I've made a career in Advertising Account Management. I've enjoyed the industry and work for most of my career, but I'm coming to accept that the passion for the work has died. I've always been a creative person at heart, but never followed a career in that. Now the older I get the more I want to pursue my passion(s). I'm now taking a UX designer bootcamp class, but for those of you who work in UX design and those who have transitioned/pivoted into UX design, what do you recommend my next steps be? YOE 5 years TC $110k #uxdesigner
I recommend you take on freelance small business clients and apply your skill set to real world needs and solutions.
This is the path I was leaning towards after finishing up bootcamp and making a portfolio. I've been learning Sketch, but hearing the industry is moving towards Figma.
Figma is the future but don't focus too much on tools. Massage your portfolio with as much feedback from working designers as you can get. Think strategy, details, and storytelling. Work on your portfolio presentation. Look for contracts. All else will fall into place.
I've heard everyone is or already has migrated over to Figma from Sketch, which is what I'll do since the learning curve doesn't seem too steep. Building out my portfolio is the next step.
Don’t do it! Become an engineer or product manager instead. You’ll get paid more and have more decision making power.
Get into front end development position that mostly has you do prototypes. These exist but rarer. You would get paid more too
...or just do UX if that's what you really like. UX Designers make a lot, too. If you're passionate about design, do design, don't do something just because it pays more if you're not going to be happy doing it.