A UX Designer? So what does a UX Designer do? A couple of common reactions, I get from my friends and family when they learn about my career choice. To be quite honest, I had exactly the same thoughts when I first came across the term a few years back. Since then, I've learned and picked up the skills fast to become a UX Designer, and more importantly, I love it.
My career started off as a media manager, where the most exciting part of my job was to review the weekly television rating reports and extract insights about viewer responses to the various network shows. Digging deeper into those reports, I relished creating business plans for my clients based on data. I got hooked on the data-driven cause and effect approach in advertising. Though at a small scale, I successfully initiated a few qualitative research projects, in an industry that’s heavily guided by third party research data, and it turned out to be very productive
Moving to New York from Trivandrum, India gave me an opportunity to pursue this interest further. So when I was introduced to the world of UX Design, and I was fascinated to learn about the user-centric approach applied in problem-solving. The clear emphasis on understanding the user, identifying the root cause of a problem before jumping in to try and solve it, really resonated with me. I’ve always been curious about what motivates people to do what they do but over the last couple of years, my curiosity has developed into a passion.
I’ve always believed in the power of research and data analytics and now have created an opportunity to have a job where I will enjoy what I do. Along the way, I've also been influenced strongly by some books; Design of Everyday Things, Thinking Fast and Slow, Principles, Hooked, and Grit to name a few. Last but not the least a career in UX design will let me be creative and analytical at the same time keeping both sides of my brain busy :)
Right now I am reading:
Grit
By Angela Duckworth
Right now I am learning:
Spanish through Duolingo
Right now I am working on:
A Media Research Tool
Right now I am listening to:
How I Built This With Guy Raz
