How I became a product designer | My journey!

So, how did I become a product designer without a design degree? I wanted to share more about my journey into becoming a product designer and how I got to working as a designer at Uber. Watch the video to find out!

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[DesignGal]

I love hearing how people come to the field! Thanks for sharing this.

[kiryusannagi]

Femke : "spoiler alert, i don't Have design Degree"

Me, an IR student : Thank

[AbhijeetWankhade]

I really love hearing these stories from product designers. Most of the product designers I know and work with don’t have any “official” design degree.

[anastasiaegorova]

I'm 30 now and I just figured out that I want to become a product designer. So frustrating knowing that I wasted a lot of time on the things I didn't really like. Well, it is what it is. I'm pretty optimistic. Starting my UX bootcamp soon 😇

[kyleancheta]

thanks for sharing! :) it's always comforting to hear designers' stories of non-traditional paths into design, since my path was also non-traditional, lol.

[HoboLordDot]

I've gotta say this is super helpful seeing the seemingly roundabout way you approached becoming a product designer. I'm on a similar journey myself, jumping from an illustration background to marketing/brand design, and I'm hoping to make the jump to product as well. I've followed you and Charlie on design life for years but its great to see some of your personal journey – Thanks again for documenting this!!

[amberleighturner]

I actually went into college in 2006 with double majoring in marketing and design. 6 years later, I graduated with a BFA in Visual Communications (Graphic Design) and BBA in Marketing. At the time, my professors didn't really think it was a good idea, but as I progressed through both, I had both my design and business professors tell me I was making a smart decision by majoring in both. It has served me well as I've been freelancing since 2007 and full time since 2012.

[rominav]

Thanks for sharing!! I'm amazed that you, as many people comment here, don't have a traditional design career. As a person who had a conventional design career, I think have designers with different backgrounds help to improve the design teams with so many insights!

[yemistorms]

Thanks for sharing this. I've been watching your videos for some days and I must commend how honest and real you've been with what you share.

[nayliensworld]

Thank you for sharing your story! I have degrees in Psychology, and I’m looking into a career in UX! I do design work on my own already, and you gave me motivation to compile my work into a portfolio and pursue a job in this!

[PeteMugarteguii]

It's really nice to hear your background Femke. Actually most of Product Designers doesn't come from a Design Degree (Lucky the ones that they do), Me for example, I studied Computer Systems Engineering and switched to UI/UX Design field, that doesn't mean that I didn't study about UX/UI, I enrolled to an online education learning platform! that helped me to get the basic knowledge to start! One thing that I still struggle nowadays (and I think most of us designers that came from different fields) it's the impostor syndrome, maybe a topic to consider to talk about in your channel.

[subhasmitajena]

Hi Femke!
You, saying that you don't have a design degree, gave me a sense of relief ..😅 because I'm kinda at a point where I'm entering the designing field after completing a degree in a totally different one.
So, thank you for sharing this.
It was encouraging.

[freyatheicequeen]

OMG! I am so surprised to hear other people's experiences work there especially the people that have 2 Ux project experiences. I am Physicist and I decided to change my career to UX designer. You gave me hope, thanks to you so much...

[ap-km]

Hi! I just heard you speak at DesignX conference a couple of days ago and then saw that you have a whole channel on Product design. Thanks a lot for sharing! It's super interesting to watch your videos! I am currently taking a PG degree in UX design, coming from a whole other non-related field and am feeling a bit awkward and sometimes lost. Your videos put me back on track. :)

[frankvasquez]

Hi! I just discover your channel, and your journey is amazing, really inspiring. I have a degree in graphic design, but I started to get tired of it, so I´m trying to make this transition to the Product Design field. I'm sucribed from now on, you have inspired me to continue my journey.

[nirupamas]

I share a similar journey except that I went on to do a postgraduate degree in Economics, did a short course in analytics, worked 2 non design related jobs and then went on to do a diploma in graphic design and now finally trying to transitioning to product design! 😁

[bigbeeforever]

I searched for Figma portfolio related content, and know my interest has peaked in UI/UX / Product design

[idevbrandon]

Thanks for sharing your story. Since i finish my studies, i wanted to be a FE(frontend) developer but later i found out that there's more career path with UIUX design and product manager etc. so i found out that one thing i really wanna do for my rest of life is to be a PM who plan for a service. I find your channel so useful and it will help me to reach to my goal. thank you so much

[osamamghazal]

glad i found someone who relates to the EXACT SAME bg lol. I too went to business then after graduation I was like, CRAP lol. same crap i guess

[comodesignstudio_la]

Moral of the story, never listen to people who say you can't do something. Figure a way out. I've been a product designer for 8 years. People will always say it's impossible until it's done - in design and life. Keep killin it! We see the growth