I quit my job amidst the pandemic to study UX design
Taking a risk during COVID-19 to follow my passion
With all the UX design bootcamps and related courses springing up on the net, Medium’s probably filled with many other similar articles like mine, albeit by authors that are far more experienced than me. However, I still wanted to share my story simply because I wanted to — follow your heart, they say and honestly, which human doesn’t like to talk about themselves? Hopefully, it can help anyone that stumbles on this article to muster up some courage during such hard times to pursue your dreams and take that leap of faith. Anything is possible as long as it’s not the zombie apocalypse, right?
Knock, knock, who’s there?
Prior to my adult working days, I studied Life Sciences in the National University of Singapore for 4 years and graduated from there with a Bachelors with Honours. Afterwards, I decided not to do any lab work anymore because it was too repetitive and went on to have a career in sales.
I helped various clients in different industries to market and sell their products, got promoted to manage a small team after awhile, did corporate sales training and some recruitment on the side.
How I ended up studying UX design
Fast forward to 2020, COVID-19 hit the whole world like a wrecking ball, the economy was bleak and my company underwent some restructuring due to the lockdowns. My work felt stagnant and it got stressful. In August, I decided to take the risk and tendered my resignation, to find something that I truly liked to do. I was ready to follow my heart.
I was lucky that I was born in Singapore where even in the midst of a pandemic, a lot of support was given to mid-career switchers. A sizeable number of courses were rolled out under an initiative called the SGUnited Skills Programme to help citizens to upskill themselves and find better career opportunities. After some consideration, I enrolled in a UX Design and Product Management course that was offered under the initiative, by NTU. Why? Because back in sales, I’ve always heard my customers complain about bad user experience but could only be a messenger for them to my company. I empathised with them. Now, I don’t want to just empathise, I want to be the one that creates great UX designs to improve others’ lives. I wanted a career that was fulfilling for me and make a difference. Besides, I thought what I learnt in sales would be helpful.
So… now what?
I am currently 3 months into the course and so far, I am loving it. It’s a 6 month long course and I am preparing to get my portfolio and designs up and running by the end. It’s a little stressful for me now since everything’s still really new but I’m learning to embrace all the challenges that come, and hopefully be even stronger.
If you lasted through this whole article and feel like it resonates with you, I hope it offers you some comfort. Feel free to reach out, though I’m not quite good at giving advices (and I won’t, I promise), I can listen and give you a little pat on the shoulder (virtually…) for encouragement.
May 2021 be a greater year!
Update: My portfolio’s up and running! Click here to view some of the work I’ve done so far. 🤗
Another update: I’m officially starting my career in UX at Rakuten Viki as a UX design intern. Wish me luck! Will update with stories on my journey soon 😄
