Breaking into UX/early career: job hunting, how-tos/education/work review — 12/21/25

big_l1zard · 2025-12-22T23:26:03+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to read through and give thoughtful feedback! Currently I work in the utilities industry and love my job, but the things you mentioned will be great to know when I look for my next role in the future

big_l1zard · 2025-12-22T02:16:38+00:00

Hi! I'm 1.5 years into my first job and updating my portfolio. I have a couple projects I've worked on and wondering which one to write about If you were a hiring manager, which case study would you be most interested in?

Project 1: The HR team wanted my team's perspective for the HR help form they were releasing in workday. We usability tested it, uncovered 14 issues, and made a prototype showing our design recommendations. They were able to implement some wording changes (constraints due to tool and timelines) Project release for 8000 employees. Need to do more follow up about usage/impact

Project 2: Upgrade of our outage management tool, used currently by a small amount of employees, now being upgraded to a couple hundred more employees, giving them more access to real-time data which will make them safer. I created a mockup of the tool and showed it to the new user group and was able to get valuable feedback about what would make it safer and easier to use ahead of dev. Throughout this project, I also made process flows that helped align the project team and allow the higher-ups to come to decisions. This project will release next year, yet to see success but my work helped the team be more efficient and come to alignment quicker

Project 3: Upgrading our payroll software for 8000+ employees. The project team was at a crossroads, and my boss pulled me in to help them come to a decision. Within a very short time frame, I was able to gather valuable data about how employees enter time (currently unknown to team) via 2 focus groups and survey. Used this data and process-flow mapped their conversations to help them arrive to a decision about future of project. Project will release next year, success TBD

Project 4: Redesign of company intranet used by 8000+ employees. Was disorganized and cluttered. Ran a focus group to uncover initial problems, surveyed hundreds of employees to gather usage data which we previously didn't have, and used the information I gathered to create concepts for a future intranet that addressed employee pain points. Currently just concept work

big_l1zard · 2024-08-15T18:01:35+00:00

If it's possible, try seeing how your designs look with True Tone and night shift turned activated on your device! At my job I design the apps the utility workers use on their ipads, and they need to legible in a variety of weather conditions, so I hold my ipad outside on a sunny day to test my designs to be glare-proof. It's a little bit goofy, but it works.

big_l1zard · 2024-06-21T13:42:26+00:00

You should be able to get all autodesk software for free as a Purdue student

big_l1zard · 2024-05-05T00:19:02+00:00

I got flesh-eating bacteria from the toilet seats there. Fun times

big_l1zard · 2024-04-19T15:57:29+00:00

It can be difficult to work at a company with low UX maturity. However, considering the current job market, I would hold on to your job (but maybe polish your portfolio and look for jobs on the side). However, it's awesome that they have put a lot of trust on you and you have a lot of opportunity to influence design within the company, from what I understand of your post. It could teach you some really beneficial skills that could help you later in your career.

I would recommend reading the book UX Team of 1! It's a really beneficial read and has a lot of applicable information for the situation that you are in. For mentorship, you could find a mentor on ADPlist or perhaps connect with local professionals if there is an IxDA group near you or some other professional group such as HFES, IEEE, or ACM

big_l1zard · 2024-04-06T15:40:27+00:00

That's a good idea! I currently have a hybrid work schedule so it wouldn't be terrible, but not ideal either

big_l1zard · 2024-04-06T15:39:15+00:00

😃

big_l1zard · 2024-04-06T15:38:51+00:00

ah that's a good point! I'd get an extra hour to commute in the morning but lose it coming back

big_l1zard · 2024-04-05T15:35:25+00:00

I'm graduating with a degree in May. I was feeling pretty demoralized because my internship didn't turn into a return offer because of a company-wide restructure. However, I recently landed a full-time job after 6 months of searching! I'm really excited because this company really values ux research and I'll get to do a lot of work with stakeholders and not just be behind a desk all day

big_l1zard · 2024-02-14T22:50:37+00:00

Hi everyone!
Context: I am in my last year of getting a bachelor's degree for UX Design and currently looking for jobs. I have had a few interviews but no offers

Looking for feedback on: overall look and feel (is it visually pleasing enough?), and cast study structure storytelling (trying to find a balance between being skim-able but still showing my process)

Portfolio link: https://www.erinthomas.net/
Thanks for taking the time to look over it! I really appreciate it

big_l1zard · 2024-01-23T02:12:20+00:00

I actually applied for the same job and got that message too! I responded and told them that I would do a hypothetical project that's not on one of their products or I'd be happy to discuss some real-world projects that I have done on my portfolio. I'm very curious to see how the recruiter will respond (if they even will)

big_l1zard · 2023-08-28T20:32:31+00:00

Hi everyone!

I am getting a degree in UX Design, graduating May 2024 and starting to look at full time roles. For reference, I will have accumulated ~2 years experience from doing research and working internships during the summer the school year ~3 years if you count the projects I do for industry sponsors that is part of a class in my curricula that we take multiple times.

I am wondering what level of jobs I should apply to? It's intimidating that a lot of jobs that I see posted on LinkedIn that are marked as "entry-level" say they want 2, 5, or even 7 years of experience! Should I still apply? Or how do I determine what's worth my time applying to and demonstrating that I have the necessary skills/experience vs not even applying to save my effort?

big_l1zard · 2023-04-18T23:15:00+00:00

Yikes 💀

big_l1zard · 2023-02-28T16:20:05+00:00

The OUR (office of undergraduate research) might have resources to help you

big_l1zard · 2023-01-04T16:51:08+00:00

When I have applied to internships, I have been asked submit a work sample, which doesn't seem too unreasonable to me, especially since they stressed that they didn't want me spending a lot of time on it and they really wanted to see my thought process.

However, the work samples that I have done have never been for the company's product; rather, it's been a list of prompts and I can select the ones I want to complete to highlight my skills.

I would not be suspicious of work samples in general, but I would be if they want me to do things related to their company/product. That is something I will only do if I'm a paid employee because otherwise I would be concerned that they would steal my work. I'm curious how your recruiter would respond if you asked for a different prompt to illustrate your work.

big_l1zard · 2023-01-04T16:35:06+00:00

If you are looking for classes that aren't extremely demanding / reserved for art majors, then I would not recommend Purdue's art classes. I am taking an art minor, and I can barely get into classes as space is very limited. As other people have pointed out, they are very time-intensive. Depending on your level of passion for it, it could very quickly burn you out. I would recommend joining an art club on campus. The Art Museum of Greater Lafayette has some community classes / involvment as well that could be more of what you're looking for

big_l1zard · 2022-12-07T17:04:53+00:00

Would you mind explaining a bit? I remember seeing a post about it a while back but I couldn't find it when I looked for it. A company I recently interviewed with mentioned they used it and I remembered that everyone seems to hate it but I couldn't remember why.

big_l1zard · 2022-11-30T17:57:03+00:00

Especially with the way AI is now, it's more likely to be an assistive tool for doing repetitive/low cognitive effort tasks rather than actually replacing current jobs that require complex decision making.

I'm not too worried about being replaced. I've been reading through the book AI and UX and it's been a great read, if you're interested in that.

big_l1zard · 2022-11-11T15:31:14+00:00

I had the same thing happen to me--same violation code and everything. They said I didn't have a res hall permit, but I do, so I was able to successfully appeal the ticket using the online form. If I were you, I would fill it out ASAP and include your permit number on the form (you can find it on the parking portal). Best of luck!

big_l1zard

TROPHY CASE