My Journey to UX Design
I still remember when I first learned about UX Design- and my reaction.
UX? What the heck is that?
I had received the opportunity to go back to school, and was researching potential career paths I could pursue when I first stumbled upon what would eventually become a major part of my life. My initial reaction of confusion is, I think, an understandable one. When I tell people what I do (“Oh, I’m a UX Designer!”), the response I get is almost always a raised-eyebrow smile and hum of politely perplexed acknowledgement. After all, the name doesn’t give much away.
Being me, not knowing what it was proved all the incentive needed to research further. A few keystrokes and some mouse clicks later, and my intrigued confusion morphed into genuine interest. Here was a field that merged two different pathways I was interested in traveling: tech and design. Two pathways that were complete opposites, requiring a committed choice towards one or the other… or so I thought, before stumbling upon UX Design. Not only was it a marriage of interests, but it also fit together beautifully with my educational background in the social sciences.
Looking with this parameter in mind is actually how I found UX in the first place; I wanted whatever I pursued to tie in with what I already understood about humans, and our culture and society. Breaking down the somewhat esoteric name, we arrive at User Experience. And what is a user but a human? And what is designing for a user but understanding them and their needs? Something I could do- something I wanted to do.
Like a “You won!” email scam claiming you’re the proud new owner of untold amounts of wealth, it was almost too good to be true. Unlike an email scam, however, it was real. No social security number needed, no malware infections- just a path forward towards everything I was looking for, which I had never before considered. Never, until that moment. Suddenly, I found I was doing a whole lot of considering. Is this the path for me?
It didn’t take me long to come to a decision. When opportunity falls into your lap, wrapped up in a neat, two-year degree package, you don’t let it slip away. Things moved quickly after that- applying and being accepted into Wake Tech’s Web and UX Design program, signing up for classes, settling in for a journey into the unknown. And what a journey! Not to sound cliche (though I’m aware of and embrace the fact that I’m going to), but it seems like only yesterday I was learning that wireframes are not, in fact, constructed of wire, and Figma is a useful design tool- not some type of jam.
From my first prototype iteration (I don’t wanna talk about it) to my latest, I’ve learned so much. Not just about design, but about myself too. I discovered a drive I never knew I had, and a passion for creation I had never before turned towards the digital sphere. The first part of the journey has nearly reached its end; exactly two weeks from now, I’ll be a UX Design graduate. But that’s just the thing- these past two years are only the beginning. But they’ve prepared me for the rest of the ride, and all the little user flows in between.
It’s only up from here- and I cannot wait to see where “up” will take me next.
04/23/2025