Hello!
Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Balpreet, bookaholic, true crime addict, chai lover, and the reason you’re here, UX/UI designer.
I graduated with a degree in Sociology (Crime, Deviance, and Social Control) while working retail, which was the first five years post-high school. It was stressful and unsatisfying, because I knew what I was doing wasn’t where I wanted to end up. And yes, the true crime bit, but it’s not something I found I could do professionaly. With that I ended up going back to school in pursuit of an HR diploma, but dropped out a year in because I started working as a Support & Wellness Coordinator at a post-secondary institution. Throughout all of this, I learned project management, research, time management, leadership, how to stand up for myself, and working in a team environment while doing my part - skills I have transferred into UX/UI.
How did I get into UX/UI? That was an accident. I tried my hand at Programming, but let’s be honest, it’s not for everyone. And then I found the wonderful world of UX/UI through social media, which obviously glorified it as purely designing and being creative. But I decided to take the leap with Design Lab and for the first time knew I wanted to do this. Design Lab has shown me the depth and scope of this field, and how much work actually goes into it - it’s more then designing a website and making it look pretty. It’s about knowing your target audience, recognizing a shared problem amongst them, generating a solution through research, and ensuring you’re providing them with the solution they want, not the solution they need. It helped that I had some skills that were transferable into the User Experience part of the UX design, such as the research and project management.
My goal is to work in tech, however, I do recognize that various companies and organizations require UX/UI support in some sense or another. Tech, however, is a growing industry, and is constantly expanding and a great area to learn and grow. I recognize the challenges this comes with and the competitive market, but I’m confident in my ability as a UX/UI designer and what I could bring to any potential employer.
