Nicolas is the UX/UI Designer at Mentorloop. In this article, he shares his experience with finding mentors that helped him transition from one career path to another and how important mentoring is in emerging industries like UX Design.
UX design is a relatively new discipline. And as with all new disciplines or lines of work, there’s not really a clear or unique path to be followed by those who want to work in this space. Especially when compared with other more traditional disciplines and career paths such as medicine or law.
I think there are a few things that contribute to this being the case. Apart from it being relatively new, UX is also similar to other fields in that there are specialities that sit under it. However, because this field is changing so rapidly, so too do these specialities, and along with them, the roles and job titles that accompany them. The industry itself changes so rapidly that even despite available learning opportunities that explore this field, it can be hard to catch up once you get to practising in the industry.
This is why I believe that it’s so important to have mentors that could help aspiring UX professionals navigate through all of this.
Finding My Mentors
The Mentors Who Helped Me Build My Foundations
My first mentors were not actually UX designers, but rather some of my teachers in my Graphic Design bachelor’s degree program back in Bogotá. We developed productive, meaningful mentoring relationships outside of the classroom that went beyond what one would classify as a more distant and formal teacher-student relationship. At that time, I didn’t even know what UX was. But with their help, I learned how to think critically, and refined my process of thinking about what’s behind graphic design. This would greatly overlap with the skills I needed to move towards UX.
The Mentor Who Helped Me Transition To UX Design
Years after I finished my graphic design undergraduate degree, I moved to Australia to pursue a master’s degree in IT, as technology was always something that intrigued me. After that, moving towards UX Design felt like the most natural path. It seemed like a natural intersection or a bridge between tech and design. However, I didn’t know how to make my way into that space. Narjess, a friend from Colombia, unintentionally became my mentor and helped me make that transition.
I met Narjess back in Bogotá during my bachelor’s degree. After we finished uni, we drifted apart a little bit. When I was living in Australia, I found out that she had become a UX Designer and moved to Germany. We started to get in touch again and she organically became my mentor. We chatted casually, perhaps once a month (or sometimes less) but she pointed me in the right direction.
She had also moved from Graphic Design to UX, so not only did she know my struggles, but also the way in which I could take advantage of my graphic design skills to get a head start. At that time it wasn’t really clear to me the different specialisations or sub-disciplines of UX design. She suggested that the best path to move into UX design was to start through UI and move towards the other end of the spectrum. That also helped me understand how lots of the principles of graphic design could be transferred to UI design. Likewise, she showed me how some of the conceptual thinking and methodologies that I have studied during my bachelor’s, like Design Thinking, or Human-Centred Design, were an integral part of UX design. Through these conversations, I shifted my focus to other methodologies or tools that are closer to UX, like user journeys and user testing.
The Mentor Who Showed Me The Importance of Soft Skills
I think we all have the tendency to prioritise hard skills. However soft skills are just as important, if not more, especially industry-related soft skills. This is something that I learned from my partner, Lo.
She is a graphic designer too, and a great mentor. One of the most important learnings I got was the awareness of your perspective when approaching design (or any other discipline). This was, and is, a vital factor for my career and work. To name one example, when I was creating my portfolio, I thought that having a certain number of projects was essential. This led me to prioritise quantity over quality. After discussing the topic with her, I realised that you are only as good as your worst work, not your best. So I decided to only include projects that I was really proud of, and leave out or not take on projects that didn’t meet my standards, and this really had a positive impact on my career.
Another example was seeing and discussing the dedication and love for the craft that she put on her work. This was definitely a great help to reconnect to design, boost my motivation, and ultimately improve the quality and amount of things that I was getting done.
In general, my mentoring relationship with Lo also helped me realise my strengths, weaknesses, as well as things that I was more, or even less, passionate about. Later on, I realised that this helped me make the decision to consciously move away from graphic design.
I officially found my way into UX design after landing my first UX role. It was a small project for Ambulance Victoria, but after that, my career really took off. From the outside, it could seem that I was lucky I found that job, but the reality is that there were a series of many small steps over many years that finally led to that moment. I believe that all of my mentors’ advice, but especially Narjess’ and Lo’s advice was vital as their advice helped me get an overview of the industry, define a path, and improve my motivation and the quality of my work.
Looking back, I realised that having mentors was vital for my transition from graphic design to UX.
Mentoring Moving Forward
I wrongly assumed that a mentor needed to be someone who is constantly in touch with you, or someone like a teacher or a coach. I’ve since learned that a mentor can be just someone who points you in the right direction and lets you walk the walk – like a compass. I now know that it is possible to have a successful mentoring relationship with someone to whom you speak a couple of times a month, or a couple of times a year. Mentoring could be sporadic, and that’s okay!
Moving forward, I’d like to be able to continue on my mentoring journey, but this time, not only as a mentee but also as a mentor. I would love to have the opportunity to give back and help someone else on their path, just as different people have helped me on mine.
