“Honestly, when I was young I had no idea what I wanted to do—hence my bachelor of general studies.”
Jana Yung went into her first year of university a bit directionless. She was someone who loved to solve problems and appreciated aesthetics, so she dabbled in art, communication, and psychology courses. But she wasn’t sure what that would translate to in a career.
She then completed a Master’s degree in Finance, because she thought it would land her a good job—plus, a lot of her friends were doing it at the time. But she already knew she didn’t really enjoy finance.
Jana went on to work at a bank back home in Vancouver after finishing grad school. A short while later, she accepted an exciting internship at a finance company in Hong Kong. After that, she pivoted into a recruitment position.
After two years in Hong Kong, Jana moved back to Vancouver to help her dad with his real estate business. She worked as an executive assistant in real estate for several years, before ultimately deciding to make a career switch.
“Work was exciting at the time because it was completely different from being in school. You get to learn so many new things. For me, once I started working for a few years, I finally started to realize what I truly liked to do, what I’m good at, and what my ideal career would be.”
Jana had always loved playing around with building websites and HTML. She was also interested in psychology and human behavior. But it wasn’t until her UX-designer friend introduced her to the field that she put all the pieces together.
“I did tons of online research before I chose Designlab,” Jana said. “I selected UX Academy because of the thorough curriculum, excellent online reviews, Career Services, mentorship and Group Crits sessions.”
A user flow deliverable from Jana’s Kuoni capstone project
Now that Jana has graduated from UX Academy and landed an amazing job, she has some advice for incoming, current, and graduating UX Academy students.
Incoming UX Academy Students: Big congrats for taking the first step, because that’s huge! You have a long road ahead of you, but I promise it is so worth it in the end. Your future self will thank you for starting this.
Current UX Academy Students: You’re already so much closer than where you started. You’re doing great, and I hope you’re enjoying the process of this program and learning so much. Please don’t give up, even though it may seem tough at times (trust me, I can relate).
Graduating UX Academy Students: Biggest congrats—you guys made it! Super proud of you for finishing all those projects, ‘cause boy, I know it was a lot of work. It is definitely not easy to land your first job, but all I can say is: keep applying, and don’t get discouraged. I applied for many, many jobs before I found success. It might not be easy, but I’m so excited for you to find the job you love! You got this.
Screens from another portfolio project, Bhuku.
After graduating from UX Academy, Jana landed a job with Vancouver-based travel insurance provider, where she worked on projects ranging from responsive landing pages to complete redesigns of major functions within the company’s enterprise platforms.
“I switched careers because I wanted to work in a field that I was passionate about,” says Jana.
“This year, I just want to learn new skills, strengthen my current skills, and keep up with the ever-changing product design trends. There’s always so much to learn within the realm of UX, and I’m so grateful that we have all this information at our fingertips nowadays.
“Sometimes I need to pinch myself because I can’t believe what I’m doing now is my job and considered ‘work,’ because it’s honestly so enjoyable. I feel so lucky to have finally found a career that fits my personality so well.”
Jana is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and is currently seeking new opportunities. Connect with her on LinkedIn and check out her portfolio.
Looking to make a career switch to UX design? Check out UX Academy!
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