See how this Architect switched to UX Design

After I got my master’s degree, I started working at an architecture firm. It was not what I anticipated. I felt like I wasn’t getting to be creative or technical.

I had just moved to Chicago for my job and ended up getting laid off right when the pandemic hit.

I thought this was a good opportunity to take a step back and see what it was that I was missing from my career. That’s when I really went all-in on Codecademy.

It has definitely increased my confidence in my abilities.

I don’t use every coding language I’ve learned on every project, but I have more confidence to say, “These are the things I did, here are my certificates, these are the projects I’ve done,” and that adds to my design background.

Changing to a different career can be pretty daunting, but to be able to back up my skills with those concrete things definitely helped me.

Design systems — that’s not just because that’s what I’m currently working on. I just got lucky that’s what needed to be worked on when I joined my current team.

I really like working on, building out, and increasing the usability of a design system.

Pick one thing, and really learn it. Really get into it and feel confident in it before trying to then take on another thing.

It can be a lot like drinking from a fire hose where you’re trying to do everything at once. What worked for me was to learn HTML and then build a website using only that, just to see what I could do with it.

I just bought a house, and — having an architecture background — I’m really excited. That’s what my free time will be, making updates to my house.