Career wins from 2020

Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash

I’m among the privileged and lucky ones to find thankfulness when I reflect on this past year. It’s not gone according to almost any of my plans, but I still feel like I’ve come out on top. Here’s my 2020 brag list!

• Pivotal was acquired by VMware, and I was thrown into managing several new problems, covering holes in staffing, and keeping up office morale, all while working only part-time. I busted my butt, y’all, and my office was better for it. I also created 2 comprehensive guidebooks for the people who would be replacing me and my front desk associate because…
• I made the complicated to quit my job in the tech industry to care for my twin babies. I agonized over this choice, but I knew that I could always change my mind in the future. Well, my first week of no work was the second week of my state’s Shelter in Place order, and becoming my daughters’ full-time caregiver ended up being the only choice my family had (and no mind-changing opportunities are on the horizon yet). I’ll say that I’m very thankful I decided to make this career shift on my own before the pandemic chose for me.
• I became a certified OOUX strategist! I completed the OOUX certification course this past spring, aced the exam, and created an OOUX’ed product design I’m proud of. (Case study coming soon.)
• I wrote a Medium article on OOUX and created my own pixel art for it. I put a lot of work into crafting the piece to bring value to both novice and seasoned UX Designers, and then making those graphics took even more time, but this piece is a good one. Then, on a lark, I submitted the piece to the UX Collective, a Medium publication I follow and admire, and they accepted and published it within a week! This was such a confidence boost and makes me feel like I’ve been accepted by my UX peers!
• After deep encouragement from my mentor and network, I stepped out into freelancing. I’ve talked with 2 potential clients so far, found a design partner, estimated client work, and sent out (and defended) a killer proposal email. Funnily enough, my partner and I did such good work explaining the risks of developing an app without conducting user research, we talked ourselves out of a job because the client realized they didn’t want to move forward without that user research. I count this as a huge win, and I’m thrilled that even though I didn’t get paid for this, I’ve already provided great value to this client. (Getting paid for freelancing is my top goal for next year, ha.)

Once again, here’s to a year of progress and change and here’s to many more!

Be sure to follow me for more about OOUX, freelancing, and the crazy life of juggling UX with full-time twin parenting.

P.s. Interested in my wins from last year?