“After talking with Kasia Szczesna and Krystian Polański about my participation in the program as part of the Listener's Package, I came up with the idea to share some thoughts related to getting a UX Designer position in one of the Poznań agencies. I hope they will help some break the first ice in the path of a budding designer that I am.
Starting out, I became interested in UX at a time when I didn't know that such a thing existed at all. I created my first business/startup concepts and sophisticated tools related to design on the Internet (personas, empathy maps, etc. — what they looked like, probably everyone can imagine). This led to the moment when my girlfriend mentioned that she was thinking about studying at Collegium da Vinci — Creative Management with a specialization in User Experience. The concept of the development path and the knowledge that my previous activities that gave me satisfaction are professionally called UX directed my eyes to one of the courses on the Polish market. In retrospect, I am able to say that this is a course like any other and it is de facto an individual question how much you will get out of it.
“This kind of research helped me focus on how I could hone in and use my previous experience, which didn't have much to do directly with design and graphics, but with business, marketing and sales earlier.”
One of the first stages of the job search was to get acquainted with the job market, LinkedIn, observation of specialists, channels of industry leaders on YouTube, and above all research, how people seeking to obtain the profession of UX Designer did it in their case, that is, what they did before, what background they have, or more technical, business or perhaps artistic. Such research helped me to direct how I can refine and use my previous experience, which did not have much to do directly with design and graphics, but with business, marketing and sales. The result was finding a job that would allow you to acquire skills that were valued at the start, i.e. international character, collaboration with teams at many levels, work in devtools, etc.
The issue of the portfolio after the course was very confusing at first. Man seems to have created x projects, but still he did not have a grazed page with his photo and wise quote in the header. I caught a conversation in one of the newcomers software house (who, after all, spoke to me about my old application for a completely different position). Time was running out and I didn't have time to create a special website dedicated to projects, only for them to potentially reject it. So I glued together the entire process of creating the main project from the course in a case study in PDF format (which, God forbid, was about 120 pages long), in order to show step by step what I was doing, what my role was and what I could possibly be capable of. It ended up inviting me to his place (how many of this PDF they have read I don't know to this day;)) to show the previous MVP of a mobile game in the party games genre. And here began the ride without a hitch, because practically the entire process of creating the product, which are presented on virtually all courses, fell into disrepair. I found chaos that had to be sorted out somehow. The MVP for mobile was already there, zero research, the idea of monetization too. At the end of the day, we created a version with the UI, which is still being refined and will probably hit the market this year.
The work, however, was a confrontation of my knowledge of the course with a brutal reality. Although I learned a lot, I felt a lack of implementation of projects for clients and validation of my activities with other members of the project team. Sometimes as I was the only designer, in addition to being a beginner. Sometimes I felt like I was in a fog and I didn't know if I was doing something right or wrong. This moment directed me to Design Mentorship, where I signed up for the Listener Package and a consultation with Krystian. During this period, there was an announcement about the creation of a new team in the agency where I currently work. Of course, I still did not have a portfolio page (but I want to have!) , so I sent my Figma and Adobe XD. I introduced myself, told more or less what my story looks like and got a recruitment task to do. It consisted of the creation of a landing page, analysis of Google Analytics and ways to improve conversion in the landing page. I did the task myself, but since I kept in touch with Krystian on LinkedIn, I asked if he could take a look at it. In general, the task did not belong to the difficult ones and in general it went well, while Krystian helped to “make it”. The last conversation, after the feedback from the assignment, it was already a more formal matter.
All in all, my path was strewn with roses, I sent quite a few resumes to different companies but either they were looking for typically graphic skills or they didn't write back at all.
“Besides, you have to remember that EVERY completed work, even the imperfect one, is also a portfolio.”
Both teams mentioned were relatively new. In such teams, there is a greater awareness that creating a product is a process, not just hiring a Senior Designer and creating something with the snap of a finger. Seeing offers on job boards, we can be sure that the abundance of CVs will make it 110% to find someone with a better CV/portfolio than us. Therefore, it is worth looking around in relatively closed environments: the Linkedin network, Facebook groups, and above all to build networking. I can honestly say that this is much more important than the portfolio. It should also be remembered that ANY completed work, even the imperfect one, is also a portfolio. It is better to present imperfect projects than to strive to prepare them in perfect form, for example, on BehanceThere are already a lot of specialists on the market and everyone will probably find someone to implement projects - programmers, marketers or designers, and globalization simplifies this even more. It is more important to find an employee/employer with whom we just work well, to have a common flow/vibe and feel the chemistry. The recruitment interview, today is something more like a blind date, where it will either sparkle or not, which is why rejecting our candidacy is not the end of the world! It is worth remembering that independence, drawing conclusions from one's own work and observation of others, are perhaps the most important skills. It seems to me that in the industry everything happens so quickly that simply no one has time to lead us by the hand, show what and how. For this reason, the ability to learn is more important than having a ready-made set of abilities. English is also very important. The work in most companies is international, so doing research or talking to customers in English is already the order of the day. If you speak English well, you are in a very good position.
Summing up my story. The ground is to become a better version of yourself, to create, to act, to build acquaintances, to work on your own skills. It seems to me that sooner or later everyone will find their place in the project team.“
Thank you Santa for sharing your story with us!
Maybe one of you would like to tell yours? :)
