Designing a Career from Scratch: Christina’s UX Academy Journey

Transitioning to UX/UI design isn’t always a mid-career move—just ask UX Academy graduate Christina Liu. As a college student with a fine arts background, she discovered a passion for digital design and decided to join UX Academy, where she found community, mentorship, and direction. We chatted with her about her time in the program, the impact of mentorship and community, and what she’s enjoyed the most about her first UX/ UI role. 

What were you doing before moving into the UX/UI design space?

I was in college, and while I entered as a fine arts major because I’ve always liked art, and I was also on the pre-med track. Long story short, I decided I couldn’t see myself doing pre-med for another four to six years. So I pivoted and thought I would try to pursue something in art and design. 

I knew I didn’t want to go into the fine arts space—I wanted something more design-focused. I started taking free classes on graphic design and fundamentals of UI, and that’s where I discovered UX design. Around spring of my junior year, I decided to take the UX Academy Foundations course, and I really enjoyed it. 

I took a little break afterward to apply to jobs since I was heading into senior year. But ultimately, I decided I wanted to continue with UX Academy. I felt like I was missing out on the UX side of things and wanted to go deeper, and ultimately started UX Academy in the fall of my senior year.

You went through the program while still in school—that’s not very common! What was that like?

Yeah, I noticed most people were doing career transitions, but honestly it was manageable for me, especially becauseI was actually a part-time student in my final semester—that was definitely part of my strategy.

People ask me if UX Academy was worth it, and I always say yes… having structure, a great mentor, and someone to build a relationship with made a huge difference.

I wouldn’t say it was easy to get everything done on time—I had to be very intentional with my time. But I graduated in May, and I was able to work on my portfolio case studies over the summer, which was nice since I was done with my classes. 

How was your experience in UX Academy? 

I’m really grateful for my mentor, João Marcelo Ferraz—he was probably the best part of the program for me. He was super knowledgeable and not only helped me with my work, but also showed me what he was doing in his own job. Talking to him about his process and what things look like in the real world was incredibly helpful. 

People ask me if UX Academy was worth it, and I always say yes. I think I could have figured things out eventually on my own, but it would have taken much longer. It’s hard to know what to do when you don’t know what you don’t know. Having structure, a great mentor, and someone to build a relationship with made a huge difference.

Did you find the community aspects, such as Group Crits, useful?

I found Group Crits really helpful for practicing how to talk about your work. You got varied feedback, and the act of presenting and articulating your design decisions was so important. 

Honestly, that’s been one of the hardest parts of going from bootcamp to the real world—there are so many more variables when you’re working with real people. Group critiques were the closest thing I had to that during UX Academy. 

What was your experience like in Career Services?

My career coach, Anthony Faria, was great. What helped me most was that he helped me make a plan. He didn’t dictate things, but guided me on what I should focus on.

At the beginning, we did portfolio reviews, resume reviews, and LinkedIn reviews. He also helped me look at analytics and adjust my resume for different job descriptions. LinkedIn and networking was another big thing—how to word things, how to reach out to people, and just building the confidence to do that. 

Tell us about what you're doing now! Where are you working and what’s your role like?

I'm working at a design agency called Journey Group. It’s based in Charlottesville, and we do mostly contract work. We've done a lot with the University of Virginia, but also with smaller local businesses. The agency originally focused on editorial design, and now we have four studios: editorial, web, brand, and app. I'm in the app studio. We build custom web-based applications and tools for teams. 

I’ve been working there since the end of March. Day to day, I’m usually on two to three projects. I’m most involved in the beginning stages—schematic design, sketching, wireframing, and creating high-fidelity assets for developers. We present to clients, then the developers take over, though I stay in the loop with conversations. 

What’s your favorite thing about being a UX designer?

I’ve always loved making beautiful things—my background is in fine arts—but what I love even more is creating something that helps someone.

I’ve always loved making beautiful things, but what I love even more is creating something that helps someone. It’s the relational reward of making something useful that I love most.

I love being part of the process from the very beginning—when all we have are specs and words—and turning that into a design. Then seeing the final product after development, and hearing from clients that it's saving them time or improving their work—that’s just super cool to me. It’s the relational reward of making something useful that I love most.

Do you have any advice for people thinking about going into UX?

My advice has always been to try and get experience however you can. Put yourself out there. Do your research to understand what kind of work you want to do. 

UX/UI is a broad field with so many subsets, so it helps to know what you really enjoy and be able to explain why you’re drawn to design. Knowing that for yourself is a great starting point.‍

Check out some more student stories below:

From Writer to UX Researcher with UX Academy

How Mara Shifted Gears from Graphic Design into UX

How Kristi Navigated the UX Landscape with UX Academy