Be the Change You Want to See in the World
My secret to getting into the UX market
Graduated during the Covid shutdown and just passed a course in UX design, I desperately needed to break into the market. Sadly, neither I had a related degree, nor any experience in the field. These were big enough obstacles to keep me from getting a job as a UX designer. However, my desire was so burning that it drove me to find a way, or better to say, to make the changes I wanted to see in my world. This article is the story of the way.
The birth of the UX Design Club
I started searching on Google: “How to find the first job as a UX designer with no experience”. I found many useful tips on Youtube and Medium. One piece of advice resonated with me: Don’t work in your own bubble. Make connections. For an introverted personality like me, it was not easy. I didn’t have a wide circle of people around me. Talking with strangers was even harder for me as a second language speaker. It was very uncomfortable for me but I needed it for my dream. So I took it as a problem to solve.
During my endeavors to break into the market, I worked as a volunteer for a non-profit educational organization. They had a meaningful mission: Be the change you want to see in the world. Inspired by them, I decided to make my own community. I contacted my folks in the boot camp and asked if they are interested in making a weekly group for sharing our experiences and learning soft skills together. We were friends and had the same goal and the same level of UX knowledge so being in the group was not that far out of my comfort zone. Luckily they all said yes and we started weekly meetings. At first, our meetings didn’t have any direction but eventually, I thought we need to take our small community as a serious practice. It was the time I needed to get the job desperately because the lockdown dramatically affected my life in many ways. The group didn’t let me break emotionally and I knew whatever I felt might be the same struggle my folks were facing. Looking for ways to overcome the problem, I shared my knowledge with my folks. I found the more I invest in helping others the deeper I learn and also the weight of the circumstance hurts less. We all discussed what we knew and exchanged advice. While we were all new to the field, we practiced soft skills and grew together. I have not exaggerated if I tell you I didn’t know how fast and unexpectedly I got my first job offer. During all the interviews I had, I mentioned our community. Even though I had no experience(you had experience!) or a related degree in UX. It helped the interviewer understand my passion for growth in the land of UX design.
Where are we now?
After more than a year, when almost all of us got our first job in the market, I thought about expanding the experience to a broader group and making the UX Design Club home for eager people like us who have no idea where to start. Having this goal in mind, I decided to make a page on Linkedin and let the emerging designers find each other and make the future of design together.
Achievement
Here is the list of the achievements of the UX design Club so for:
- Two members received an honor in the World Design Challenge of 2021
- 4 members got a job with the support of the team
- A strong feeling of collaboration and interdependence
Would you like to be part of the Change You Want to See in the World?
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