Student Success Story: Vez Maxwell
Vez completed our 12-week part-time Product Design course in February 2023 and now works as a Senior UX Designer at WeDo Digital.
We caught up with her recently to see how the course helped her achieve her goals and if she has any pearls of wisdom for any budding product designers.
Tell us a bit more about what you were doing before you decided to pivot into design?
was working as a hybrid ui designer/ui developer but wanted to move into a more design-centric role and get some best practice knowledge.
How was training at Experience Haus different from other providers ?
The project you get to work on during the course isn’t like something you can get with anyone else.
What was the highlight of your course?
I honestly loved the whole experience!
What was the most challenging part of your learning experience?
Probably that I had been using Figma before but not very well, so needed to relearn some workflows.
Job Hunting & Your New Role
Where is your current job and what is your role?
Senior UX Designer at WeDo Digital.
How did you find the job search process after you finished the course?
Tedious to be honest but it was a rough year and I had a lot going on at my previous job that made it harder.
What did a typical working day look like for you two years ago?
Scattered. Poor design processes, no mentoring or any idea what to do. A lot of bad coding!
What does a typical working day look like for you now?
Any combination of: meetings, stakeholder interviews, working on a design system, design sprints, wireframing, running design workshops for the team…learning, learning, learning!
What are your top 3 tips for preparing for a design interview?
Focus on the ‘whys’ not just the ‘whats’: think about the flow of how you talk about your projects and have specific wins you can discuss.
What advice do you have for anyone breaking into the industry? Is there anything you wish you’d known when you were first starting out?
On the job learning won’t always look how you expect, especially if you’ve done a course that taught you best practice! It’s ok if the job doesn’t do everything perfectly but don’t be afraid to advocate for things to be better and remember, as long as you are learning and having a good time, you are in an enviable spot to many. Always remember, we’re lucky to be designers!
