Charin Shah, UX designer at Lollypop Design Studio, shares her insightful and inspiring journey of becoming a self-taught UX Designer
I’m a self-taught UX designer who is enthusiastic about solving user problems to get the perfect balance between user needs and business. I’m a proud Mumbaikar who knows how to get the work done, a self-starter who doesn’t shy away from any challenge. During my final year, when I was introduced to entrepreneurship in detail, I decided to build something on my own. Hence I started my own company Hygrownics with three friends. Needed to build something which is both desirable and profitable, I immersed myself in the world of my consumers, tried stuff, failed, pivoted and tried again. In 6 months, we were able to provide fresh hydroponic, locally grown produce to restaurants, retail stores, other farms and direct consumers.
Our motive was to learn, explore and apply all business skills learned during the entire course of BBA. Someday I’d like to be called an entrepreneur but I realised that to get there I need to skill myself in creating excellent products mainly in the digital space and also have insane knowledge of what goes beyond building a product. In order to up-skill myself, I came across UI/UX design on @growthschool. It caught my attention immediately because it involved everything from research, stories, getting to know new people, listening to problems to coming up with a solution, making things perfect while working in teams. This led me to start my self-learning UX design journey with the help of a mentor. Other than work, I dance, travel to new places and explore different interest areas within me. I am keen on experiencing new sectors and also believe in learning at each point in life.
There were too many courses available online, the toughest hurdle was to choose self-learning and not completely relying on 1 course or bootcamp to teach me what I wanted to learn. I had lots of difficulty choosing which resource to read or learn from because tons of information is available online. Another challenge I faced as a self-taught designer was to be consistent with learning and follow a schedule which I created for myself. I kept telling myself that I’d really wanted to become a UX designer, I would not let any of the challenges come my way and stop my learning. The fact that I was not bound to any course deadline or bootcamp kept me going. It made me realise how truly interested I was that without any proper guidance I still managed to reach so far and start with something completely new. I would like to say that if you are truly keen to learn something just go for it and never look back. Taking that first step is really important and then you just have to keep going and push yourself through it till you reach your goal.I’m a self-taught UX designer who is enthusiastic about solving user problems to get the perfect balance between user needs and business. I’m a proud Mumbaikar who knows how to get the work done, a self-starter who doesn’t shy away from any challenge. During my final year, when I was introduced to entrepreneurship in detail, I decided to build something on my own. Hence I started my own company Hygrownics with three friends. Needed to build something which is both desirable and profitable, I immersed myself in the world of my consumers, tried stuff, failed, pivoted and tried again. In 6 months, we were able to provide fresh hydroponic, locally grown produce to restaurants, retail stores, other farms and direct consumers. Our motive was to learn, explore and apply all business skills learned during the entire course of BBA. Someday I’d like to be called an entrepreneur but I realised that to get there I need to skill myself in creating excellent products mainly in the digital space and also have insane knowledge of what goes beyond building a product. In order to up-skill myself, I came across UI/UX design on @growthschool. It caught my attention immediately because it involved everything from research, stories, getting to know new people, listening to problems to coming up with a solution, making things perfect while working in teams. This led me to start my self-learning UX design journey with the help of a mentor. Other than work, I dance, travel to new places and explore different interest areas within me. I am keen on experiencing new sectors and also believe in learning at each point in life. There were too many courses available online, the toughest hurdle was to choose self-learning and not completely relying on 1 course or bootcamp to teach me what I wanted to learn. I had lots of difficulty choosing which resource to read or learn from because tons of information is available online. Another challenge I faced was to be consistent with learning and follow a schedule which I created for myself.
I kept telling myself that I’d really wanted to become a UX designer, I would not let any of the challenges come my way and stop my learning. The fact that I was not bound to any course deadline or bootcamp kept me going. It made me realise how truly interested I was that without any proper guidance I still managed to reach so far and start with something completely new.
I would like to say that if you are truly keen to learn something just go for it and never look back. Taking that first step is really important and then you just have to keep going and push yourself through it till you reach your goal.
