Before enrolling in UX Academy and starting his career as a UX designer, Jason Thue was working in a consultative sales role at a digital marketing and web design agency. He was excelling in his career, but was entirely unsatisfied.
“While I was doing well in my role, I was feeling super stressed, unhappy, and unfulfilled in my career. I didn’t like the trajectory I was heading in. I’m a very creative person and knew I needed to do something that would fulfill that need, and the more I researched UX Design the more I knew it was the right path for me. It took me longer than I’d care to admit to work up the courage to seriously pursue it, and I am so glad I did!” Jason says.
“I did a lot of research on different education options and UX bootcamps, and even considered going the self-taught route. Ultimately I chose Designlab as I knew I needed support and structure, and read a lot of positive things about the community they have created and the mentorship they provide. Designlab was also very competitive in terms of what they offered for the price. The investment I made both with my time and money has more than paid itself off.”
Jason made the decision to resign from his sales job and enroll in UX Academy full-time, which he admits was daunting, but ultimately helped him put 100% of his focus on being a student and seriously pursuing this career path.
“I saved up quite a bit of money in order to feel more comfortable with this decision and would encourage others to do the same if they are considering the full-time route,” says Jason.
Jason’s UX/UI Design Learning Journey
Prior to enrolling in UX Academy, Jason took UX Academy Foundations to prepare, where he learned foundational UI and visual design skills through hands-on projects that helped him to master tools like Figma.
“Going through this course only further solidified my commitment to UX and continuing my education with Designlab. Shoutout to Designlab mentor Kieran Black for showing me the ropes when I was still new to Figma and was unsure if I had the design chops to be successful,” Jason says.
Once he continued on his UX/UI learning journey into UX Academy, the mentorship aspect of the course remained particularly key for Jason.
“My experience in UX Academy was extremely positive. My mentor, Pamela Dodera, and I got along super well and she not only taught me a lot but was also very supportive as I completed my coursework and capstones. I also really enjoyed the Group Crit sessions. They are great at preparing you to present and give feedback to others on their designs which is obviously an important skill to learn for this career,” says Jason.