My Career Transition From Occupational Therapy (OT) to UX Design
Recently, a lot of people have reached out to me and asked about my experience with the career switch. Specifically from an OT to a UX Designer. I’m more than happy to answer any follow-up questions, but I hope this article reaches out to a wider audience that is considering a career switch.
I graduated in 2018 with my M.S. in Occupational Therapy (OT) and worked as an OT until 2021. Yes, that was a short period of time. But there were a lot of indicators that I needed to change careers. I will outline these indicators in the remainder of the article.
How Did I Know I Needed A Different Career?
I concluded that I only enjoyed being an OT because of my co-workers and the positive interactions I had with some patients. I evaluated whether I enjoyed the nature of the job, and the answer was “no”. I can continue to be friends with these co-workers without being an OT.
I didn’t feel the joy of making an impact anymore. Helping to improve someone’s life didn’t outweigh my heavy feelings of unhappiness. I wondered if I was being dramatic and negative because there were plenty of OTs around me that loved their job. I reminded myself that people are different and if I was unhappy, then I needed to do something about it.
How Did I Land On UX Design?
I had a full-time job as an OT, so I took advantage of that by exploring my options. I knew I wanted to be involved with the tech scene. I’ve always been interested in both software and hardware products, but I never realized I could make a career out of that interest. I started with some HTML and CSS courses — this was not for me. My friend introduced me to UX design and Designlab.
There were two things I knew I wanted in my next career:
1. Problem-solving with people
2. Learning about technology and leveraging it
UX design meets both of these. Not only that, I learned that research and utilizing data points were advocated in this field. As an OT, you’re expected to provide evidence-based interventions. This is in alignment with best practices in design. After plenty of research and contemplating, I decided to make the investment in myself.
Why Did I Pick Designlab?
Designlab requires the completion of an introductory course, which I believe is called “Foundations” now. Students need to complete Foundations as a prerequisite to their UX Academy (UXA). I loved this introductory course and immediately enrolled in UXA.
I won’t say this was easy for me. I was extremely resistant to the idea of spending more money and time on a new career. My time as an OT was short, and I kept questioning whether I should just stick it out. But with a strong nudge from someone close to me, I determined that I was unhappy and needed to make a change.
Designlab’s UXA was my choice because of these factors:
- The price was right, including many flexible payment options
- Weekly mentor sessions
- Good reputation and reviews ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Career services are an option after completion of UXA
Now that I’ve completed UXA, I will not hesitate to recommend it for these reasons:
- Vast and supportive network
- Meaningful feedback with mentors and weekly critique sessions
- The assignments are not fluffed; they’re meant to help build strong portfolio pieces
Again, do your own research. Designlab is my personal choice and recommendation. But you should do your own research and make the choice that’s best for yourself. I also will not go into detail about my experience throughout UXA. I feel that Designlab does a good job outlining its curriculum and expectations. The aforementioned factors above outline the positive experience I had with Designlab.
My Job Search
September 2021 was when I received my UXA certificate. I started applying for jobs during the program, just to put feelers out. I will not lie, the job search is difficult. Coming from a totally different field did not help. I learned to emphasize the soft skills that would make me successful as a UX designer. Not only that, but I’m working on the design craft to show my potential in the hard skills.
I landed my role through a Facebook group for Austin designers. Other companies interviewed me, but my final decision was based on the culture. I researched the companies I interviewed with and made sure that I was working with people passionate about their roles.
Everyone’s financial and personal situation is different. However, if a role does not feel right and you see red flags everywhere, you need to make the tough decision to turn that role down. This opens another can of worms, but everyone deserves to be happy with their work environment.
My Working Experience
TL;DR: I love my job and have no regrets.
Again, everyone is different. This is why I urge anyone who asks me about my experience to do their due diligence with the research. Career transitions are not prescriptive and are different for each person.
At the time of writing this article, I have been working as a UX designer for 10 months. At this time, I see so many potential career paths and growth opportunities for me in this field. I’m surrounded by a supportive manager and team members. There are a lot of opportunities to learn and develop your skills.
In comparison to OT, my day as a UX designer is nowhere nearly as structured. For me, this is a positive point. I want an environment that gives me autonomy in figuring out what I need to do and the necessary steps. This is part of the creative freedom that I love about design.
Luckily for me, I don’t have to deal with any micro-management in my current role. I can take on as much as I’d like, just as long as I’m doing my job well. I’m surrounded by other designers and a researcher. I’m fortunate to be part of a team structure that includes a lead designer. I can learn from various working styles and approaches. More importantly, I’m getting the critical feedback necessary in order to grow.
Not all of my OT skills are thrown down the drain. As an OT, I was taught to use “therapeutic use of self.” Essentially, leveraging empathy in all intervention plans. If you haven’t already heard, design requires empathy. I formulate research plans and use the data to advocate for the users. Similar to reading research articles and planning treatments for my patients. All this to say if you’re an OT considering the switch to design, your OT skills will carry over well into design.
Conclusion
I hope this article helped inform my fellow OTs (or healthcare professionals) considering a career switch to design. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of researching the field to make sure that it’s for you. Regardless of what career you land on, I hope everyone finds one that makes them happy.
If you have any additional questions about my personal experience in the career switch, feel free to reach out to me on Linkedin.