Always be learning: from support to content design to product design
My foray into tech was an accident 🍫
I was starting a chocolate business and a friend asked if I wanted to work support part-time at their startup. I said yes and found a 20ish-person team of bright, excited, and collaborative people. Coming from restaurants, I felt like a fish out of water but everyone was welcoming. We were acquired by Microsoft and I found my stride beyond providing support through developing and facilitating trainings and growing the support team from 3 to 30 agents.
Content design’s a job 🤯
After 2 years in support, there was nowhere to grow, but! My director of support acted as the content designer and tapped me when she went on vacation. Working with a product designer that needed words blew my mind; I had no idea all-the-words was a job and I was a natural. I quickly found myself writing for all the products our internal incubator spun up, working with the typical cross-functional partners as well as legal and privacy.
Over time, I found myself wondering how design decisions were made before content was brought in, so I joined a UX design certificate program through UCSD nights and weekends. It was fascinating seeing the academic approach vs. how it works in a real job. It gave me the confidence to pursue small design projects at work.
Open PD role 🙋🏻♀️
Finally while working on Money in Excel, a full-time product designer role opened. I applied and interviewed, getting grilled by senior colleagues that had had more traditional design backgrounds and somehow passed their test. Taking the role wasn’t without it’s hardships, but I’ve found being comfortable to quickly become being bored anyway.
Nine years into my tech career, I feel like I’m in the right place as a product designer. I love solving problems, I’m a whiz at communicating, and I get to make stuff with the best of them. Plus there are so many skills you can pickup that’ll benefit you and your team. My next targets for professional growth are digging more into being a player-coach and trying on a little graphic design.
Where am I happiest?
At the end of the day, I’m a maker. Whether it’s chocolate or words or UX, my goal is to create an experience that’s perfect for that moment.
Besides learning, it’s important to work with people IRL. I love energized, tight-knit cross-functional teams and I’ve missed the camaraderie and specific feedback of a design team.