Notes

About Jennifer

Product designer working at a fintech company

Founded https://www.uxresourcehub.com/

• Website for UX designers (resources like community, books)

Love mentoring people

What is UX design? Day to day tasks?

A lot of ppl say “I want to be a UI designer, not UX?”

But you can’t take out the UX in UI

If you walk in a building, you need to open a door - imagine the door doesn’t have a knob

• Door is UI
• Knobs are designed (specific ones for pushing, pulling)
• Knob is experience

UX solves a problem

Difference between product vs UX designer?

Product designer is from beginning to end (when product is live - post-production)

• Doesn’t just stop at the endpoint alone (when product has launched)

UI/UX designer focus on experience and usability testing

How do I get started in UX design? (Roadmap)

You need to know UX is what you want/love to do

• Money is important but it can’t be the only reason

Be focused - but take it easy so you don’t burn out

As long as you’re learning - even if you’re “lazy” (1 hour a week), it’s still a step towards growth

Plan for rest days

Join communities

• Work with people on projects
• Can learn from them

Get a mentor

• https://adplist.org?ref=ADP-EN-BYM20

Invest in yourself - take courses, prioritize your time

Jennifer’s experience

Learned Coursera Google UX design

YouTube was getting brushed up on UI

Landed a job through these 2

Got first internship after 1 week of finishing course

Job after posting something on LinkedIn

• Was scared to post at first
• It got a lot of likes
• The head of this department sent a LinkedIn DM, interviewed

Why EntryLevel?

Monitor growth

Not like YouTube

More hands-on, applicable projects

Can ask better questions to mentors

Good breakdown of foundations

Skills needed? Coding?

Don’t overwhelm yourself

Worked in UX for more than 3 years - haven’t written 1 line of code

Don’t learn a particular tech or trend just bc you think it’s where the focus is

Learn to apply to your design work

Take design thinking courses

• Soft skills

Can learn photoshop, illustrator if you apply it (for UI)

Common mistakes to avoid?

Taking a bunch of courses and learning a bunch of tools

Don’t compare yourself to others online

• Some people get discouraged from posting their work because they don’t think it’s good enough
• But Jennifer landed a job after posting
• Get feedback, ask questions

What products you make will never be perfect - that’s why so many apps have constant updates

Find a community - networking events

• EntryLevel’s Discord: https://discord.gg/3RpSSkCvux

Better to apply than not do anything

Don’t overwhelm yourself - you’re still a beginner, not a senior

• Beginner’s mindset

Storytime: just go for it

Jennifer doubted herself a lot

“I cannot get this, people who get this are like founders”

“I’m gonna just apply anyway”

Got picked

Don’t self-reject

How to stand out?

Apollo.io - extension to get people’s emails from LinkedIn

Can cold email them

Post your work, but you also need to do cold outreach

Companies want cover letters because they want to understand how your mind thinks, where you’re at - without just looking at resume

• Cold outreach can show more of how proactive you are
• You’ve done research, recommendations

Portfolio deck

Portfolio tips? What does a good UX / UI portfolio look like?

You don’t NEED a website - can use Behance, Dribbble, even PowerPoint

Make it as simple as possible

Want to know how you think

People are scanning - make your headlines work

• Don’t put “user research” put what you learned in user research

Job search tips? Interview tips?

Go on LinkedIn and search for founders hiring

You’ll see posts about people hiring and reach out

Join community

Mentors can help you improve - portfolio review

Make sure you reach out - do cold outreach

Make portfolio digestible

Resources

Jennifer's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-daniel-4b5514ab/

https://www.uxresourcehub.com/

https://adplist.org?ref=ADP-EN-BYM20

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/840.The_Design_of_Everyday_Things

https://www.apollo.io/ for cold outreach

https://discord.gg/3RpSSkCvux

JENUX10 for 10% off an EntryLevel course - expires Dec 31, 2023

Portfolio sites you can use

https://tilda.cc/

https://uxfol.io/

https://carrd.co/

https://webflow.com/

https://vzy.co/

Dribbble, Behance

https://gamma.app/templates/personal-portfolio-1K3WWlNGS5W8tutyagR5FN

Slidesgo - beautiful slide deck templates: https://slidesgo.com/

Pitch: more beautiful decks: https://pitch.com/

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EntryLevel's resources

Our website: https://www.entrylevel.net/

Our Data Analysis course: https://www.entrylevel.net/courses/data

FAQs: https://intercom.help/entrylevel/en/

Contact: support@entrylevel.net, jennifer@entrylevel.net

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About us

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EntryLevel helps you learn and get experience so you can get hired. Our 6-week programs are taught by world-class mentors, so you can learn and build a portfolio of work.

You'll learn with a cohort of driven peers, and each lesson is unlocked after a set time so you stay accountable and finish the program.

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