Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Christine Chun

In the past few months that I’ve started my career in UX design, several people have reached out to ask how I landed a job in UX with no degree or prior work experience. As the market becomes increasingly saturated, I want to share my story to encourage those who wish to pursue UX design without a degree in HCI (Human Computer Interaction) or Design, or for that matter, without any design experience, to still pursue their dreams.

To give you a quick summary of my background, I graduated Wellesley College with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, worked at a skincare company as a Community Manager, and now work as a full-time UX Designer at a real estate software company in the Bay Area. That’s right, I jumped three different ships in the past three years. Hopefully, I’m in for a long ride this time.

1. Figure out why you want to pursue UX design.

I quit my previous job at the skincare company without a job lined up. I’m still not sure if that was a bold move or a stupid one that I keep justifying as a proud YOLO moment. Either way, I was certain that retail marketing was not the career path I wanted to invest in further. I wanted to do something creative that involved critical thinking, but was utterly lost as to where to pivot next.

In my endeavor to answer the never ending question “What do I want to do with my life?” I started grabbing coffee with working professionals from various backgrounds to get exposure to different jobs available in the market — SEO managers, data analysts, accountants, consultants, web designers, graphic designers, and product managers.

I asked them what their job exactly entailed and tried to imagine myself living their life. Would I enjoy their day-to-day tasks? Does their lifestyle reflect what I want mine to be? Is there a promising career trajectory?

After talking to multiple designers and a recruiter at Airbnb (and reading extensively on what UX is through blog posts and books), I was convinced that this was the field I wanted to break into. The core elements of UX design seemed to align with my passion for creativity, problem solving, and analytical thinking.

2. Build a portfolio.

What a portfolio is:

The one thing you absolutely need, in order to apply to a UX designer role, is a portfolio that presents your case studies (design projects). They should speak to your design processes, understanding of UX principles, and sense of visual design.

Dissect good portfolios and ask yourself what makes their case studies compelling. Pay attention to how the designer laid out his or her design process and how the story is being told. Good UX is in essence good storytelling.

Tools I used:

I found WordPress to be the easiest and most customizable compared to Squarespace and Wix. I created my portfolio using the Elegant theme (for reference, christinejoonchun.com). Many designers these days use Dribbble or Behance to showcase their portfolio, which means you don’t necessarily have to buy a domain and create a website like I did.

There are two most common ways to build a portfolio:

1) Enroll in a UX bootcamp

This is the route I took. Curriculum of UX bootcamps are outlined to help students build a portfolio through client projects. This obviously requires you to drop 10k+. If you are going to invest financially anyway, I highly recommend that you do this full-time (M-F, 10–12 weeks) and not part-time (night classes, 4–5 weeks). Most testimonials of people who took part-time courses weren’t positive and ultimately didn’t lead to a career change.

The main benefit of General Assembly’s 10-week UX Design Immersive was that I developed more confidence as a designer. Having a set curriculum and being taught by instructors with years of professional UX experience provided a reliable source and support group that helped me build a solid UX foundation.

But do not be fooled. Merely finishing a boot camp will not get you the job. This is a fairly common assumption that sets graduates up for disappointment and disillusionment. Getting a job requires more than just a certification.

General Assembly, Tradecraft, GrowthX Academy, and Whitespace are some well-known boot camps. Before you sign up for any of them, do a fair amount of research on their curriculum and have informational interviews with alums to gauge employment rates and quality of instruction.

2) Do real client work (aka freelance) on the side.

If you don’t want to risk quitting your full-time job to transition into UX, take on side projects outside your work. Your project can consist of helping a friend’s startup on designing the interface of a mobile app or redesigning your favorite website or online tool.

Once you have an idea for a project, learn and apply UX design principles to your mockups. The beauty of this industry is that you don’t necessarily need a degree to do the job. Getting experience with real life products is the best way to learn UX.

However, this approach requires a lot more discipline and side-hustling because you have to come up with your own curriculum, schedule, and projects. It’s harder to get feedback on your designs and portfolio because help isn’t as readily available as it is when you are in boot camp. You’ll have to put in extra time to gather resources, find clients, and create a design community for yourself.

3. Find design mentors and friends who can challenge you and give feedback

Even though we live in a world where you can practically Google everything, people are walking libraries and breathing resources. It’s most likely that you’ll land your next job through connections.

With that said, it’s crucial to have both design mentors and friends. I define a mentor as someone who is 2+ years ahead of me in work experience and expertise. A mentor sees both my strengths and weaknesses and can coach me in ways I need to grow as a designer.

A friend is someone I can rant to and walk the journey with — a buddy with whom I can go to design events, so that I don’t look like a lost sheep munching on free food. Having both has helped me persist through the lowest valleys.

Tip: I don’t find networking events effective in developing meaningful relationships and mentorships. It may be worth checking out a few events on meetup.com, but mine have all come through friends of friends. I’d ask to visit them in office, offer coffee, or ask specific questions via email and continue the conversations from there.

Try finding alums on LinkedIn and don’t be afraid to reach out to people you’ve lost contact with or even total strangers. Twitter is a great place to connect with designers you never thought would respond to you. My friend tweeted a senior designer at Lyft once and ended up visiting her office and grabbing lunch.

I’ve had the most success networking when I approached people with curiosity and genuine interest in learning about their work, instead of desperation for a referral link.

4. Never stop learning.

UX design is constantly being reshaped as new technologies and methodologies are introduced. Read as many UX books as you can and stay on top of current trends through Chrome extensions like Muzli or Panda where you get daily design inspirations and links to blog posts. Sidebar.io also sends daily emails of great design articles.

Practical resources for anyone new to UX/UI design:

Books:

Go-to online resources:

UX Online Groups:

Designers Guild on FB. Invite only.
XX+UX Google Group. Job postings are often passed around here. Email one of the organizers to be added to the group.

Medium writers I actively follow:

Fabricio Teixeira. Editor at uxdesign.cc and Creative Director at R/GA.
Julie Zhuo. VP of Product Design at FB.
Jules Cheung. My manager!

5. Be proactive and persistent. Welcome rejections.

Once you have your portfolio ready, it’s time to start applying! Applications for designer roles are relatively fast and easy. You submit your resume and a link to your portfolio, which means you’ll be critiqued mainly on your portfolio for the initial screening. So make sure your portfolio is badass.

You’ll get lots of rejections, and companies may ghost on you after the initial phone screen, but don’t give up! A closed door means an open door. Always ask for feedback from the companies that interviewed you, explaining how you value feedback and want to grow from the interview experience.

Lastly, stay engaged in the online design community. You can publish Medium stories on any design learning experiences or insights from attending design events. I know, it’s intimidating when you’re just starting out, but it shows that you are a proactive, valuable contributor.

I wouldn’t have made this career change without the support of others. Remember to be vulnerable, actively seek help ,and stay persistent. The door will open.

Thanks so much for reading!

How I landed a job in UX Design with no degree or work experience was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How I landed a job in UX Design with no degree or work experience

Cool stuff, every week

More Articles