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Coming into UX with a background in graphic design, Meena Ng leveraged her existing skillset to follow her passions into the world of product design. We recently spoke to Meena about her experience through UX Academy and how she deepened her knowledge and skills, found supportive mentors and peers, and successfully shifted her career towards work that she loves.
I'd love to hear a little bit about what you were doing prior to coming through UX Academy?
My official title was graphic designer, so I worked mostly in design. And then as my career progressed, I started getting into more web design where we would design websites for clients. But it was never really the whole UX process that we do now—it was just ‘Oh, we need a new website. Can you design it?’
So realistically, looking back, I don't think those websites were very well-designed, especially functionality-wise. My brother is a software engineer, and he has a lot of web design experience, and he lent me this book called ‘Don’t Make Me Think’. I read that and it was really interesting, the idea of designing for people, and I started implementing those concepts into my website designs.
Was that a big motivator for coming through UX Academy?
Yeah, I read that book and I loved it. It was cool to read all these things that made common sense, and it really interested me. And then I met somebody who went through Designlab, and she’d become a UI Designer.
I’d wanted to come through a bootcamp, but there was some worry about selecting a program, not succeeding, not being able to further my career. But she had done it, and we met and she had examples and could speak to her experience, and that became a big motivator for me to do it myself.
And since you had design experience, you were able to bypass the Foundations course? How was your experience in UX Academy?
Yes, I tested out of it, and it was deemed that I was suitable to move right into UX Academy, which I did full-time alongside my job at the time. I was very nervous and it certainly was a lot of work, but I made sure to never fall behind. I wanted to make sure I didn’t get caught in that spiral.
It was rigorous deadlines, and challenging in some areas, but I would say it was manageable. I wasn’t initially sure about the workload—I hadn’t been back to school in years. But it was just about time management and making sure I stuck to my schedule. And the help of my peers through Discord, and the regularly scheduled calls with my mentor, those things helped a lot too.
Did you have a good experience with your mentor?
Oh, I loved her. Her name is Niya Watkins, and we actually caught up not too long ago! It was great we were actually around the same age, and it was nice to have some similarities there. At least for me, it helped me a bit more. And she was super knowledgeable and very open about her own experiences. I learned a lot from her as far as what to expect in the real world.
That’s awesome you’re still in touch! Do you feel that having design knowledge ahead of UX Academy helped you throughout the program?
I will say yes. It’s not to say that you need prior design experience to be successful; for instance, my mentor went through Foundations. But to have that design background, it really helped particularly with the visual and UI design portions of the program. And that part was really exciting, to get to use my design skills in addition to the new things I was learning, like research. It was fun for me.
To have that design background really helped with the visual and UI design portions of the program. And that part was really exciting, to get to use my design skills in addition to the new things I was learning.
As far as being a UX or product designer, I do think that having an eye for design is able to supplement your career. It’s definitely helpful, especially in designing your portfolio. That's one of the things that people are going to see who are interviewing you, it’s the first impression. So having that visual design background can be really helpful as far as job searching goes as well.
And speaking of job searching, how long did it take you to find a position and what role are you in now?
It took me three months, and I’ve heard that the job search can take longer, so I feel that I got lucky, I feel really really blessed. But I'm a product designer now! Yay!
It’s maybe a little weird to explain, but I am full-time at a company called Fearless which then contracts out to other companies. So right now I’m actually contracted out to the government working on redesigning the travel.state.gov website. The team that I’m on is trying to streamline the passport application process, the renewal process, and people getting visas into the US. But for me specifically, I’m redesigning that website.
It’s really cool to be able to put into practice what I learned in Designlab and the flow of how everything actually works in real life. We haven’t gotten through the whole UX process yet, such as prototyping and user testing, but it will come! So that’s exciting for sure.
It’s really cool to be a part of improving a product for someone who needs to use it. I always thought that sounded amazing, and now that I’m doing it, I love it.
That’s amazing! That’s your favorite part of your current role?
Especially for me being a designer previously, I think being able to see your work actually get out there and be utilized. I'm really excited to see my current project come to completion because it's something that will help a lot of US citizens. It’s going to streamline processes and make the experience easier for people.
So yeah, I would say for me, seeing your products out there being used is the most rewarding part. It’s really cool to be a part of improving a product for someone who needs to use it. I always thought that sounded amazing, and now that I’m doing it, I love it.
That’s really cool. So if you were to give someone advice who might be considering switching into UX, what would you say?
I was always worried about getting started, there was a lot of anxiety about coming into the program. But then at some point, I was like ‘Oh, this isn’t that bad. I can handle this.’ There's also just a really good support system within the cohorts in Discord. It was a very supportive community, even outside after you graduate—everybody shared opportunities and success stories, and that was very motivating.
I specifically wanted to come into product design or UX design because I wanted to work in tech. I still think UX is an up-and-coming role—it’s so prevalent in everything we do in the digital world. It’s definitely a really big area of opportunity, and I think that if it's something that you're interested in, I wouldn't hesitate to go through with it.
If you have previous design experience, you can apply directly to UX Academy and jump right into our award-winning career change program.
Individuals with no prior design experience make their start with our flexible and beginner-friendly introductory course, UX Academy Foundations.
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