Studying during Maternity Leave to Become a UX Designer

Caroline lives in Stockholm with her daughter and wife. "My thoughts on changing career started during my maternity leave, providing for my family was on my mind, and I needed to figure out how". After being injured for two years, she wanted to rethink her career and start something new. Caroline's plan was to become a pre-school teacher, an education she was already enrolled in - but something happened along the way.

Online conference opened up new doors

"My initial plan was to become a pre-school teacher, which I was already enrolled in. That should have been three and a half years of studying, not being able to provide for my family during this time which made me reconsider. I heard from an alumni about Technigo, got curious, and started to look around on their website. Technigo had a week-long free conference at the time called “Get into tech and design week” which I signed up for. I think I listened to pretty much every talk they offered! I really liked the vibe, the feel of the company, the friendliness, and the focus on women and empowerment."

"I didn’t know what UX design was at all until I found Technigo and I realised I’ve been practicing UX my whole life - but just not in the field of tech. So I thought to myself, why not - I can learn tech."

Caroline applied to the UX design Boot Camp and joined the January class 2023. They just recently graduated from the boot camp in June after 6 months of studying 🎉.

Finding home in a new industry

"It does feel like home! Especially because it’s so versatile and has so many areas that you can focus on. You could work within different fields in the UX design area - maybe start with research or move on to data analysis, or maybe you want to specialise more in visuals. You can move within the field, which is nice. For me it’s perfect because I tend to be a bit hyper-focused on a specific area, and then get bored after a while and want to start doing something new - this profession really enables me to do so. I feel like I really hit the nail on the head!"

A regular day as a UX designer

"I usually start my day between 8:30 and 9:40; that's when we have our daily standup with the product design team. We talk about our day, what's important right now, if you need help or feedback. After that, it's usually some information meeting. It could be about our community, data insights or updates from the other teams. I take notes of the things necessary to me. I may need to schedule a sync with someone to align, or there's some new insight from our community I must keep in mind when designing a feature."

“I also do a lot of competitor benchmarks. Trying to figure out different features. And, of course, I spend a lot of time in Figma; I practically live in Figma!”

"Yesterday, I facilitated a workshop with people from different teams to have a cross-functional discussion about an update in our caption editor. Even the CEO was invited. A year ago, I could never even imagine doing a thing like this; that's when I realised how much I learned at Technigo."

Tips for anyone thinking of joining a bootcamp

1. "If you're not sure if you want to enrol in a 6-month intense bootcamp, take a look at the free talks from Technigo to get a feeling of how it is. But also - just dare to do it.
2. Be prepared that it will be intense, but also nice. You will have a lot of support through Slack; it’s all online. If you get any teammates close to your area, you can of course meet in person too. All people involved have been really warm and open.
3. Another tip is to message alumni and students at Technigo on LinkedIn. You can search for 'Technigo' related people in the search, it's easy to find. Just reach out and ask for a chat, ask them how they experience the bootcamp. It is actually my top tip, to reach out to an alumni or someone working within Technigo. It's a community of people who are really open and helpful!"

Thanks, Caroline!