Current Outlooks and Projects
It’s been a month since I initiated my job search. It has been an uneventful month. Keeping track of my job tracker page, reading UX articles, and doing design challenges. My expectations of finding work that would take a greenhorn like me are pretty low. So during the month, I decided to try to improve a couple of different areas to sell myself to companies and finally be in the position land that is work.
A change in Attitude
My attitude sucks. Plain and simple. I tend to belittle myself, second guess my actions and at times stop me from doing work altogether.
I should have been better. I don’t think I’m qualified to even apply to X job. Etc. Etc.
Some of my fears and trepidations are wholly illogical. There is no rationale as to why I can’t do X actions and that has hindered my potential in the long run. Currently, I’ve been trying to do affirmations to try to better myself mentally and improve my way of thinking. It’s slowly working as the whispers of self-doubt and loathing become fainter, but I still have a long road ahead of me.
Technical Challenges:
Besides doing Daily UI challenges which help keep knowledge of using Figma fluid in my mind, I’m also learning other software such as Axure and Adobe XD to broaden my technical skills and hopefully stand out from other designers.
There are soft skills I need to refresh upon: Narrating design challenges, talk to more UX Designers and researchers, and get a better grasp of their lingo, etc. This is my current focus on the second month of job searching. I’m actively engaged with fellow UX designers and researchers regarding what they do, their thought process, and how I meld their knowledge with my own. Practical experience trumps theoretical.
Closing…
I like to think I’ve made some decent progress over the month. Not as much as I would have liked, but progress none the less. I like to thank my friends and family that have supported me in these tumultuous times.