Overcoming Initial Fear: What I Did and Learned in My First Week as a UX Designer
As the new year begins, my first week as a UX designer has come to a close. I was excited about this job, but I was also very nervous. This might be why I didn’t mention my new job earlier.
I’ve written a lot about how I didn’t enjoy my old job and how my situation back then was making me sad. In one of my latest articles, I mentioned how and why I decided to change my career. I don’t want to repeat myself, so I won’t go into more detail here.
If you’re interested, you can take a look at this article.
After I decided to change my career, I took some courses to prepare for my new job. However, I have chosen to skip over how I did for now. I’m planning to write about this journey in one of my next articles. In this post, I’d like to share my first week as a UX designer.
Even though I didn’t have much experience in UX design and didn’t originally intend to work in this field, I found myself trying out some things in this area. It may seem strange, but let me explain.
For example, when I was a student studying urban planning, I participated in an urban design competition with my teachers. In this competition, we proposed a smart city application to use physical space more effectively. Part of my job was to design what this app would include and how it would look.
Additionally, I have enjoyed doing digital illustration as a hobby. In my free time, I dreamed of having an e-commerce website to sell my illustrations. To that end, I designed a website.
Again, while I was doing all of these things, I still didn’t fully understand what UX design was all about. But after starting my courses, I fell in love with UX design and knew it was what I wanted to do. However, I was still working in a job at the university, my Master’s courses weren’t finished, and I didn’t have even a portfolio yet.
So, I decided to include my previous work in a portfolio until I could create a more comprehensive one. I did this and began applying for UX design jobs. If you wonder how my portfolio with no UX design experience was, you can check it out here.
I applied so many different companies on Linkedin and eventually, one of them called me back for an interview.
We had two interviews and then they gave me a case study to work on. The case study was about an e-commerce app for young people, and I completed it in two days.
The company is a small tech company that works in the healthcare industry. They connect patients from abroad with doctors in Turkey, where they can receive various treatments such as rhinoplasty etc., and have online appointments with doctors.
Previously, the company outsourced its UI/UX work, but when they had new needs, they decided to hire a UX designer. The only problem was that this was going to be my first job, and there was no experienced UX designer in the team for me to learn from.
However, I really wanted to experience the job from the inside, and I wouldn’t consider myself a UX designer just because I had taken some courses. So, I knew I had to start somewhere.
I was afraid that they would want more from me than I was capable of, but I also really wanted a job. I am aware that there is a lot I don’t know, but I am willing to learn and grow in my new role.
I was so excited during the interview process and was ready to start any UX job. However, I was shy and didn’t ask proper questions about the job description.
On my first day, they gave me Figma files and asked me to redesign some web pages. I was a little shocked because there was no information provided about the UX design process, such as problem statements, personas, user flows, usability studies, and more. All I had was a UI kit.
Despite this, I started redesigning the pages as requested. I was able to complete these tasks easily because I didn’t have to design something from scratch.
In the following days, I did some redesign work for websites, created some icons, did some illustration work for websites, and made a video that showed a user flow using After Effects. I was so excited to have a job and did everything they asked of me.
I have been using Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects since my undergraduate years, but Figma is pretty new to me. Working with it has helped me to get faster and more comfortable with the software.
Regardless, my superiors were happy with the work I did, which boosted my confidence as a designer. The most important thing for me, besides the stress of changing careers, was that I loved what I was doing and enjoyed it.
I am so grateful to everyone who has joined me on this journey as a UX designer. Your support and encouragement mean the world to me, and I couldn’t have done it without you.
Thank you for being a part of my story and for sharing in my excitement as I embark on this new adventure. If you enjoyed reading about my experiences, please consider following me for more updates and insights.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds and to continue learning and growing with all of you by my side.
