Started my current job in May after pivoting careers into Design, is it too early for me to find new opportunities?
**Just want to preface, I know I’m super privileged to be even asking this question because there are so many people who’d wish to be in my position.**
Hi everyone,
I’m currently a experience designer at KPMG and it’s been a tough couple months here because I haven’t been designing anything other than decks.
Of course, it’s been great that I’m learning about UX strategy and research but that is something I knew I was never interested in going into the job search.
Long story short, it’s most likely that there will be less opportunities in actually design (prototyping, wire framing etc) in the future and I have this fear if I need to start applying for jobs again.
What I’m conflicted on are:
1. I still don’t have enough design experience because the projects I’ve been working on has been all strategy so I don’t know how I can sell myself to employers.
2. I love the people that I work with, the directors and managers are huge advocates for me but my frustration is something that is out of their control as well.
TL;DR
I graduated from bootcamp a year ago and now working at a company where I’m not designing at all. I don’t have enough experience to be looking for new jobs, so do I stick it out for a year and network or find a new job ASAP?
Thank you
comments
I would voice to your manager or team how important it is that you get to work on more interaction and visual design. I’m unfamiliar with KPMG culture but there has to be backlog items somewhere available for you to work on.
I think you should stay longer regardless of what happens, you’re so early in career you should stick with a stable job for a while and make the most of it. These skills you’re gaining now, while not your favorite part of UX will be helpful for you down the line.
If you run into a wall looking for design work at the company, look at doing some freelance designs. Maybe learn how to use shopify or webflow and look for some clients.
You could also look at contributing design work to open source projects, many are welcoming to designers looking to improve their documentation sites.
2. It sounds like you've spoken with your manager about your frustrations and wants? What's the reason you're not able to be doing that type of work?
A quick note on research: it's not UX if research isn't a part of it.