#13 - How to know where you are in your career journey?
Hello my friend! đ
Last Friday, I had a fruitful discussion with my manager about my career progression, specifically my current standing as a designer. At some point in our professional lives, we all encounter this question: âWhere am I in this career growth journey?â
Sometimes, we may make assumptions about our seniority, and other times, we might underestimate our abilities despite performing at a high level. Just because you donât have a senior title doesnât mean youâre not performing at that level.
Hereâs a tip: Ask your manager directly. They are responsible for observing your growth. Ask them where they think you stand and what areas they think you excel in or could improve upon. Managers are observing your everyday communication, your comments in meetings, your messages on Slack, and of course, the quality of your work. Theyâll be able to give you insights that you may not have considered.
Donât be afraid to ask directly. Remember, if you grow, itâs a win-win situation. Your growth will benefit you and the team. Engage with your managers and involve them in your professional journey. Use their knowledge and experience to identify and address blind spots in your career.
For me, this required a shift in mindset. Initially, I viewed my one-on-one meetings with my manager as a platform to report my work. Now, I see them as an invaluable resource for feedback, validation, and the ideation of my growth plan for the betterment of the team.
I hope you find this perspective helpful! Looking forward to sharing more insights next week. Cheers!
Hereâre a few things Iâd like to share with you today đ
How to scale design critiques
How did you start your design journey?
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Have a great one and see you soon!
How to scale design critiques
The latest episode of the Design Detail podcast discusses how to scale design critiques. Previously, design approval required feedback from more than 15 people, making it difficult for everyone to gather feedback. Here are a few tips that I learned:
Itâs a good idea to have a moderator to control the time, as we often underestimate the time we need for sharing and conversation. For example, a one-hour design critique could be split into 3 slots of 20 minutes each.
A summary of the design critique with some bullet points and actions after can be useful for people who werenât able to join. This also helps them understand what is happening in the company or team relevant to their work. The summary can be shared via Slack, email newsletter, or other formats.
A deck of slides can be created, with each designer having one slide to present their work. This is useful for squaring up and sharing what everyone is working on.
Require designers to give the context of the project they are working on in just one minute, and specify what feedback they are looking for.
If possible, separate the designers into smaller groups to make the critique more effective.
Overall, these tips can help improve the design critique process and make it more accessible to everyone.
How did you start your design journey?
During a meeting today, a colleague told me, âHey Bear, youâre featured on the UXNZ conference follow-up email!â I was like, âWhat?!â And then I found the right photo in my inbox, which was the cover photo for the conference.
I was absolutely overwhelmed đŻ
As an immigrant designer who started my UX design career in my late 30s in a new country a few years ago, it was a humble experience. When I arrived in New Zealand, I had no local working experience, design-relevant education background, or even knowing any other designers. My first job in New Zealand was a design/marketing role in a local health company, but after two years, I got restructured - AKA laid off.
At that time, I decided to focus on UX design and went all-in. Just a few years from that moment, I was a guest speaker at an international design conference!
I share my story as a message for career transitioners, junior designers, and self-taught designers: you can do it too. Just put in determination, strategy, and hard work, and you will get there.
After sharing my story, I have a request. I reached out to other speakers from UXNZ to share their experiences and tips for new designers, and now Iâm asking you to do the same to help new designers. Answer these two questions:
How did you get into the design industry?
What one piece of advice would you give to someone who doesnât have a design background or experience but wants to land their first UX design job in 2023?
If youâre keen to help, please answer them in the comments below or PM me. I would really appreciate it. Iâll put a post together with everyoneâs tips as a resource I wish I had a couple of years ago for all the career transitioners. Thanks, and have a great one đ
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đťÂ Bear Who?
Hi there đ, Iâm Bear, a seasoned Product Designer with 15 years of overall design experience and six years in product design, transforming the user experiences for millions đ
As an Apple Award-Winning Podcast Host at BearTalk and a Design Mentor at Springboard and CareerFoundry, I apply my self-taught design skills and science background to solve complicated problems and mentor budding designers đ
In my downtime, youâll find me reading, drawing, podcasting, and making videos about everything from tech to design and productivity đ¨âđ¨
đ¤Â Work
đźÂ What I doďźProduct Designer at Xero
đ I also doďźDesign Mentor at Springboard and CareerFoundry / Founder at Bear Academy
đ¤Â Side hustleďźPodcast host at Award-winning podcast BearTalk
đĄÂ Goodies
Bear Academy - my courses around UX Design, AI, etc
Bear Academy Newsletter - my free newsletter, which you are reading now
Beartalking.com - all my posts, English and Chinese
Youtube.com/@Bearliu - A video is worth a thousand words
đŹÂ Contact
https://twitter.com/bearbig - Majorly I post in Chinese
bear@beartalking.com - The old fashion email way
LinkedIn.com/in/bearliu - My professional life