UX Academy Alumni Spotlight: Max Rosero

From Bootcamp to Career: Max's Path of Discovery and Innovation

Since graduating from UX Academy back in June of 2018 Max’s career journey has come full circle. After landing his first role, Max spent several years scratching his entrepreneurial itch, before more recently re-focusing on the work he loves. We caught up with him recently so he could reflect on his career journey.

Tackling Imposter Syndrome and Embracing Growth

Upon graduation from UX Academy and transitioning from learning to applying skills in the real world, Max faced the common hurdle of imposter syndrome. "I was really lucky to have found that first job, and I sort of faked it until I could make it there," Max admits. That first job was a role as a product designer at Percolate, which was later acquired by Seismic, a large player in the sales enablement space. To Max, that initial role wasn't just a job; it was a formative experience that deepened his understanding of the intricacies of software.

“I got put in a really technical product team,” Max recalled, “where I was dealing with things like metadata structures and access and roles and permission structuring, mostly for admins configuring our software for users. It was super foundational in helping me to understand how software actually functions under the hood.”

The Serendipitous Troupe Connection

In a twist of fate, about a year and a half into his new career, Max was approached to join an early stage startup as a co-founder and founding designer. The startup was working for JetBlue on a group travel app, and wanted to use the name Troupe. During legal due diligence, they stumbled on Max’s final portfolio project for UX Academy—an app with not only the same purpose, but also the same name.

Despite the global pandemic's onset, this role offered invaluable experience in navigating and growing a company's needs, both design and otherwise, in a challenging industry. “I helped handle everything from figuring out how to get people, to vetting the engineers, all of that. For the first year and a half it was just me, but eventually I was the only designer but with eight engineers.”

As Troupe grew, Max played a pivotal role in building the design team, focusing on diversity and potential. "We ended up hiring [a UX Academy] alum, who was great," Max says, highlighting their commitment to supporting fellow Designlab alumni and those transitioning into a design career.

Aligning with Core Passions at Anvyl

While helping to grow Troupe was rewarding in its own right, Max felt his role had inevitably started to change. In January of 2023, Max transitioned to Anvyl, a company specializing in supply chain software, seeking a role that resonated more with his passion for design. Max explains, "I decided I needed to continue to pursue why I got into this career in the first place, which is being challenged by creative pursuits and big problems."

At Anvyl, Max found a harmonious blend of design and technical understanding, essential in their role as an 'engineer's designer.' “It's really trying to figure out what everyone needs and making sure that everyone feels seen and heard, from PMs to engineers to designers.”By bringing in their multi-faceted experience at both Seismic and Troupe, Max is able to help bridge the gap between teams, ensuring a smoother experience for all.

Max's Advice for Future UX Designers

Max offers valuable advice for those aspiring to enter the UX Design field: “So much of UX design is things like understanding, in-person research, or how to talk to customers, or identifying patterns. And then figuring out how to improve behaviors based on things.”

Max also emphasizes the importance of leveraging past experiences in your career. Regardless of what you were doing prior to UX, you can find something transferable:

“I have people tell me like, I was a paralegal or I worked at a nail salon. So okay nail salon, you're dealing with the general public which means you’re great with customers. You can talk to them, so it sounds like it’d be easy for you to build rapport with a stranger getting on a call for a customer interview.  

Or if you were a paralegal, maybe you’re great with understanding how to organize information. So information architecture and documentation and things like that are going to be big points that you're going to want to stress.”

I think that's something that really people underestimate when it comes to what hiring managers, managers are looking for. Passion carries through, passion shows.

Insights for Both Interviews & Inspiration

When you’re getting into building out your portfolio, Max suggests going with projects that highlight your interests. Not only will this fuel your creative fire, but it will help you be more comfortable and confident during interviews. If you’re familiar with a topic, you’re more likely to replace your anxiety with excitement when presenting your work to a potential employer.

But knowledge isn’t the only important factor here. Creating projects around passion translates as well. When it comes to landing a job, Max shares: “I think that's something that really people underestimate when it comes to what hiring managers, managers are looking for. Passion carries through, passion shows.”

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