Hey everyone! I know it’s been a hot minute since we last spoke. So much time has passed and so much has happened since we last touched base! We have to work our way backwards a bit so I can catch you all up, but in short…it happened.
What happened you ask? Well I’ll tell you.
What happened was thee one….thee only….career switch! *insert loud applause here and lots of celebratory champagne glass clinks there* That is right! I transitioned into a UX design career with no traditional experience, without knowing how to code, and without attending a bootcamp. It finally happened for me and I couldn’t be more grateful. If any of you all have rode this out with me from the beginning you know this job transition has been in the works since 2019. However, for those of you that are new here I’ll take a moment to get you up to speed.
I graduated in 2015 from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in architecture. Though I knew no architects growing up, my surroundings and familial support drove me to pursue the field. After graduating, I worked professionally as an architectural designer for roughly four years before I began to wrestle with if architecture was really for me. I tried to troubleshoot this question for myself in several ways and with several people until it drove me to look into other avenues in design I hadn’t explored. I’ll talk more about how I knew it was time to move on from architecture in another blog post, but to everyone that listened to me go over the same conversation….thank you :)! Let’s get back to the story though.
My never ending love for graphic design cultivated a desire to expand into web design during my junior year in college that continued with me well into my professional career. The question of “Is there more?” was the only persistent thought I had when I realized my desire to remain in architecture had lessened. It was also that persistent thought that gave me the breathing room to reignite my fascination with web design once more. Since web design touches a never ending story of areas, it eventually led me right into UX design. So that fascination is ultimately why I can proudly come to you all on the other side of this journey as a UX designer today. This is my journey to answer that question for myself finally.
Now I won’t lie to you. This road has been hard. Hella hard! Hell. Luh. Hard. I’ve had all the rejections you can imagine haha, but it’s been worth it and I’m hoping you’ll come to understand you can do the very same.
Over the next few months, I plan on speaking to you all about how I made my career switch, what it’s actually like now that I’m working within the user experience industry, pulling gems from you all and fellow designers because your girl is very green in this field, and so much more.
There’s loads to tell and ask, but just know we did it!
Happy dreaming, Dreamers!