Published on <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/how-to-become-a-better-designer-3805f4c1e96b?source=rss----eb297ea1161a---4">| Prototyping: From UX to Front End &mdash; Medium</a> Zach Fichman-Klein <img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*UpQNp9k16G-3XbNApwV0Rw.jpeg">
I started my first design job as a salaried employee a few months ago. This ended a year and a half long slog of attending a UX design boot camp, freelancing, and job hunting. There were times in the process that I doubted whether I would get a full-time job. Despite the adversity, I never stopped trying to get better. This is how I did it.
<h3>Attend A Boot Camp</h3>
I got interested in design after reading a blog post written by a woman who taught herself how to become a UX designer. At the end of the article, she wrote that there are now boot camps devoted to teaching UX principles. She recommended one run by a company called Designlab.
I took their six-week Design 101 course and loved it. I took another six-week course on branding. Then, I attended their part-time UX Academy Boot Camp. It lasted seven months and I came out of it applying for as many jobs as I could find.
UX Academy is a mentor and project-based program. At the beginning of the course you’re matched with a mentor. Most of these people are senior designers who have experience teaching UX principles. Choosing the right mentor is the most important part to getting better at anything. This includes design. Designlab has a list of the mentors on their site and lets you choose who you want to teach you. I made a top 5 list and requested a mentor before I started the boot camp.
During the course, I leaned on the advisors who I felt gave me the most critical feedback. This helped me to gain a designer’s eye and enabled me to differentiate between good and poor design. By learning, copying, repeating, and innovating, I was able to become good in my own right.
Throughout the course you complete projects. You always have to submit them to your mentor for review, but you don’t get a grade. If your submission has errors, your mentor tells you what changes you need to make and you try again. It’s simple, fun, and it works. It’s amazing to look back at your work from six months before and see how far you’ve come!
<h3>Freelance</h3>
Unless you’re an expert in a field-related UX design, it might be hard to find a job. Boot camps are pumping out junior designers as fast as they can and most companies seem to be looking for senior people. My job hunt lasted five months. The companies that I interviewed with didn’t care about the spec work I did through UX Academy. They wanted to see work that I did with real clients.
I was lucky in that I gained a freelance client right after I completed UX Academy. He is a fantastic developer who have created an app tracking the buying and selling of cattle. He was looking for someone to update his app’s user interface. I convinced him that it was also worthwhile to do UX work.
After doing surveys and user interviews, we found two major pain points. People wanted to save their favorite markets. They also wanted to view investment futures data. The amazing part isn’t the pain points themselves, but that both of these functions were already in the app. However, nobody knew they were there. I moved two buttons to the home page and within one week both pages were among the most viewed screens in the app. When I told potential employers that, it blew their minds.
<h3>Hunt For Jobs</h3>
I spent most of the first half of 2017 hunting for jobs. It was excruciating. I spent an obscene amount of time combing job boards, talking to recruiters, and updating my resume. Here are five tips:
<h3>1. Keep Designing</h3>
Even if you don’t have freelance work, you should never stop designing. It’s like going to the gym. If you stop, your design muscle will atrophy and you won’t be as good when you need it. It’s also an opportunity to learn new techniques and up your skill level.
2. Write
Writing helps you to express your thoughts in a coherent way and improves your ability to tell a story. These are both essential skills for designers. Also, Medium is an underused social media platform you can build an audience on and showcase your work. I used an app called <a href="http://www.hemingwayapp.com/">Hemingway</a> to write this post. It helps me to keep my content readable.
3. Network
Most people breaking into an industry will get their first job in that field via a referral. People trust the people in their network. Start by reaching out to close friends and family members, but don’t stop there. Meet new people, and contact old acquaintances. It’s surprising how far people will go out of their way to help you.
4. Attend Hackathons
The coolest work I have posted online is the result of going to a day and a half long hackathon in Berlin. I met new people, worked with amazing developers, and got to present our award-winning concept in front of 200 people. I can’t wait to go to more events like it.
5. Believe In Yourself
It’s corny, but true. Hunting for a job is one of the worst feelings in the world. It’s easy to get down and give up. Don’t! Believe in yourself, your abilities, and your goal. Say a mantra to yourself in the mirror if you have to, but don’t give up. Don’t ever give up!
That’s it. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed reading this and want to read more, check out other articles I’ve written on <a href="https://medium.com/@zfichmanklein">Medium</a>. Feel free to<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ZachFichmanKleinDesign/"> follow me</a> on social media, or visit<a href="http://zachfichmanklein.com/"> my site</a>. If you’re looking to hire me or if you want to say hello, send me an email at Zfichmanklein@gmail.com.
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<a href="https://blog.prototypr.io/how-to-become-a-better-designer-3805f4c1e96b">How to Become a Better Designer</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.prototypr.io">prototypr</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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