The Last Few Months…

So at the end of November last year I asked a UX designer on twitter:

“What is the best way to career change into UX from a non-related career?”

Her answer was as follows:

1. Get Educated
2. Get Experience
3. Get a Community

Here is how I have been working on these three since then:

1. Get Educated

Having tried a a few different free courses or trial courses (See previous blog post) I decided to go for it with the Treehouse UX Design Techdegree. I have just this week finished my tech degree and I have been bombarded with new information taught through videos, design practices and the projects themselves. Each project submitted receives a grading and personalised feedback which I have found invaluable. I’ll try to write more about the Techdegree in following post.

2. Get Experience

This one feels a little harder to do when I’m totally new to this area. I have spent some time at DWP digital in Newcastle (UK) shadowing a content designer and interaction designer and seeing how an Agile team works together. I was looking to do some further work experience at a local product and service design agency but due to the Coronavirus outbreak this has been put on hold for the time being.

3. Get a Community

One great feature of the Techdegree with Treehouse is their Slack channel. This enables us, as students, to ask questions , get projects reviewed before submitting, peer review other student’s projects and generally ask for advice if we are stuck.
I have also begun to follow various UX designers on Instagram and Twitter as well as receiving newsletters from experienced designers who have lots to share. Although this is pretty one sided at the moment, I am gaining a lot from their enthusuasm, daily inspirational posts and thought-provoking posts.
Probably the most important and part of this has been attending events. In the last few months I have been to:
Good Service doesn’t happen by accident, hosted by Orange Bus in Newcastle.
NUX Newcastle (November) – When UX meets BA
NUX Newcastle (January) – Better workshops with liberating structures.
I have met so many new people through each of these and hope to continue to attend these when they restart after the current pandemic!

My aim is to continue to work on these three things while also looking for a UX related role!