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May 1, 2025
01
How I became a Product designer
How it all began
My journey as a UX designer began during my architecture internship where I decided to look into other opportunities. There was already a buzz about architects moving into the realm of user experience. With 5 years of education and couple of internships, I was equipped with skills to handle projects with diverse use cases. But somehow, I felt that my skillsets could be utilized better in the field of technology. On exploring, I found User Experience to be the perfect area to bridge the gap between architecture and technology.
Naturally my first step was to speak to my contemporaries and alumni. While gathering information, I realized many architects who were unhappy with the field found it hard to make the transition into something different. Very few people were looking into UX design as an alternative. I felt that this was the right time for me to explore a new field before starting my professional career. However, in order to make this transition, I needed to gather ideas on how to add value as a designer. I began understanding the intersection between the two fields:
Both involve creating a product for the masses (Physical vs Digital)
Design process
Scalability (building codes vs design system)
Softwares used.
With these things in mind, I decided to do my research.
The switch
It was 2021 and I was looking into the UX industry, trying to weigh the pros and cons before I decided how I wanted to start. It's been almost 3 years and User experience has created a very big impact in technology since then. Currently there are multiple bootcamps and offline courses that offer basic education about UX with the premise of a job opportunity. When I started out, there were few online courses that dove into the basic principles of UX design and its application in real-life products.
Here are the links if you’re curious what I enrolled in:
These two courses along with few supplementary courses like Illustration helped me improve my skills as a designer. With my background in architecture, I was already proficient with the adobe suite. My goal was to translate my skills as a designer into the digital realm. I found the Google UX Certification to be immensely helpful for beginners to get a taste of what we can expect. I enrolled in the course while doing my architecture internship to transition into the field right out of college. I eventually took my time to craft a basic portfolio that I could apply with.
The challenge for any beginner is to break into the industry, which meant there would be many interviews where we can expect rejections, just because of lack of experience. This is when I decided to switch things up. Instead of applying to internships, I directly applied to full-time jobs to try my luck. To my surprise, I did land many interviews, despite my lack of experience in the field. Eventually I did realize that it turned out to be tougher than I expected. After giving out multiple interviews, it always boiled down to experience. So, my next step was to reach out to my connections and hopefully bag an opportunity. Fortunately, I did have some connections that were part of the industry. They helped me land my first ever full-time job.
Getting a taste of UX
My professional career began as an intern at a start-up, which was at its nascent stages. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a team where I could contribute towards its initial growth. It was fortunate that I was presented with that exact opportunity where I was the first designer onboard. I took it as a validation of my efforts and began to add value in any way I could. I was lucky enough to have a co-founder that mentored me on how to add value as a designer. My first ever task was to create a logo for the company, which kickstarted my career into the field. I was constantly looking for feedback to push the design standards of the company and as a designer.
As the sole designer, I assisted in setting the product roadmap and lifecycle of the company. The following 4 months were extremely valuable and impactful part of my career. I had to wear multiple hats where tasks ranged from pitch decks, social media and web development. The learning experience was pivotal in my growth as a UX designer. Withing a year, I led a design team to execute design objectives for the company. Currently I’m at another well-funded start-up where I head the product.
What’s next?
In the 2.5 years of working, my journey has taught me to embrace new opportunities and always thinking of different ways to add value to your work. Ever since I transitioned, plenty of my contemporaries and alumni moved into the field too. Being the first point of contact, it felt very fulfilling to see other architects understanding their value and where it can be utilized wisely.
Before you do decide to switch, ask yourself these questions:
Do you think your skills allow you to add more value in this field?
Do you enjoy building products that constantly require refinement?
Are you comfortable seeking feedback as often as you can?
Are you curious about how things work and how it can be made better?
If you resonate with any of these questions, it might be a good alternative for you to look into. These aren’t the only questions you need to ask yourself. It also depends on how you want to move forward in your career. Plan your goals and figure out if this alternative adds value to your career and personal growth.
If you do decide to transition into the field, here are some things I learned in my experience:
Every day is a learning experience. Try to update yourself with new tools and how they can improve your skills. You don’t have to master every tool out there, just the ones that you feel you can master.
Understand how large organizations and start-ups handle design. Analyze their design systems and how they scale things. Getting perspectives from both types of companies will allow you to decide which environment you want to be a part of.
Not everybody’s advice applies to you. Understand the learnings from it and figure out whether it resonates with your career path.
Embrace challenges and learn to live with them.
The most important one of them all is to learn how to add value. I cannot stress this enough. Learning how to leverage your value as a designer can help you bag the jobs you like.
That’s all for now. This is my first article, and I wanted it to be something special. I hope this article helps you feel confident or serves useful in figuring out your career path. If you have any questions or want to chat further, please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.
