In my previous post, I shared quite extensively about my journey. I can say that it’s not the worst scenario I know, but conducting a retrospective analysis is always interesting, especially for a broader audience. I want newcomers and experienced designers and specialists to see these mistakes and have the opportunity not to repeat them.

Before you start reading, please like the post, and I would appreciate your comments on the mistakes you have encountered.

Could Have Started Earlier

In fact, even before starting my design career, I made attempts to create something in Photoshop and put together a simple layout. However, these attempts did not receive support from those around me. I can say that it was quite a toxic environment, and no one was interested in the success of a colleague.

If I had found someone who would support me, and provide a few recommendations, perhaps I wouldn’t have postponed it and started doing design much earlier.

Conclusion:

If you find something interesting and you’re just making your first attempts, find an experienced and open-minded person and ask for help. It can give you a significant push and bring you closer to your goal much sooner.

Delayed Transition to a New Stage

This was related to both my focus on landing pages, which was the starting point of my journey and the prolonged period during which I couldn’t start working on websites. Although it seems almost the same. And then it turned out that creating websites is much easier because many elements are repetitive.

Similarly, I couldn’t transition from websites to interfaces. Yes, the story here is a bit more complex, but the essence is the same. You get absorbed in the routine, and the familiar course of events doesn’t allow you to stick your head out and see what’s happening in the world of something new.

In such cases, events that can push you out of your comfort zone and rearrange things in a new way are really helpful. In my case, it was moving to Kyiv and deciding to take courses.

On the other hand, what if I had started my career with interface design? It’s a rhetorical question, but it provokes interesting thoughts.

Conclusion:

As soon as you feel stuck and ready for new challenges, arrange an intensive experience for yourself. It can be a course on a topic that interests you or finding a mentor who is already where you want to be.

Lack of Focus

In the beginning, I dabbled in everything. Besides design, I did my own coding, and wrote PHP and JS scripts to make forms and functionalities work the way I envisioned. I even spent some time learning Python (just for fun). Initially, I focused on front-end development and mentored beginner developers.

While I always knew I didn’t want to be a developer, I questioned why I was doing a little bit of everything. It definitely prevented me from fully focusing on design and probably hindered my progress. It might have been an interesting experience, but it came at the cost of time.

Conclusion:

Having a development strategy is fantastic. Usually, you can’t pull yourself out of a swamp by your own hair, so I recommend seeking out professionals and conducting a strategic session. The outcome will provide you with a clear vision of how to further develop and what doesn’t benefit you at all.

Lack of Quality Feedback for a Long Time

I really want to write an article about how to start a career in design. It depends on many factors, including competition. And, in my opinion, there are several strategies, but let’s discuss that separately.

If I analyze my own experience, I started working in a design team around the fifth year. That means I spent five years developing without professional feedback, which hindered my progress. This is probably the most common mistake among designers who start with freelancing or work as the only designer in a company.

Conclusion:

Don’t work in a vacuum. If you have no feedback at all from experienced colleagues, or if the quality of feedback is mediocre, seek a mentor who can provide valuable feedback, help you make the right decisions, and explain the differences.

With such an approach, it doesn’t matter what format you work in. Growth only happens through feedback and analyzing your own mistakes.

Neglected Learning English

I don’t know what to write here. I assume everyone understands the importance of the English language, but I also understand why it’s not being taught.

You can be a highly-paid specialist without English. However, you will always be second to your colleague whose English level is higher.

Conclusion:

When you really need English, it will be too late to start learning it. You’ll have a chance to do it before the next opportunity arises, but it’s up to you.

As resume

In the final few sentences, I’d like to dedicate some advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help. Treat your career as your most valuable asset because it’s what brings you money. What does it mean? Find the best courses and mentors, and invest in your development. In my opinion, investing in the growth of your career is the best investment you can make.

Read this story in Ukrainian

This year marks my anniversary, of 10 years in the field of design. This timeframe is typically considered sufficient to become a serious professional, and I agree with that. It’s challenging to build a career in a way that you don’t become an experienced professional within 10 years.

I would like to share a brief story of my career and then discuss some mistakes and missed opportunities that slowed down my progress for several years.

A Bit of Storytelling

I worked as a marketing manager in a small online store. Prior to that, I had experience working on website development projects from the client side and as a sales manager for a design studio in Odessa.

The Beginning

With this background, I left my previous non-design job and wondered what to do next. I randomly decided to try my hand at designing a landing page for an imaginary project, and that’s how it all started.

For about a couple of years, I found clients through social media and acquaintances. During that time, I also started teaching courses for beginners. It’s important to mention that besides design, I also did web development, so I delivered fully-coded landing pages with functional feedback forms.

From Landing Pages to Websites

After about 3 years, I gradually transitioned to designing full websites. I can say that this transition wasn’t easy because my past cases limited the potential projects that came my way.

Design School and Mentorship Experience

Somewhere between projects, I decided to create my own online course on web design. It turned out to be a wise decision as it allowed me to quickly improve my understanding of fundamental design principles and establish myself as an expert. Throughout the course, I probably taught over 60 designers. In addition to that, I mentored more than 50 newcomers in web development.

Relocating to Kyiv

Afterward, I moved to Kyiv. Immediately after the relocation, I enrolled in a UX design course at KAMA and then joined another course on UX data mining & analytics at Projector.

First UX Project

Even before completing the courses, I landed a job as a UX designer. It was probably my first full-scale project related to interface development. I worked at the company for almost a year and then continued working on various projects as a freelance designer.

First Leadership Experience

Within one of the projects, I collaborated well with the founders of a small outsourcing team, and I offered myself as the design lead. I started recruiting designers and learned how to delegate tasks and handle projects through others. Over the course of a year, we completed many projects together, and I thoroughly enjoyed managing the design work, so I decided to continue doing it.

I want to mention that I had the desire to have my own team and delegate design work for quite some time, but it wasn’t easy to achieve. However, the increasing number of tasks that didn’t interest me personally and the overwhelming workload made it physically impossible for me to handle everything myself.

Design Buddy

Organically, my processes evolved into an independent team, which led to the establishment of Design Buddy. This was probably around the sixth year of my career, in 2020. My team grew to about 4 people simultaneously, and we had several long-term projects. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, our work progressed well.

Entering the Corporate World

After two years, I realized that I wanted to immerse myself in something highly complex from various perspectives, so I joined EPAM. In our Kyiv office alone, we have nearly 60 designers, and there are probably over 200 across Ukraine. Each one brings a wealth of experience and something to teach. In my opinion, this step was also crucial for my career and understanding of how design should be done.

During my two years at EPAM, I’ve gained even more confidence in my professionalism. Additionally, the experience of working on large-scale projects solidified my previous expertise and merged it into a cohesive and stable skill set. Now, I’m not afraid to take on projects of any complexity, domain, or team composition.

What’s Next?

What can one do with such career development? Most importantly, it’s about bringing maximum value to the people and projects I collaborate with. I’d like to share more about my plans separately. In my next post, I will discuss the mistakes I could have avoided and the opportunities I missed to achieve greater success within the same timeframe.