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Fashion Design to UX Design
65 Plays1 year ago
Today's guest is Rachel, a Senior Experience Designer at Havas CX. As a former fashion designer, her interest in sustainability led her to a career in UX design. Read about that here. Rachel discusses how she tailored her job search and portfolio to secure the job she desired. She also explores the differences between securing her first UX job and her second one.
If you have any questions for me or the guests, or if you'd like to be a guest yourself, feel free to email me at alumnipodcast@springboard.com.
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Edited by Dave Bianco
Cover art by Jerry Qu
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Transcript
Introduction and Mentorship Advice
00:00:14
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Life After Tech Boot Camp. Before my boot camp, when I was at the crossroads in my career, one invaluable piece of advice I received was to seek out those who shared my background and have landed where I aspired to be.
Meet Rachel: From Fashion to UX Design
00:00:32
Speaker
Following this advice led me to meeting today's fantastic guest, Rachel.
00:00:37
Speaker
We both started in the same cohort and she introduced herself on the Slack channel. And when she said she was a fashion designer, it obviously caught my attention and I had to connect to her.
00:00:48
Speaker
And since then our connection has evolved beyond professional networking. You know, I consider Rachel a good friend and I'm thrilled to share her story today. So without further ado, Rachel is a multidisciplinary designer from Brooklyn, New York, who is passionate about creating digital experiences with a focus on human centered design. She made the switch from fashion design to UX during lockdown and hasn't looked back.
Career Transition to UX Design
00:01:17
Speaker
Rachel's currently a senior experience designer at Havas CX. Hey Rachel, talk about a full circle moment. Did you ever consider that by signing up for the bootcamp, you would eventually be on a podcast talking about your experience and amazing career success?
00:01:34
Speaker
Hi, I did not. That was not part of the plan, but I'm glad I'm here. Life works in mysterious ways. So yeah, what's been going on with you? Just been working, traveling, kind of all over the place. But yeah, really excited to be here today. How are you doing?
00:01:58
Speaker
Pretty good. I'm always very excited. I mean, I get excited to talk to most people about most things, but I'm always very excited to talk to someone else that's affected from the fashion industry. Obviously that topic can be a whole other podcast, but it's always just really cool to connect with someone who's like-minded.
Challenges in the Fashion Industry
00:02:17
Speaker
And I always felt it's just good to kind of see what other people did, even though we were kind of doing things at the same time to get to where we wanted to go.
00:02:25
Speaker
And it's just the like-mindedness that's really great. Agreed. Special breed of ex-fashion people going into UX. Yes, yes. So I'm very excited to have this story because a lot of people I know I felt in fashion, it felt very sequestered. I felt like, and we'll talk more about you because this is your episode, but I felt that
00:02:56
Speaker
I didn't have a lot to offer other industries and I just kind of felt like fashion was so pigeonholed and insular that I didn't even know where to start when I wanted to break out of it because it's not like, I think some people, you know, they'll start consulting and they kind of know paths out or they'll start in some sector of like business and it's easier to switch around that way. But that was just how I felt.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, I felt similarly, I think the way the fashion industry is set up, you kind of get put into categories of like, you're a knitwear designer, you're like a menswear designer, and it's really hard to move. So I think when you're in that, it's hard to imagine doing anything else. But yeah, it's possible. Here we are.
Discovering UX and Sustainability
00:03:45
Speaker
It is, it is possible. I'm proud to say there's two people here that have proven that it's possible. So
00:03:52
Speaker
No unicorns. But let's talk about what you were doing before UX came into your life. We know we were working in fashion, but what was going on? Yeah. So I was in about my fifth year working in fashion. I was working designing women's sportswear.
00:04:16
Speaker
And around like year four, I would say, I started to question my whole future in the career. And this is before I even knew what UX was. There were a couple of reasons why I think, as we both know, the toxic work environment is a factor. You don't really feel rewarded for your work and then
00:04:37
Speaker
Also, complete side note, I became super obsessed with sustainability and all the sustainability issues in the fashion industry, but that, as we said, is also another podcast. But all these things just started accumulating and I was like, what else can I do? You know, I still love design, I still love fashion, but I just didn't see myself being a fashion designer for the rest of my life. So that started with
00:05:07
Speaker
a desire to make the fashion industry more sustainable. And I was just researching. I couldn't even tell you what. And somehow I came across UX design. And at that point, everything just clicked for me. I was like, okay, this is exactly how I approach design. All the thinking makes a lot of sense. And I
00:05:30
Speaker
thought for months before actually taking the leap.
The Impact of the Pandemic on Rachel's Career
00:05:33
Speaker
This is something I want to do. But yeah, that was kind of my switch from fashion to UX. Certainly. And I remember you shared that in our pre-interview. And I didn't realize that that was the catalyst to help you discover UX. And I do love how just you wanted to take charge about an issue you cared about, led you down a whole other path that you didn't anticipate.
00:06:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. If anyone else listening is interested in sustainability in the fashion industry, you would know it's really overwhelming because there's so many layers and the industry is so big. So it kind of feels like you can't do anything as an individual person. So I think my thought was, okay, there's technology that can be
00:06:22
Speaker
created, there's apps that can be created to help different aspects of it. So yeah, that's where my thinking was. That's so fascinating that yeah, with tech, of course, I would generally wonder, you know, with the poly cotton that's out there, again, we're probably digressing, but I wonder, I just wonder what kind of technology could get around that because you can't recycle textiles often. They can be repurposed, but they just, they'll never break down.
00:06:51
Speaker
T-shirt's a T-shirt. It's not going away. Were you able to find any interesting technology? There was a lot.
00:07:01
Speaker
I actually ended up writing an article at my last selfless, shameless book. I wrote an article about how blockchain can help us track the whole supply chain. So that way you can see where something was made, what materials were used to make that garment.
00:07:25
Speaker
like the entire life cycle and that also helps with secondhand clothing and all of that. So that to me was something really interesting or like a way to I guess get around the whole green washing situation that's happening. And other technologies, I mean,
00:07:48
Speaker
There is a lot there are some ideas I had myself like is there ways to figure out what fibers are in something when it lands in like a landfill so it can be recycled properly. There's just so many things that
00:08:03
Speaker
I was thinking about. Certainly.
Navigating UX Bootcamp and Networking
00:08:05
Speaker
Well, um, we'll have to put that link to the article in this podcast episode for anyone interested in reading that and looking into that further. So if you're willing to share that with us, I'd be happy to put it in the footnotes. So going forward, you know, you're discovering all this, you discovered UX. What was kind of the tipping point of I'm going to pursue this career?
00:08:28
Speaker
pretty dramatic tipping point. There was a pandemic, as we all know, and I got laid off basically right away. And that was my tipping point. I was like, okay, I don't have a job now. I don't know what's happening in the world. I'm either going to wait and see what happens or just take this risk and
00:08:55
Speaker
sign up for a bootcamp. So that's what I did. Um, and I kind of told myself, if this doesn't work out, I can always go back to fashion. Um, but luckily it ended up working out. Certainly. Did you look at other boot camps or consider master's degrees? Yeah, I didn't want to go back to school full time. I wanted to do something a little bit faster. Um, and I did look at a couple of boot camps, but the reason I chose springboard was because of the mentor program.
00:09:23
Speaker
I thought it would be great to work with someone one-on-one and get feedback and really talk through. Like I work really well when I talk through my work. So I didn't want to work totally on my own. So that was definitely the reason I chose Springboard. Certainly. Yeah. I think a lot of people really valued that in the sense of they could utilize their brain and kind of work at their own pace.
00:09:47
Speaker
So I absolutely see that. So you're in the course. What did you really enjoy about? Like what kind of surprised you about the learnings, anything, any takeaways? Yeah. So things that stuck out to me about the bootcamp were, I mean, I was really excited about everything as I was going into it. And like during the pandemic, I literally had nothing else to do. So I remember,
00:10:16
Speaker
being really interested in the visual design side of it and just how I was able to make parallels with my previous design experience and the UX design process. What really stuck out to me was how we had to network. And that was something that was totally new to me. And I remember when I look back, I just think about how it was such a challenging and rewarding time, even though I did all of this at home
00:10:47
Speaker
when nothing else was going on. It's just a very strange thing to think about.
00:10:52
Speaker
Certainly. And yeah, doing the bootcamp at the same time, it was weird that, you know, that was all we could focus on. We weren't going out. So tell me a little bit more about the networking aspect, since that was new. And I feel like people don't really network in fashion. No one wants to talk to you in fashion. No one really wants to be like your manager in fashion. No.
00:11:20
Speaker
It's odd. It's definitely a learning curve of doing that. So tell me about your experience.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, so I remember I was putting it off for as long as possible. And Springboard does a good job at pushing you to cold reach out to people and just talk to people. And I was like, I don't want to do this. Because I was so anxious about it. I was like, no one's going to talk to me. I was totally scarred from the fashion industry. And I basically waited until I had to do it. So I remember I joined Lunch Club.
00:11:56
Speaker
and then i started reaching out to people on linkedin and at first i was terrified but the more i started talking to people the more i realized everyone was so nice and so willing to give advice um everyone was just great um and that kind of helped me
00:12:15
Speaker
be less freaked out about reaching out to people. Um, so it was really just like a practice thing. And the more I did it, the more comfortable I got just talking into my computer. And I think that helped me significantly with my interviewing and now working. I have to talk to people all the time on my computer and it just, I'm just so comfortable with it now. And yeah, like three years ago, I would not be able to do this. So yeah, I attribute that to springboard.
00:12:45
Speaker
Certainly. And that's a really interesting parallel how that networking got you up and talking and ready for interviews too. It's an obvious connection, but I never actually thought about how those two are similar because you're giving, when you introduce yourself, it's your elevator pitch. And that's essentially what your job interview is. It's like a pre-interview and
00:13:07
Speaker
Exactly. I was like, I know my story so well. I know how to converse with it now because I've done it so many times. So it's true. You just need to practice, record yourself. The more you do it, the easier it'll be.
Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety
00:13:21
Speaker
Certainly. What helped you become more comfortable, do you think?
00:13:26
Speaker
just doing it so many times. I mean, to be fair, getting good feedback and talking to nice people helps, but there were so many things I just recorded myself on and looked at my body language and how I was pausing and speaking, and that helped a lot with my public speaking skills. Still working on it, but I think just practicing and getting feedback, being open to feedback is really important. Certainly.
00:13:54
Speaker
Did you get any feedback that you still think about to this day or something that really helped you? I talked to so many people. There were a couple of people I connected with on ADP list, which I highly recommend. There's actually one piece of advice that I did here.
00:14:15
Speaker
that I think about from time to time. I connected with somebody that worked at Instagram, I think it was. It was just an informational interview. I wasn't interviewing there. The guy said, your first tech job doesn't have to be your dream job. You have the rest of your life to work and you have time to get to your dream job.
00:14:37
Speaker
Wow. That's so refreshing because you always feel like you have to get everything now. You have to succeed now and everything has to happen tomorrow, you know? So that just really helped me calm down and be like, okay, I just need to get my foot in the door. And I have so many years in my life that I have to work and I have time to get my dream job. And also as career changers, we know that could change. So it just helped me relax. And I still think about that.
00:15:07
Speaker
That's a great advice. I completely agree. And also, I think sometimes your dreams might not actually become your dreams as you learn other things about yourself, other things about the industry and other topics. And I mean, when we were in our boot camp, AI obviously was around, but it wasn't being talked about like it is now. So with things constantly changing, sometimes landing where you might not want to be isn't always the worst, I guess.
00:15:36
Speaker
100%. I agree. So within the course, like you're networking like crazy. Did you do anything else outside of the course to kind of prepare you for the switch?
00:15:46
Speaker
Yes, I know. I mostly followed Springboard's curriculum.
Building a Standout Portfolio
00:15:50
Speaker
And on the side, I just found other people to get feedback from, like people on ADP list. And I joined a ton of Slack channels and Discord groups just to talk to other people and get insight. I just needed as much insight as I could. Getting feedback on your work.
00:16:10
Speaker
through those avenues as well, I think helped me. I redid my portfolio like six times before I showed it to like went to an interview. So yeah, I think that was the biggest thing I did outside of just following the curriculum is connecting with people to get feedback on everything and fixing things as many times as you need to. Certainly. So, you know, that's a normal thing to constantly redo your portfolio. What do you think was the biggest difference between
00:16:40
Speaker
like your first version and your latest version. So I actually redid mine a year ago after being out of the bootcamp. So my first version was, it just, I think it felt a little bit more
00:16:55
Speaker
entry level and now it feels a little bit more clean and I think what differentiates the two is the visual design part of it. Just making it look more professional and cleaned up and I guess like forward graphic design forward just helps a lot with the way you tell your story of your work and yourself and it takes a while to get there I think
00:17:25
Speaker
It's almost like branding yourself in a way where you need to figure out your aesthetic and your story and how you're presenting yourself to the world because that's what a potential interviewer is going to see and I was just trying to like
00:17:42
Speaker
share that story of myself and my work as well, as best as I can. So it's always a work in progress in my eyes. Certainly. That's how I kind of felt too, in the sense of like putting all these bootcamp projects together. It's tough because you want to make them pretty perfect, but then, you know, as you grow within your career, like obviously I'm not showing bootcamp projects to the next place I might interview at.
00:18:06
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. You always have to update and change and keep up with what's trendy in graphic design and what's going on in the UX world. It's always a work in progress, but I think it gets easier as you go on. Certainly. I know, but if you could share what getting your first job was like,
00:18:32
Speaker
Sure, sure. So the end of my springboard experience was timed a little bit weird. I was supposed to start my IDP probably around this time and it ended up getting pushed until after the holidays.
00:18:48
Speaker
So I kind of had the whole month of December to work on my portfolio because I was done with the rest of my curriculum. So I just worked on writing out my case studies, building my website, and just leaving space for the IDP.
00:19:05
Speaker
And once I got that in a good place, I started applying for jobs before I finished the bootcamp. So I think that process probably took me about two months, but it lined up with me finishing the bootcamp. So it looked like I got one right away, but it wasn't as easy as it looked. And I mean, most jobs that I applied to,
00:19:27
Speaker
I didn't even get a response. I don't even remember how many jobs I applied to. I ended up finding my first job through a Slack channel
00:19:39
Speaker
for, I think it was like a woman in design Slack channel, connected with somebody that posted about a job.
Securing a UX Job in Fashion Tech
00:19:47
Speaker
And it took a while to go through the interview process, but ended up getting the job. And I attribute getting a job so quickly.
00:19:59
Speaker
to tailoring my projects that I did during springboard and my portfolio to the kind of job that I was looking for. So going into springboard, I was like, I want to work in fashion tech. I have a fashion background. I can utilize that experience and build a project and get a job at like a fashion tech company. So my capstone was a secondhand resale app.
00:20:25
Speaker
And I ended up getting a job at an e-commerce agency. So I was super open, but also tailoring myself to a very specific thing. And it ended up working out. It did. And yeah, it did look like you got a job before you even graduated.
00:20:43
Speaker
definitely did something right. So I'm curious, while you tailored your portfolio to fashion tech type jobs, e-commerce, all of that, did you apply to other industries just to throw your hat in the ring or were you very focused?
00:20:56
Speaker
Yeah, I made a list of my top companies and at that time I was like, I kind of want to work in agency or do I want to work at a startup? I wasn't really sure. So I was very open. I was like, I just want to get my foot in the door and see where I fit in. But my ideal was to be in like a fashion tech adjacent company. Certainly. And you ended up getting a job at an agency. Yes.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yes, which I feel like a lot of people they get into UX, maybe not a lot, but there's definitely a lot of people are like, I want to work in an agency.
Agency Work Experience and Insights
00:21:32
Speaker
I want to do the slick user interfaces. I, you know, they want to make the eye candy and you got into one, which those are very competitive. So I'd love to kind of hear about your experience at your first job working in this agency. And, you know, what's, what's the peak behind the curtain of agency life?
00:21:52
Speaker
Oh man, agency life is hectic, but I like it because there's variety and you're always working on something new. It's very different from what I hear is in-house or startup life. So my first agency, I was there for two years, worked mostly in e-commerce and when you're at an agency, you work on
00:22:20
Speaker
whatever the client's project is, and you jump around from client to client every couple months usually. And you also work on pitches when you're pitching to a client to get their business. So it's really interesting. They definitely don't teach this in boot camps, but I did obviously utilize everything I learned to be able to adapt and figure out how to work in an agency.
00:22:50
Speaker
So pitches are very like blue sky kind of fantasy land type work within reason that has to be feasible in some way. But it's usually like, here's all the amazing things we could do if you pay us millions and millions of dollars. And then if you win the work, then you actually go through the whole design process of like research and testing and design and working with developers. And you have the whole team there, but there's also client management. So.
00:23:20
Speaker
Um, yeah, I, it's a lot of work. It's very fast paced. It's diverse. Um, and that can be good and bad. I would think so, but I think you gave a really good honest description and for me, that does not sound like something I would enjoy, but that's okay. Like I work in house at a big enterprise and I think it's just really interesting to talk about the different ways you can apply UX within the business setting.
00:23:49
Speaker
And I really loved hearing about the blue sky planning when you told me this before. And I had so many questions. I was just thinking, like, there's no way to do all of your due diligence. And obviously, you're designing something within reason. But then I also kind of wondered, do you bring in engineers to kind of say, hey, we have this crazy idea? Like, is this feasible? Should we even present it? Or what if you get to the actual process?
00:24:18
Speaker
what you designed isn't what you can deliver. So I was just very curious about that. Yeah. Yeah. Usually we do consult with our developers and our tech team. Like, can we do this if we were able to do it? And they'll kind of break it down. Like, usually you can do anything. That's what they'll say. But you have to think about money and time and tech limitations and like,
00:24:46
Speaker
all the moving pieces. So they just equip us with telling the client, we can do anything you want, but this is how much time and how much it's going to cost you to do it. So usually the way it works with pitches is if you win the client's work, then you go into the whole design process. And yeah, you don't have time for any of that when you're creating a pitch because they give you
00:25:12
Speaker
two weeks sometimes to create the whole thing. So once you start actually working on it, then you build out your teams like the agency I'm at now. We have a team of content strategists, CX strategists, UX designers, visual designers, developers. There's a lot of strategy thinking behind the work.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah, generally we won't create anything unless it's feasible, but sometimes you have to get them to want you, you know, that's kind of how that goes. Certainly. Has anything really, you know, obviously we learned perfect practice in our bootcamp and you said that you don't really learn pitches in bootcamps, but was there anything else that really surprised you in the real world that we didn't learn
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's a lot of prototyping that I do now, and I know there is a focus on that a little bit in Springboard, but I'm doing it a lot more than I expected to. It's just the best way to explain your work and how something is supposed to interact. So definitely surprised how much I'm prototyping.
00:26:34
Speaker
And just the variety, I've only been at two agencies now and I was doing a lot more visual design at my last one and I'm not really doing that now. So it just goes to show how different things are company to company. And, um, you know, it is UX UI bootcamp that we did, but I do feel like I'm more focused on UX.
00:27:00
Speaker
So yeah, just the little details, I think. Certainly. And there's no way everyone can do the whole process. That would just be way too much. Yeah, it happens sometimes, but yes, it is too much. It could happen, I guess, depending on how lean the team is, but I couldn't imagine starting, like how we built our capstone, starting from literally like, think of a problem you're interested in, define it. I feel, at least in my experience, a lot of work is kind of done for me.
00:27:29
Speaker
so that I can focus right in on the UX and building out the wireframes and user flows and all of that. So, yeah, I agree. And I think it was great though to have that experience with the Capstone so you understand the holistic thinking that's involved. So when you do that one piece, you're like, okay, this person had to think through all of those things and just helpful going down the line.
00:27:56
Speaker
Certainly, certainly. Um, so I'd love to understand kind of what the, you interviewed twice because you're on your second job. Were there any key differences between your interviews? Um, because you were being hired in at a different level. Like first you were a bit more junior and now you're not. So did you notice any differences in those processes? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, to start, I, my first job, I only had bootcamp work and
00:28:25
Speaker
my second job, I was able to show real life work. And with the real life work, you're able to show more numbers like how impactful a design was and like it just has more
00:28:43
Speaker
basis to it, then like I had this great idea and look at my cool design. So that was the biggest piece that was different. I was also able to talk more about how I work with developers and other people in my team, obviously did not have that experience before.
00:29:01
Speaker
So yeah, I would say it was completely different now that I'm thinking about it. Just your experience is different, so you talk about your experience. And I feel like going into your first job, you're more like trying to show your potential and
00:29:17
Speaker
like playing up your previous work experience? Certainly. And that's a really interesting perspective. And there was one bit of advice you gave me like right after you got your job, we finally met in person for like the first time because it was socially acceptable. But there was that one bit of advice you gave about
00:29:38
Speaker
I'll let you share it. Do you remember where it is? Oh, remind me. Remind me what it is. It's fine. Okay. So remember you said that you really played up your IDP a lot. You use that as an example as much as you could during interviews to really prove that you could do the UX UI and not just because I do think there is a bit of
00:30:03
Speaker
You do need to bring transferable skills and show them, but I think a lot of people think, well, I, you know, I designed clothing. So, but now I took this bootcamp. So it's clothing design is similar to UX design in many ways, but still not the same. You can't go to an employer and say, well, I designed clothing. So let me design your UI. Yeah. It doesn't really work that way. And I think you really like.
00:30:34
Speaker
were able to massage how like, even though we were a junior, we were just kind of coming out boot camps, you were able to really like emphasize
00:30:42
Speaker
your candidacy by pointing to your IDP. Yeah, I do remember that and giving that advice now. But yeah, I think it's tying all the things together and the IDP, unless you have done other freelance work for UX-UI design, that really is the only real projects you've done. Because you're working with other people, you're working with a company of some kind, maybe not a developer.
00:31:11
Speaker
showing that you can work with a team because you will work with a team more than likely at your first job. It's a very important thing to show that you can do that and how you do that. So yes, I think it's super important to play that up and to show that you're not just like, in our case, a fashion person who took a bootcamp. We can actually do this when it's applied to the real world.
00:31:37
Speaker
Certainly. And I think also I'm not sure what other people felt in other professions, but at least for me in the production end of fashion, I knew that you couldn't just design any garment, send it to a factory and get something perfect back. There were so many more limitations with budget and machinery and things like that. So I think one thing that I did, I'm not sure, I'm sure you probably realize this too, but you're probably very in tune to asking the questions of
00:32:06
Speaker
Okay, we designed stuff, but where could things go wrong? Like where would things have to be negotiated? So I think that was a really helpful perspective to bring in. Yeah, I definitely thought that as well. And I think that's where our experience has been so beneficial as we understand the process of something going from
00:32:27
Speaker
discovery to like concept to the actual thing. There's so many things that happen in between and it is very similar when it's digital products. So it's like anticipating those things and
00:32:46
Speaker
I think it helped, at least in my case, it helped me talk about it maybe at a higher level than someone that hasn't worked in design before. So yes, I completely agree. Certainly, or at least just building something. Like I definitely, kind of going back to what I said in the beginning of this episode, I definitely gravitated towards people who used to work in fashion, who were graphic designers, who were architecture turned UX. And it was nice to kind of validate like,
00:33:17
Speaker
how we felt about the processes being similar. Yeah, I was seeking people out, but that had fashion backgrounds or any kind of design background.
00:33:30
Speaker
So yeah, I think we had a very unique perspective coming into this.
Transition to Meaningful Work in Healthcare UX
00:33:34
Speaker
Certainly. And I love that we both get to do really interesting, exciting work and it's a little bit more meaningful. Like I'm not sure about your projects now, but I, you know, I'm not changing the world. Um, but I feel like, you know, figuring out how to make an experience smoother for someone to buy.
00:33:54
Speaker
a wireless plan, get a new device, it feels a little bit better than pumping out tons of clothing into the world. Yeah, I'm with you on that. Right now, my primary client is a healthcare company, which I never thought I would be working in healthcare, but that does feel good. I feel like it's actually helping people.
00:34:21
Speaker
doing something good. So it's a good feeling. Yeah. I'm probably, you know, if I'm asking questions that are too deep, let me know. But I obviously anyone who's had public health insurance knows how crappy those websites are. And I just went back on a private plan. And the website was actually really easy to use. And
00:34:47
Speaker
I was, I was wondering because obviously, you know, every, it comes down to money. Like we can health insurance as a whole other podcast too, but I genuinely curious to know the business rationale for why people are starting to think we need to make better websites and better experiences for our healthcare customers. And I know a lot of people think, well, because we're paying for it and it should be obviously,
00:35:15
Speaker
but I guess in my jaded sense of people aren't going to do it or we're not going to make anything better unless someone actually finds a monetary value. Yeah. I know. I thought, I don't know if I should say that, but it's like kind of the cold hard truth. So where I'm going with this is I'm generally curious to know like,
00:35:36
Speaker
Why are healthcare companies now thinking, let's make this better for our users? I wonder what their business incentive is. And I don't know if you can answer that. Yeah, I mean, I don't have the answer. But from what I'm thinking, I agree with you. Everything is unfortunately fueled by money and profit. So if there's a lot of newer healthcare companies that are private,
00:36:04
Speaker
like one medical and like those kinds of private practices and they have really great websites and experiences so I think hospitals and insurance companies are that are more old school are like if we need to compete with them like we need to have a good website and
00:36:24
Speaker
Also paired with most companies now have some kind of tech UX team. So people are noticing a drop off or they're not able to make appointments or pay their bills. That's a problem. Um, so I think it's a lot of things put together, but at the end of the day, everyone wants all the patients or users to go to their business. And the best way to do that now is to have a great.
00:36:50
Speaker
an easy to use website or app because that's how everyone starts their journeys usually. So that's my opinion at least. Certainly. And I can see that too. Yeah, obviously people want your bills to be paid. Sensitive subject, I know. But also, yeah, it's just really interesting.
00:37:13
Speaker
You know, we're so taught in UX, like we're for the user, we're for the user. And a bit of advice I got, which I think I've said previously from an architect turned UX designer, he was saying, you know, there's going to be a lot of pushback.
Balancing User Needs with Business Constraints
00:37:29
Speaker
Like in the end of the day, you're taught perfect practice. His point was like, just try to make things a little bit better. Don't worry about making things perfect. Um, because you just can't, there's not always that business incentive.
00:37:44
Speaker
There is not. Yeah. Sometimes you have to kind of come to a conclusion of what's good enough for the user and good for the business because you have to sell your ideas to a bunch of stakeholders. Unfortunately, that is the reality. It is. Yes. I mean, being able to sell your point of view, even if you haven't really done that in the industry, I think
00:38:08
Speaker
when someone is interviewing you and asking you questions about your project to really have a good answer for something. Because that is something you're constantly going to be doing is defending UX. So I would love to know, like, you know, now that you've made this switch from fashion to UX, you're obviously thriving. What is kind of your favorite thing about your new career? Ooh, that's a good question.
00:38:37
Speaker
I mean, I love the flexibility. I think it's a totally different experience now being able to work. I'm hybrid now, so I go into the office and I work at home. But yeah, that flexibility is amazing. I also love working with my team and also on my own.
00:38:57
Speaker
very opposite things I'm saying, but like it's just the dynamic work-life balance I have now is probably my favorite thing.
Career Growth and Future Aspirations
00:39:06
Speaker
And I also like how I get to use my brain and really think through problems constantly. I'm always up for a challenge. I'm not getting bored and I don't see myself getting bored doing this job because it's always different. And yeah, like seeing where the tech industry is going to go is always
00:39:28
Speaker
always a fun thing to think about. Certainly. And just seeing where the business priorities are going and kind of understanding where to shape your career from that. So with all this being said, you know, is there anything that we didn't get to talk about that you would like to share? I think just I'll touch on the
00:39:50
Speaker
the getting yourself ready to interview. Um, I have chatted with a couple of people that cold reached out to me on LinkedIn. Um, and I get a lot of the same questions from people like how, like it's so hard to get interviews and how do you stay motivated? How do you not look like a bootcamp grad? Cause everyone's kind of starting to look the same. Um,
00:40:16
Speaker
So I always say don't get discouraged. It's easier said than done, but it's true. Just keep going. It's, it is a numbers game at the end of the day. You just have to keep applying, keep reaching out to people, keep interviewing, and eventually you will get a job.
00:40:32
Speaker
Um, and with your work, I looked at other people's, uh, bootcamp portfolios and I was like, okay, I'm noticing this in everyone's portfolio. How do I look different than that? How do I look more elevated than that? So it's, I mean, it's not great to compare yourself, but it helps me, um, in some ways. So I think.
00:40:56
Speaker
Yeah, just keep going. Don't get discouraged and ask for feedback and update your work. It's the only way you're going to improve. So just want to leave that piece of advice.
00:41:13
Speaker
Certainly. And that's really interesting how those are the most common questions you're getting. So that says a lot. It says like, well, what is on people's minds? Well, fantastic. So with that, you know, what is next for you? Like, where do you see yourself going in the future?
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah, so all my experience has been in agency and I really like it. So I'm thinking going towards like creative director level at an agency, also super interested in startup world potentially in the future. If there's a really interesting product, I think it'd be really cool to build that and
00:41:57
Speaker
of see it from beginning to end. Um, but who knows? Everything is changing every day. So we'll see what happens. Certainly. No, that sounds incredibly exciting. And yes, you definitely been more of like the creative person, like the more UI, at least in my eyes, like, so I could definitely see you fitting in very well with that career path. And my last question. So as we're coming up on time, you know, are you open to listeners connecting with you on social media?
00:42:26
Speaker
Yeah, reach out to me on LinkedIn. If I'm not busy, I'm happy to chat. So yeah, definitely. Fantastic. And would you be willing to spell your name so that people reach out to the right, Rachel? Yes. So my first name is Rachel, R-A-C-H-E-L. Last name is Pritikin, P-R-I-T-Y-K-I-N.
00:42:53
Speaker
Amazing. Yes, definitely reach out to Rachel. She's incredibly wise and just a great person overall. So for everybody listening, if you have any questions for Rachel or myself that you'd like to be answered on a future episode, please email me at alumnipodcastatspringboard.com. Rachel, thank you so much for being here. It was a pleasure as I didn't expect anything less. So thank you so much. Thank you so much. This was fun.