UX Design

September 3, 2023

Learn How To Land a UX Design Job from Jimoh Idris

Transcript

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Join us for a unique session with Jimoh Idris, an experienced UX Design mentor who brings his extensive field knowledge to our interactive discussion on the intricacies of UX Design.

​During this event, Jimoh will delve into various aspects of UX design, discuss emerging industry trends, and share personal experiences that have shaped his design journey. Moreover, you'll get the chance to ask your questions and engage in fruitful discussions with Jimoh.

​Here's why you shouldn't miss this event:

  • ​Gain expert insights into the rapidly evolving UX design industry.
  • ​Understand real-world applications of UX design from Jimoh's vast experiences.
  • ​Opportunity to get your burning UX design questions answered.

The Panelist:

Jimoh Idris - Product Designer at Tizeti Inc

​Jimoh is a talented Nigerian-based product designer, UX researcher, and writer. With a diverse portfolio, he has collaborated with small non-profits and ambitious tech startups, infusing their brands and products with a unique vision. With over 4 years of experience in UX and Product Design, he excels at solving design problems and bringing innovative concepts to life.

​Jimoh's passion for design and business enables him to deliver intuitive and meaningful experiences for clients across various industries. His drive and expertise make him a valuable asset to any creative team.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimohidris/

Event notes

Jimoh's background

Started design in 2019

Bachelors in computer science

Satisfaction when designing something thousands can use

Do you need coding to learn design?

Not at all

It’s helpful - understanding and helpful for dev handoff

Roadmap for learning?

Full stack designer is a thing

Someone good in UX, UI, graphic design, a little coding experience too

Not compulsory to learn to code

Start with taking courses

Projects for portfolio

As a beginner, do simplest things first

Projects you know that you’re passionate for

How to structure portfolio

Some companies want to see full process, some care about just UI skills

Portfolio should be hybrid

  • Have 1-2 projects with concrete case studies
  • What you did, how you did it, problems you’re solving, what changes you made, learnings from project
  • Some projects just mockups

Maximum of 3 projects

  • Don’t do too much, don’t put too little

Best project should be case study

Other 2: light project (export assets and mockups)

What to put in portfolio?

Beginners should have 3 types of projects

  1. Mobile app from scratch
  2. Feature added to existing website or mobile app (how they can improve with a problem. Hiring manager knows you can fit into any team)
  3. Make website from scratch

Tips for UX job search

Need to make developers your friend

You can try to work on something with them, so when you design, they can implement

When you have project in portfolio, you can put a link to the project that’s live

Different if you have a project if it’s not implemented yet

Where to find dev friends

Best thing is to find devs who are same level as you (learning)

Might take time and effort

Implementation might not be exactly the same as design, but you’re challenging each other to be better and learn dev handoff/get experience

Dev can include project in their portfolio too

Win-win situation

General tips for the job search?

Network

WhatsApp, LinkedIn

Can send cold emails

Volunteer - impress, so they can hire after or you can learn and get experience

How did you (Jimoh) get your job?

Used to be an intern (coding) at that same company

Learning design on the side

Looked at company’s product and noticed so many errors/bugs when it came to design

  • Worked on all of them
  • Submitted work to manager, made sure CEO knew
  • Interview to join dept

Key takeaways:

  1. Consider transitioning to a new role at your current company, not just looking for a new job
  2. Ask for what you want - be proactive
  3. Keep documentation for portfolio and to advocate for yourself

As a designer, are you always designing new things for the company you work for or improving on things that have already been designed and released to the public?

Most of times, add features to existing feature

There are software dev companies where they design new products

Interview tips?

Be very prepared

Ask questions too

Do your research - check what company’s doing

  • Reference a part of what they’re doing

Don’t be scared

What is the best way to present your portfolio? Is Behance good?

Now you can write a full case study on Behance

But it’s subjective - use what works for you

Get a senior product designer who’s good at Behance, and implement something similar

  • Can ask them questions

Look at senior designers’ portfolios

Where do you find senior designers’ portfolios

Networking

LinkedIn

Follow them and see their work - can see differences in industries

Twitter:

See their mutuals too

Do I have to wait for about 3 projects before I begin reaching out? Can I reach out with just my one portfolio?

My advice is always start ASAP because you can learn faster with feedback even if you’re not successful in landing the job

Just reach out, shoot your shot, improve with feedback, and work on more projects on the side

For someone just starting out in UX design, could you recommend the best resources to be great at the job

Depends on what works for you - some people learn better from books, some from mentorship

What skills are best to learn?

Focus on UX

People are wowed by UI sometimes, but when you’re very good at UX, you can tackle any challenge

  • Help business solve problems
  • Talk to users to solve the problem

Sometimes UIs can’t be implemented properly

If you’re good at UX, you can win everywhere

  • Can try to implement in current job or projects

“As a designer, you’re solving problems”

Learn prototyping

Learn to do research - pain points of users

What other skills outside of UX?

Business - product

Understand business metrics

Marketing could help too

  • After doing user research, figured out how to reframe it

Companies care about growing and making money… if you learn skills that help with that, you’ll stand out. Especially learning the metrics that matter to the company (like customer lifetime value, monthly recurring revenue)

Learn UX writing - don’t confuse users

Do you come across some tasks that require coding and would you advice one to have some sort of coding skills

Tbh, I think that is the developer’s job. You shouldn’t need to implement the design unless you WANT to learn coding. But one thing at a time, don’t get overwhelmed with too many things to learn

Do you still code for your company, Jimoh? And if you do, is it required of you and do you get paid for that as well as for being a Designer?

Do not code

Currently lead a team (6 devs, 2 designers)

Might impact growth in design - you’re a designer, not developer

But if you do both, that’s fine. But make sure it doesn’t affect your growth, mental stability

When you transition in the same company, what do you need to look out for in the change of role that's taking place?

Be confident, calm

Resources shared

Book: Hacking Growth

Career roadmap template on Google Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VvvdbCIWq17wvso70uKOIL-S5auwJlt_lRbSXelCLUE/edit?usp=sharing

EntryLevel resources

LinkedIn for your job search

How Eric (an EntryLevel student) landed a UX job after EntryLevel

Free tech career roadmap template to plan your learning

Free mentorship with ADPList

Jennifer's UX portfolio after taking UX Design Level 1 with EntryLevel

Slidesgo (slides template for portfolio)

Our website: https://www.entrylevel.net/

Our UX Design course: https://www.entrylevel.net/courses/ux

FAQs: https://intercom.help/entrylevel/en/

Contact: support@entrylevel.net, jennifer@entrylevel.net

About us

EntryLevel helps you learn and get experience so you can get hired. Our 6-week programs are taught by world-class mentors, so you can learn and build a portfolio of work.

You'll learn with a cohort of driven peers, and each lesson is unlocked after a set time so you stay accountable and finish the program.

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Presenters

Jimoh Idris

Product Designer at Tizeti Inc

Jimoh is a talented Nigerian-based product designer, UX researcher, and writer. With a diverse portfolio, he has collaborated with small non-profits and ambitious tech startups, infusing their brands and products with a unique vision. With over 4 years of experience in UX and Product Design, he excels at solving design problems and bringing innovative concepts to life.

Jimoh's passion for design and business enables him to deliver intuitive and meaningful experiences for clients across various industries. His drive and expertise make him a valuable asset to any creative team.

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