How to Start a Design Career in Tech
Here’s how I transitioned from architecture to tech in two years.
During my last semester of architecture graduate school, I decided to change careers. Changing career tracks was a tough decision to make considering the three years I spent studying to become an architect and the massive amount of loans I incurred to pay for my dream school.
However, the disparaging debt-to-income ratio I would have as a working architect didn’t sink in until my last year. The realization of the low starting salary afforded by the architecture track meant I would have to make the minimum loan payments while the interests rapidly accrued over 25 years.
After coming to terms with this scenario, I refused to settle for it as my ultimate reality. However, I had no idea how to move forward or how to avoid this seemingly inevitable outcome.
Luckily, I took an elective course in user experience design the fall semester of my last year in arch school. UX seemed like a great alternative career for me; it was within the design field and had high-income potential. However, I was afraid it was too late to start something new, but it seemed like the risk could potentially pay off.
After mulling it over, I concluded that if I were to make the switch, I would need to be strategic and device a clear plan on how to achieve it. Unless I had these two key ingredients, the likelihood of succeeding was very low. Here’s the breakdown of how I executed my plan.
{Step 1} Set a clear vision
I had already found an alternative career track, but how could I get there? How could I land a six-figure job in UX without any work experience? What company would allow me the financial stability to pay off my debt while living comfortably?
To set an achievable goal, I had to do some extensive research into the field, explore potential employers, and study the income potential in various parts of the country. The research process required a considerable amount of time since I was familiarizing myself with a new industry. Make sure that you don’t rush this process as the information you gain in this step is the foundation for your roadmap strategy.
After synthesizing all of the data I gathered, I wanted to frame a goal that was as much pragmatic as it was high reaching. It wasn’t long before I decided on the goal that would drive me through this journey:
I was going to move to San Francisco and get a job at Google.
Why this goal? Well, I wanted to take advantage of the vast networking potential of the bay area, the access to higher salaries (while accounting for the high cost of living), and the benefits, besides compensation, that Google offered would help me live comfortably while tackling my student loans. In addition, the idea of working at Google was inspiring, and I knew that I would need something exciting to keep me motivated.
{Step 2} Create a roadmap
With a goal in hand, the next step involved creating a plan of action. I dug into the LinkedIn profiles of people that worked at Google, and two things stood out: they either had previous UX design work experience or had interned at the company before joining full time.
Interning seemed like the most direct path to landing a full-time opportunity, especially since I did not have any UX work experience. However, Google requires academic enrollment while interning, and I was about to graduate from architecture school.
After much consideration, I decided that the best approach for my situation was to pursue a second master’s degree in UX. However, the fact that I was already in debt forced me to be intentional and pragmatic in deciding what school to attend. These are the criteria I used to make my decision:
- Find a school in San Francisco: Attending a school in San Francisco would help me build a local network and give me access to other potential employers.
- Shoot for a significant scholarship: The school I chose would need to provide me with a substantial amount of financial support to offset living in the bay area.
- Interning time: The program needed to be long enough to include summer breaks I could leverage to gain internship experience.
After more research, I found California College of the Arts, which covered all of the items on my checklist. I ended up receiving an almost full scholarship, and, with a three-year-long program, I could leverage two summers to gain internship experience.
My simplified roadmap: Move to San Francisco > Attend CCA > Intern at Google > Get converted to full-time
It seems simple right? Well, now comes to the hard part, execution.
{Step 3} Deal with the backlash
Before you can even move forward executing your plan, you need to deal with everyone else’s unrequested opinions. I had so many people tell me I was crazy for wanting to switch from architecture after having gone to arch school for three years. They told me I had no idea how the tech industry worked, no experience with UX, that it wasn’t likely I would get a job at Google, and so on.
Here’s the thing: when you strive to do something out of the ordinary, you will inevitably challenge people’s belief systems. The risk that I was undertaking made others uncomfortable and their reactions revealed their fears more so than my own.
You have to trust your gut and take people’s opinions with a grain of salt.
Surprisingly, the people that cared about me never tried to stop me. Instead, they encouraged me and offered to help along the process. These are the people whose opinions truly matter because they come from a genuine desire to watch you succeed, even if they deep down are afraid that you might fail.
{Step 4} Carve your path
My time at CCA was full of hard work and sacrifices. Leaving everyone, I knew behind to go on this new adventure was a sacrifice in of itself. Throughout the process, I also gave up my social life and embraced countless sleepless nights. My journey became a routine of portfolio redesigns, independent case study explorations, interview prep sessions, and failed job applications.
Landing my first UX internship was very difficult. Google rejected me in my first attempt, along with a bunch of other companies, and it wasn’t until the very last minute that I landed my Adobe internship. The caveat, however, was that the title for the internship position was not “UX designer”; it was Credentials intern. However, the internship project was UX and strategy related.
Having an alternate title was not ideal as I wanted a UX-related title on my resume to demonstrate I had relevant internship experience. To overcome the title nuance, I had to get creative and decided that while the internship did not have my desired title, I could leverage the Adobe name brand and use the internship project to depict my UX skills.
Therefore, I decided to take the risk, move to Seattle for the summer, and ask my recruiter if I could change the title while I was at Adobe. The recruiter agreed and, the following semester, I used the Adobe project during the Google interview to land the internship.
The value of a particular experience might not be evident right away, and it’s up to you determine how you can turn it into an opportunity.
If you’re interested in learning more about how I landed a UX internship at Google, check out my article on UX Collective here.
{Step 5} Focus on the end goal
Towards the end of my Google internship, I began questioning whether returning to school made sense for me. I already had a master’s degree, and the extra year would cost me a lot of money.
Getting a second masters was never my end goal; it was just a means to an end. Therefore, I decided that if I could find a fall internship, I would not return to school.
Effectively, I landed a fantastic internship at Wish for the fall semester, and, after assessing my internship progress at Google, I decided to withdraw from CCA.
Truthfully, this move was inherently risky, but I took landing the Wish internship as a sign to move forward with the decision. If I did not get converted to full-time at Google, I still had the opportunity to land a full-time position at Wish. Therefore, I concluded that the risk was worth taking.
Halfway through my internship at Wish, I found out that I received full-time conversion at Google while landing a full-time offer from Wish. Choosing Google, my start date was February, which saved me a whole year’s worth of tuition and allowed me to make money along the way.
The takeaway here is this: focus on the end goal and don’t get distracted along the way. My end-goal, since the very beginning, was to land a job at Google and not accrue more debt than I needed to.
Don’t let fear keep you from making important decisions, especially if it means achieving your goal at a quicker pace.
{Bonus tip 1 } Look beyond yourself
There were many moments along the way that shook my confidence. One of the things that helped me stay focused and motivated was extending the rewards of achieving my goal beyond myself.
While I knew that working at Google would help me pay off my student loans and live a comfortable life, I also knew that the job would allow me to help my family as well financially. Bringing someone that I cared about into the picture and making them a part of my roadmap encouraged me during difficult times.
With a loved one in the picture, the goal became even more critical, because the benefits of achieving it could change the life of someone besides myself.
{Bonus tip 2} Don’t give up on your past dreams
It’s important to know that following a new goal does not mean you have to give up on your past dreams. For example, while attending CCA, I met colleagues in architecture that extended my network and allowed me to work on freelance architecture projects while pursuing UX design.
Sometimes, taking a different path in life may seem like you have to give up on what you love.
However, if you build it into your roadmap, you can end up fulfilling your new goals while managing to bring your past dreams alongside with you.
Lastly, if you feel like you are settling or if you are unhappy with where you are at this point in your life, know that you do not have to accept this as your ultimate reality. Take your time to explore alternatives and, once you find something that seems plausible, come up with a goal and plan to help you achieve it. Dream big along the way and hold on to the desire that drove you to make this shift in the first place, and you’ll be surprised by how quickly things can change for the better.
