Starting a new career in UX/Product design is exciting. It’s also hectic. There’s lots to figure out, lots to learn and lots of different ways you can do that learning.

Here are some of the things I wish I’d known about before I started.

This list isn’t exhaustive and won’t suit everybody, but hopefully, you can get some value out of it.

1. Document your design story.

“Sometimes good stories are created while documenting dreams.”
“Write your own story, be your own hero. Speak your own truth, live your own dream.” — Raphaella Vaisseali

One of the questions Michael always asks is ‘What’s your design story?’

This got me thinking. Your design story is a solid part of why someone will want to hire you.

Keep a design story journal. This might seem kind of odd while it’s happening, but it’ll be super helpful as the years go by.

Your story is more interesting than you think, and you’re brave to take the leap of faith and move into a new career. Write your story and tell your story. Your story is your pitch.

My story is:

“Growing up on a farm in Scotland, I never thought I could have a creative career. After closing my cleaning company in Scotland, I emigrated to Australia with my wife and two kids. I came across the world of UX via my mate Ash. I madly researched the field, and two weeks later, I was doing a UX design immersive course at General Assembly in Sydney, being taught by the awesome Susan Wolfe. I was 39 when I became a UX designer.”

Bit long but you get the idea. You can read my even longer story here.

2. Slow down and filter your learning.

“Sometimes in life, you just need to take a step back and see where all the pieces fall. In that time you will see what’s important and what never really was.”

“Learning process takes time. Do not try to hurry up.”

My General Assembly UX course was the second-ever cohort in Sydney. It was three months of learning, five days a week. It was a great foundation, but there was too much for my brain to cover in such a short time.

I was impatient and wanted to know it all when I started out. The problem was I didn’t know what was important to know at that point. My head got too full very quickly, and I found it all pretty intense.

Don’t get jaded by all the details. Try keeping a high level of learning early on. There are lots of specifics you don’t need to know straight away.

If I had my time again, I’d be more patient with how I studied my newfound career. Rather than trying to jam so much into 3 months, I’d have learned online and worked alongside my study. Maybe over a 1–2 year period.

I had two small kids at the time, and it would have been good to balance it all out for a year or two. There were not many good online options in 2014, but these days there are lots of cracking courses you can do online.

Tip: Research online and talk to people who have done the courses you’re interested in. That'll give you good context if it’s worth your time and money.

3. Plan on a long internship.

“Learn me slowly. Please be patient with my pages”- Pavana.

It can be overwhelming when you start out in your newfound design career. It’s kind of like starting at the bottom of a big hill climb. Ideally, you get to the top quickly, but there are lots of false tops in reality.

When you get started, plan that you’ll need a solid 10 years to be well established. Of course, people will get to different levels at different times. But one consistent thing is that experience can rarely be fast-tracked. You need time in the water to learn and get good.

People may get fancy titles quickly, but that doesn’t change the fact of how many years they have as a designer.

Tip: Be patient and stick at it. It’s a long game in a fast-moving industry.

4. Learn the roles of a digital team.

“Understanding your colleagues perspective can go a long way towards increasing productivity and happiness.”

When I started, I was very focused on the role of UX designer. I didn’t know what the other people I’d be working with actually did. I was pretty clueless on all of this, to be honest. It was a new world to me.

Knowing about the following roles is essential; product manager, QA, delivery person, scrum master, back-end engineer, front-end engineer, UI designer, UX writer, UX researcher and data analytics.

These are the people you’ll be working with on a daily basis, so it’s helpful to have the context of their roles.

I wrote an article 13 Co-workers that’ll be crucial to your success as a UX designer that should help you get started.

Tip: If you’re really pro-active. Lookup people in each field and organise a quick 20-minute Zoom call.

5. Understand the digital language.

Language and culture and the frameworks through which humans experience, communicate, and understand reality — Lev Vgotsky.

When I started out as a UX designer in 2014. My first stand up meeting felt like I was listening to many people speaking their own secret language.

I’d go back to my desk and google the words and acronyms that I didn’t understand. I did this for a while to get my head around what the hell was going on.

I wrote an article about this a while ago covering quite a few: 53 tech terms you need to know as a UX designer.

I also wrote 52 research terms you need to know as a UX designer, which is handy.

Tip: Ask if you don’t understand. If you feel unsure to ask, make sure you carry a notebook and note the words/acronyms you don’t understand to look them up later.

6. Talk to designers regularly.

“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.” — Douglas Adams

Get on Linkedin or wherever makes sense, and get in touch with UX/Product designers. Speak to people who’ve studied at the place you’re interested in. Vital to get this perspective.

Have a plan. Organise a chat a week and have questions noted down. Linkedin can be helpful (albeit slightly painful) as you can add a note when you connect with people without having to have their email addresses as verification.

Ask the designer for a 20-minute chat. It’ll feel less time-consuming from their end. Do Zoom, Google meet or whatever. Take notes. After you’re done, send them a message to say thanks. That’s it. Keep it simple.

Always ask the designer you spoke to for a referral for another designer to chat to. This makes the intro much smoother and more likely to turn into a chat for the next week.

Tip: Do this from when you start your design journey to when you get a job, however long this takes. You will not regret it. You can even carry it on after if it suits. You’ll make lots of great contacts in your field, and you’ll learn lots of tips.

7. Read wide. Read articles over books.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”― Dr. Seuss

I’d go wide rather deep on topics getting started. There was a list of great books everyone talked about when I started. Reading articles on places like Medium allows you to touch on lots of areas that you may be working with. It gives you lots of real-life perspectives.

Of course, books are fantastic, but I feel like you can cover a lot of ground with articles to get you started.

Tip: Keep a note of articles so you can come back to them later.

8. Portfolio: Do one real case study and don’t bother creating a website.

“Unreal projects hold little weight in my opinion. I’d rather read one real project over three practice style bootcamp ones.”

This may be controversial. Bootcamps usually have projects that are in part real and in part not. I’d take a different angle if I was you.

Get in touch with small companies that you like the look of and ask if you can do a project on their current website.

It could be a redesign or a small change to part of their site. The key is that you do the process from A-Z and document it.

An old article that I love from

Do your case study and add it to a google doc or even have it as a Medium article. Both are simple to set up, helping you focus on the content. A Google doc and a Medium article produce a URL. Hence, it’s easy to share, and it’ll be automatically readable on mobile devices. Plus, if you do a Google doc, they can be printed up, which may be helpful for the people interviewing you.

Tip: There will be more and more designers entering the market. Good if your folio can show a nice process and your design story. Good to try and stand out. Lots and folios are samey. Make it different and easy to access for the reader.

9. You don't need to know it all. Conquer the overwhelm.

“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” — Paulo Coelho

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own . . .” — Epictetus

When I started out in design, I was massively overwhelmed. The Bootcamp study was great but heavily condensed. My first (not so good) contract added fuel to the fire, and the overwhelm turned to stress.

When I got into my first proper role at Tabcorp, I started feeling in better shape. However, working in design tech, there are always new ideas, tools, and new things to read up on.

Divide and conquer, as Mr Holiday says. You don’t need to know it all,

I wrote an article a while back on my feelings about the madness of information when you start. New to UX Design, feeling overwhelmed?

Tip: However you go, just know that too much information will fly around. Pick what you need and let the rest go.

10. Don’t settle.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” — Steve Jobs.

Don’t settle until you’re in a job that you enjoy. If it goes to shit, move on.

Go where the work makes you happy. This is normally when the people you work with are awesome and they’ve got your back.

People move mainly because they’re not happy, with something or someone. People don’t start conversations with recruiters if they’re happy.

I’ve worked in larger corporates with several designers to currently working as the only designer in a startup. I’ve been very happy and I’ve been very unhappy. People have lifted me up and taught me and others have made me feel like shit. Right now I’m happy.

Tip: Whatever your story, if you’re not happy and you’re not learning, take control and head somewhere else.