passion for UX started to unfold.
Find people who believe in you
I was lucky to find a mentor at work who introduced me to UX and gave me the confidence to pursue my passion. She saw something in me and told me that I would be good at doing ‘this’ [UX] because I was already doing ‘it’ [UX]. Subsequently, I was fortunate to have a great boss who was willing to give me a chance and go to bat for me when I proposed a completely new role. She gave me the creative space and time to experiment and grow.
Together, we built a new UX practice at the company. I was really excited to come to work everyday and look at the user journey. I identified pain points and came up with hypotheses to test with. When I said I wanted to talk to real users, they didn’t look at me like I had three heads, instead they said “how many do you need, and what kind?”
Fast forward a few years later, I’m still reflecting on the path I took to get here. There were many obstacles along the way, but even more learning and self-growth opportunities. I’m truly grateful for my journey. It may not seem like forex or hospitality directly relates to UX, but the universality is that, in the end it is about the users. My curiosity got me interested. And this is how I got into UX accidentally.
To anyone who’s going through a similar situation and looking to pivot their careers into UX; if I can do it, you can too. There’s no clear path to get in to UX, you just need to take that first step. Ask and you shall receive…if not, try again. Thank you to those who reached out to me for my humble opinion, you have motivated me to tell my story. If you would like to continue the conversation, feel free to message me at linkedin.com/in/tiffanymchin.
