Branch: EEE
Field of Interest: UX Design
Admits: California College of The Arts, Parsons School of Design, Purdue University, Indiana University Bloomington
How did you choose your current career field?
I've always been interested in art but had only considered it a hobby. I liked math, so I decided to take MPC in the 11th grade and finally ended up getting EEE as my branch in BITS. As college progressed, I joined Shades in my first year. Through club work and classes, I realized very early on that I wasn't really interested in engineering but I loved art and creating things. So, when DA announced their inductions, I got excited to explore the digital side of art and taught myself Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to get selected into DA. I learned about digital design through the various workshops that DA conducted.
I did a design internship after my first year with a bitsian start-up. Back then, I knew very basic stuff, but that laid the foundation to build my profile on and step foot into the world of corporate design.
At the end of second year, a firm called Alexa Apps posted on Bitsians For Each Other that they wanted a design intern, so I applied and got selected. To my pleasant surprise, it later turned out to be a PS l station. But it had listed developer roles and was only open to CS students. However, I somehow managed to convince the PSD to let me go for that internship instead of the one I was actually assigned. During my time at PS 1, I had lots of fun collaborating with the developers to create visuals for voice based applications aimed towards kids. It introduced me to design beyond graphics - voice design and user conscious design. The fascination and enthusiasm I felt in the workplace helped me decide that I wanted to design professionally. I couldn't see myself being happy in a core or IT job. In third year, I developed interest particularly in the field of user conscious design and delved deeper into it. I did my PS 2 as a UX design intern, which cemented my interest in the field. I feel grateful to have parents that supported me towards this path..
What do you like about UX design?
What I really like about UX design is the fact that it helps solve people's problems through empathy and creativity. Technology is growing at a rapid pace, but there's only so far it can go if people don't quite easily understand how to use it. If, for instance, someone builds a website for boosting their business, but the site is not engaging or makes the user want to exit it within a moment of opening it, there's no point in making such a website. UX is all about how you make the user feel about your product. This requires the creator to put themselves in the user's shoes and think from their perspective, to make things work better. You need to go talk to people, understand what their requirements are, and then work accordingly. All in all, it makes you think out of the box. The scope is huge - I've gone from putting myself in a rich person's shoes in Singapore for a golf holiday website to the shoes of a poor person in rural Bangladesh for a mobile network app. That's what I love the most about this field.
What are your future plans in the field?
Through this journey, I’ve realised the humongous power design can have on our lives. In the near future, I want to learn how to make my designs reflect ethics and mindfulness. These days a lot of technology, websites and apps actually are the causes for stress and anxiety. People feel like escaping their online world. The challenge is to design ethically without crossing the fine line that lies between helping people navigate easily, making them stay on the site longer and taking advantage of their emotional space. Having gone through these negative feelings, the challenge is very close and exciting to me. In the future I want to use the power of design to tackle wicked problems like sustainability and poverty.
How did you achieve all your goals so far?
I figured out everything on the way. I simply went with what I knew I would like. I knew I liked art, so I joined Shades and DA. There, I got an opportunity to interact with like-minded people and a senior, Owais bhaiyya, who was already doing a UX design job. His advice helped greatly.
I wish I had someone who could tell me exactly what to do. Like, I wanted to go for a thesis, but I only considered the possibility of going for a thesis in design very late. Since I started pretty late and didn't have a well-built portfolio at that time, I couldn't get one. But I didn't lose hope. I started mailing several companies for work. After doing internships at corporates, I wished to work specifically for a design firm. I ended up getting an internship, convincing the firm, and later PSD to open it as a station. Although it was quite hard sometimes, I pushed myself to complete one small task at a time.
On building a profile:
During PS-II, I got to work on real-time UX projects with corporate clients, which helped greatly in building my portfolio. Building a strong portfolio is really important for grabbing the opportunity to do a thesis, and it also helps you get better internships.
Coming to masters applications, my CG wasn't that great, so I had to make sure to put in 200% in everything else I did. Since I was changing my field, I had to show how passionate I was towards what I wanted to do and what I did with my time in college. While writing your SOP, write it in a way that the reader can put themselves in your place, feel your story, passion and goals. I would say SOP plays a huge role if you are switching fields. Make your SOP, LORs and portfolio complement each other to tell your story. For example, I talked a lot about my PS internships so instead of 2 pure academic LORS out of 3, I took one from my PS 1 professor mentor, so he could vouch for my work and the fact that I was the only design intern working there. I also made references to my SOP in my portfolio. Stay connected to professors as they are responsible for your LORS.
How did you go about searching for your university?
I initially googled. I found good websites that had compiled details of various universities, which helped a great deal. Then I individually researched universities. I had two options, I could either go towards the research side in design or towards designing itself. I decided to apply to design specific universities as I don't have much interest in research. So, I mainly applied to design schools and engineering universities that looked at an overall profile and also had a focus on design.
How did you manage to stay motivated throughout?
It becomes challenging to stay confident and motivated all through because when you see people excelling in whatever they do, and also managing to get good grades, you feel like somewhere you're wasting your time on something that's probably not good enough. I learnt that things don't work that way. I still struggle with it myself, but you need to stop comparing yourself to what others are doing. Just push yourself to focus on doing one tiny task at a time, and you'd be good to go! Even if it's one small, goal-related email that you pushed yourself to send, you should be proud of yourself that day.
Advice for juniors:
1. A portfolio helps a lot for design-related fields, and internships help build a good portfolio. You can go for unpaid internships just to get exposure. Educate yourself and follow articles and pages that inspire you. Take up design challenges.
2. Surround yourselves with people who are striving for a goal and also motivate you towards yours. Whenever you feel like not doing anything, they will be the ones motivating you to not give up.
3. If you don't like something, start paving the path for what you want to do in the future early. Even if you realize it a bit late, don't give up.
4. Make a to-do list. Like even if it's one person you have to network with, just write it down. Once you finish it, you'll feel better. Otherwise, things keep piling up, and you'll feel like giving up on your goal.
5.Take advantage of the flexibility and peer group that BITS provides. Explore your interests and join clubs and departments
6. Take advantage of the electives. For example, I took psychology, OOP, and product design because they were related to my field. The LORs from these profs will also help.
7. Don't hesitate to apply to your dream colleges.
Disclaimer: The points given above are the views and steps taken by the individual. They are not fixed steps and guideline to base your college upon. Our hope is to inspire students so they can take the necessary steps here after. We hope you like it!
Written By: Jaya Sharma and Bharadwaj Pasupathi
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