How I got a job as a UI/UX Designer after working in Software Engineering
I was one of those kids that didn’t really know what they wanted to do after finishing school. And of course, the most popular option back then was just picking engineering and seeing where that takes you. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. And so I spent 4 years with a vague interest in the field, never really going that extra mile to see what I was capable of. That is until I was in my final semester of college. Which also happened to be when the COVID lockdown happened.
It was finally time to ask myself some questions.
“What did I want to do after college?”
I started to delve into some courses for full stack development, mobile applications with Flutter, web development, python and machine learning and anything I could get my hands on. It helped me understand what I liked and what I didn’t.
After a few months of learning and a couple of hands-on projects, I took an interest in web development and designing applications. Mind you, I was never really aware that UI/UX design was a whole field in itself (why a whole field was excluded from my course curriculum was beyond me). This was when I began my search for jobs in that field.
Now a job search in itself is a lot of research — about companies, what they do and what your role in the whole system will be. I started to read up a lot more about the field. This is around the time I came across the term “UI/UX designer”. It piqued my interest and I wanted to know more about the field. The more I read about it, the more I knew that this is exactly what I’d love to do. It was like a bulb went off in my head. But at the same time, a lot of things were holding me back. First and foremost — failure. It wasn’t a field I was very familiar with, I didn’t know anybody in the field personally and it seemed like a long shot. To top it off, there was the fear of being left behind while all my other batchmates were doing crazy well with their jobs and internships.
“When you fail at something — especially the first time — it’s easy to get discouraged and feel like you’ll never be able to do anything right. But here’s the thing about failure — success wouldn’t exist without it.”
And so, I let go of the dream — at least for a while. I graduated in August 2020 and had a job as a front end developer by November. My job started to eat up majority of my time. Even so, I tried to make the time to watch a couple videos or read an article or two. By January, I was the lead front end developer on a project. This opened many doors I wasn’t really expecting. It meant I was directly collaborating with other core stakeholders in the project, like the design and backend team. My inputs and decisions were valued a lot more. It also put me in the face of a lot more challenges and gave me confidence in my own abilities.
Since I was in direct collaboration with the design team, it meant I could learn a lot more from what they did, their design systems, guidelines and why they took the decisions that they did for a particular design. That hands-on knowledge helped a lot more than any course could have, in some cases.
This newfound knowledge also gave me the confidence to take upon a couple of courses like User Experience Design Essentials — Adobe XD UI UX Design and Introduction to User Experience Principles and Processes. I started learning the industry standard systems and tools. But there was still something missing — actual guidance from experienced designers in the industry.
Now this was the hard part. Like I mentioned, I didn’t personally know anyone in the field. But I did have friends that might know someone. It took a couple of weeks but I ended up finding a couple of designers in the field — some with a design background, and some like me, from an engineering background. You’d think that someone with a design background would be the best to talk to, but that isn’t always the case. Especially if you’re transitioning from another background. Our shared engineering experience also meant they knew exactly what I’d pick up effortlessly and what I’d have a bit of a tough time with.
“Don’t underestimate what you’d be able to pick up, even from just a short conversation!”
These conversations made me start thinking about two things — projects and a portfolio. Projects will give you a chance to put the skill you learned into action. I understood the project goals, problems faced by users, possible solutions and how to go about designing them. It also gives me a chance to learn from my mistakes and iterate. After all, none of the best designs were thought of during the very first round. These projects also let me explore and identify the types of fields I’d like to work in and the problems I’d like to solve. Easily one of the most crucial steps once you know your basics. It also really helps to go through a couple of other junior designers’ projects to give you an idea of how to get started.
Once I had about 2–3 good projects done, it was time to start building my portfolio. A portfolio is usually used by creatives and developers to put up their best works — to showcase what they can do. It’s a great start to have about 2–3 projects in the beginning and move up to about a maximum of 5. I started off with about 3 and currently have 4 on mine. I wanted to ensure that it was only my best work that was on there. A good portfolio with about 2–3 strong projects can do a lot more than 5–6 weak ones.
And finally, it was time to start applying for jobs. I knew it would be a long shot to land a full time job right at the beginning but that didn’t stop me from applying for both internships and full time ones. The process involved a LOT of cold emailing, project assignments and interviews. In some ways, this was also the hardest part of the process because I questioned myself every second along the way. It was hard to compete with people with actual experience and degrees in the field. But I kept on.
A few weeks after I put my portfolio together, I finally ended up landing an internship! I almost couldn’t believe it. And I still can’t. It’s a wonderful feeling seeing your hard work paying off. It’s currently my first month there and I’m sure my journey from here on out is going to be just as amazing!
A few key points I wanted to leave you with, if you’re someone like me-
- If you want to start out in UI/UX, or any field for that matter, the first step is to start doing something about it. It might just be reading through a few articles (you’re already reading this one so good on you!), watching a few videos or looking for courses. The hardest part is starting.
- Talk to people. Strike up conversations with others in the field. Whether it’s someone who’s just starting out, someone who just broke into the field, or a senior designer that’s been in the field for years. As an introvert, this part still makes me nervous most days, but it’s always worth it. If LinkedIn scares you, try Twitter. It’s a much more chill atmosphere and much easier to approach people.
- Your resume and portfolio are going to be lifesavers. Those are key in determining whether you’ll make it to the next round in a job interview process. So make sure your resume is up to date and your portfolio is displaying only your best projects.
I do hope this was useful, whether you’re someone that’s switching over from an engineering background, or any other background entirely. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.
