After joining a UX Bootcamp and completing more than 800 hours of training, I officially became a UX designer (hurray!).
The thing is that some people asked me why (and also some of them asked me “What’s UX design?” but that question will be answered in a different post): “Why did you decide to become a UX Designer?”. So I think it would be nice to share here the reasons that led me to this new adventure, and new professional and personal journey.
Last year, during the first months of the lockdown in Berlin, I had a lot of free time. Working as a freelance is cool but sometimes, and during a pandemic, it could be difficult. Some clients couldn’t afford my work, so I took advantage of the free hours I had per week and started taking some MOOCs and free online courses about Psychology. One day I encountered a Design Thinking course and it blew my mind!
When I was done with that introduction course, I just had one idea in mind: go deeper and learn more about that ideology to solve problems with a user-centric approach and to learn how to design more powerful experiences. I started searching how to become a UX Designer. After reading some reviews and the program they offer, I applied to study at CareerFoundry.
Although it was something new to me, it wasn’t completely new because I realized that without knowing it, during my past work experience I had used some parts of this method to come up with different strategies to create content. That’s why learning UX could help me gain new knowledge, know-how, and skills.
4 reasons that explain why moving into UX design was almost natural
First of all, I have to say that I’ve always had a passion for technology. So the idea of learning how to create user experiences and specifically digital ones was very stimulating.
Secondly, over the years, I worked with interdisciplinary teams so I already knew a little bit about the importance of active listening (such an important soft skill everyone should learn for daily life too!) and understanding teams’, companies’, and users’ needs.
What’s more, as a communicator and journalist, I always have a target audience in my mind. They are the reason I create content. Basically saying, my job consisted of thinking of a specific group of people, putting myself in their shoes, and trying to:
- produce articles and videos to keep them well informed about the things that are happening out there
- create useful content they need to make decisions
- generate content they find useful and interesting
- curate content they could consider helpful
Finally, some of the UX research methods, such as surveys and interviews, are also common practices for journalists and social scientists. The art of making questions and going further by asking more and more to be able to catch valuable information is something I had the pleasure to do several times. It’s something that I really enjoy. As well as analyzing the interviews to find insights to write a text or start new research.
That’s why simply, moving into UX design was almost natural. It was also a way to add more fantastic and practical tools to my toolbox. In the end, the most important thing is finding the most suitable solution to solve a problem. In that sense, the Design thinking ideology with a user-centered approach is a complete creative and iterative process that allows you to focus on the users and their needs.
During these full-time months dedicated to learning and mastering the UX world (well sort of, of course), I also had a new opportunity to reinvent myself as a professional. Now I’m willing to face new challenges!
