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How I landed a job in UX Design with no degree or work experience
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 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 Product Designer at a real estate tech 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.
