10/05/2021
Exactly one year ago, I took a huge leap of faith and enrolled in a course that would shape my career and life moving forward.
At the time, I was contracting as a graphic / web designer. When I started contracting, I thought I had reached my life’s goal — I could make money doing creative work, from home, on my schedule.
By the Spring of 2020 though, I had realized a few things — 1. I was very unfulfilled in what I was doing — much of my work was backed by little to no research, thus, the pretty designs were serving no one long term and 2. I had become a workaholic. Not only that, but the lives of many of the people I worked for, were lives I didn’t want. The tldr — I felt like I had hit a dead end in my career, in the middle of a pandemic.
Around the same time, I learned what UX design was — and immediately knew that, not only would it satisfy my desire to do informed work, but the career trajectory of UX designers—specifically in tech, is very good.
So, after months of doing my own learning, doing a bit of contract UX work, and researching options to break into the tech industry, I enrolled in a 6-month, super intense UX course. It was expensive, a huge time commitment (40+ hours per week on top of my normal work), and I had no idea what I could expect at the end.
But, I’m here on the other side, with a great job, working for a company I love, doing work that is more than choosing pretty colors, and — having saved in our dream first home. I got the job before finishing the course, and have had opportunity after opportunity to encourage others in their career journey since.
All this to say — if you’re not happy where you’re at, seek out change, be willing to invest in yourself, put in the work, and focus on your goals. It’s been worth it a million times over.
