99% of people who want to become product designers today come from another educational background or profession. This also includes students who have gone to design school to get a degree but have no idea what job they want to do.
I belong to that 99%. I come from a world of finance with absolutely nothing in common with the world of product design. Absolutely nothing!
If some of the best designers in the world could make a good career coming from a different profession, so can you. But there is a way to do it.
These are the most common mistakes made by the vast majority of people who enter this profession. I'll also share what you ideally should be doing at the very end of the chapter.
I know many people from architecture, graphic design, industrial design, or design-related fields who think they have a competitive edge. Anyone who believes this couldn't be more wrong. This is the first biggest mistake they make.
The reason I say this is the first biggest mistake is that they make the decision to move into product design just based on this ridiculous notion.
Once they get into it, they realise that product design is a different ball game altogether. Of course, there are exceptions to everything. But why is it different?
I've mentioned in previous chapters that product designers belong to the 'world of product' and not the 'world of design'.
If you come from a design background, it gives you a max of 5% advantage over others. Maybe 10% if you're really smart. But that's about it. Just because you understand design and have a design sense, doesn't mean you can easily transition into product design.
If you're a product manager, it's very easy to transition to product design and vice versa because there is a significant overlap of skills in both professions.
Product management is the only profession that comes close to product design because both belong to the world of product.
So if you're looking to transition to product design, understand that this profession is very different from any other profession in the world. Be it Architecture, Law, or Hotel Management. It can be anything. And remember that you have no competitive edge, and it will not be a smooth transition into product design. You will have to start from scratch.
I'm pretty sure that everyone who thought about transitioning into product design would have Googled, 'What is Product Design?', 'What is UI/UX Design?', 'How to become a Product Designer?'
Being convinced that they can enter into product design after reading the first few results shown to them is the second mistake people make.
Social media is filled with a lot of nonsense, incorrect, and vague information. This is what gets consumed by people trying to understand what the profession is about.
It is impossible to explain what product design is through a YouTube video or an article. It's just impossible.
People just don't do enough research when entering this profession. Often times the decisions are not logical as well. There is pressure from family to earn more. There is peer pressure. There is your herd mentality. And lastly, there is a reason for you to hate your old job, so you're looking for a new career.
I speak a lot about this in the chapter 'How to stand out from other designers?'.
Now you might ask, 'So then what's the solution, Chethan? How are people going to know what the reality is? How can you blame them?'. That's a very valid question, and the answer is going to surprise you.
This takes me to the next part.
'How is this a mistake? What else do you expect people to do?'. This might be a question you may now ask.
There is nothing wrong with joining a boot camp or doing an online course.
The problem comes when you join it at the wrong time and set the wrong expectations when joining the course/boot camp.
As I mentioned before, product design is a unique profession, and no profession comes close to it. Which logically means that it's not easy to learn product design. Learning product design takes a monumental amount of time.
So those who have an expectation that joining a boot camp or doing an online course will help them learn to design and get a job in 3-4 months will eventually realise that product design is 100x harder than they thought it was. Bootcamps guaranteeing job placements, 1:1 mentorship, and certificates make things even worse.
In the next chapter, I'll talk about when to join a boot camp or go to design school.
At the end of 3-4 months of spending time in the boot camp, they realise that they haven't learnt or done much and have lost a lot of time. And that is very true. Adding to this is the mental pressure of not seeing progress, other designers progressing in their careers, personal pressure, lack of confidence and motivation, and more.
This results in making desperate decisions, often poor and wrong choices, and dreading the mistakes they made along the way. Although I don't have data, a very large percentage of people who take boot camps/courses feel this way.
Although this is not a common mistake, it still happens. Now again, leaving your old job just to learn product design can be a mistake only if you don't have a rock-solid plan which accounts for all the things that might go wrong along the way.
Leaving your job, giving yourself a target of 3-4 months without a mentor, and putting all faith in a boot camp/online course is the worst plan you can ever make. It's a suicide mission!!!
Now the solution to this is not to find a mentor. If you're in the infancy stage of learning, no one will come and help you walk. This is not the stage to look for mentorship.
I know people who have even left their studies and have dropped out of college just for this. I personally find this to be the most ridiculous thing ever. I think having a basic degree is a basic requirement for any educated person. Doesn't matter in what. Dropping out of college is an unnecessary risk.
So these were all the mistakes that have a big negative impact on one's learning journey. But what is the right way to approach this? What's the right way to make a career switch?
Understand as much as you can about this profession. It all starts with understanding what this profession really is. Why do product designers even exist? What is it that we can do that others can't?
Reading articles online and watching YouTube videos is not going to be enough. In fact, it gets repetitive after a point. So what do you do?
The most important thing to do is to get people's perspectives and insights. Try to talk to as many people as you can. Knowing their stories is 100x more helpful than watching YouTube videos or reading articles. Try to learn what sort of work they do in their companies. Learn what sort of projects they worked on. Get to know their story of how they learnt and how they transitioned into product design.
It's important to get as much information and context as possible. Because when you talk to more people, you will start identifying patterns. And knowing what these patterns are, is very critical for you to make the right set of decisions.
I was actually very close to starting my preparation for design school rather than working on my portfolio. My friends and mentors begged me not to join design school. Not joining design school was the best career decision I have ever made.
Just thinking about what my life would have been if I had joined design school gives me goosebumps. I would not have had any of the things I have today. I would not have been able to achieve any of the things I have achieved till today.
So how do you reach out to people and get to hear their stories?
Today there are tons of ways to reach out to people and have a conversation with them. Things weren't so simple back then, but today they are.
1. Offline meet-ups and design conferences - Great place to meet people and make friends/acquaintances.
2. Cold messaging designers on social media - There are tons of people on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Try to reach out to people and have a 30-minute call with them. The more, the better. ADP List is also a great place to connect with many designers, and they are a lot more accessible as well.
3. Listen to interviews - There are a lot of interviews of really talented designers on the internet. Try to find those who are similar to you in some capacity. Maybe they are in the same country or region, maybe they come from a similar profession, or it could be anything else.
Once you have a very good understanding of what this profession is all about and what skills you actually need to survive, you can then start thinking about a strategy to start learning. It can be learning all on your own or joining a boot camp/online course or going to design school.
Don't jump into product design without knowing what you're getting into. Don't make desperate decisions. Take your time to understand what the profession is all about. Take your time to practice the craft.
In fact, just knowing what product design is all about may not be enough. There is a lot more to know. These are just a few of them.
1. What sort of companies exist, and where to join?
3. What does a typical career ladder look like?
3. What career paths can you take once you become an experienced designer?
4. How to upskill and grow?
I can guarantee that people will realise that product design is much more complex than initially thought.
This will act as a reality check, help you rethink whether product design is for you, and tell you what the right time to transition is.
No matter what your strategy to learn is, you have to give it a lot of time. If you really want to have a good start to your career, you cannot learn design quickly.
You can go to design school, join a boot camp, or learn all on your own. Whatever you choose you have to give it a lot of time.
If you do join a boot camp, do keep in mind that it slows you down 100x. I know, logically, it doesn't make sense, but it does. I will explain why in the next chapter. But give yourself a good 6-8 months to make a transition the right way. Give yourself a minimum of 35-40 hours per week.
It's fine if you want to join a boot camp or do an online course. But don't expect you'll come out with a great job, a great portfolio, and will be industry-ready with all the skills. You'll have to put in 100x more effort than you did while in the boot camp.
Now, it's honestly up to you to decide if you want to quit your old job or learn design while having a full-time job. Consider your financial situation, personal situation, your ability to handle multiple things, and available time into consideration.
Having a full-time job and learning product design is a daunting task. I know it because I spent an entire learning product design all on my own while working full-time. It's not easy. But I knew I had to give myself enough time to learn the craft.
You need to design screens every day. You need to learn something new every day. You need to get a ridiculous amount of feedback. You need to make plenty of mistakes. You need to practice a lot. There is a lot of work to be done.