My Design Abilities Take Flight
During Summer 2020, I had the amazing opportunity to use my design skills in a workplace setting! From June to early September, I was interning at Boeing as a User Experience Specialist, working on improving the user experience of a new internal product Boeing was developing.
I got to work with an amazing team of 5-10 people with an amazing UX Designer as my mentor. Throughout these 11 weeks, I not only got to build on my design skills, but I also learned how to translate those skills into the company's business values. In the classroom, I never had to report my findings to people and talked about how it aligned with overall goals. During my internship, I got to present my findings but most importantly, I learned how to redesign my ideas based on user feedback. My design may not always be what the user wants, but I learned that that means I'm not a bad designer. Instead, I potentially might have missed some research or misinterpreted what people wanted. And that's an important part of the design process we miss in the classroom. It normalized that making mistakes is normal and having to try something different ways and try again.
By the end of the internship, I improved my design skills while also understanding how the UX Design process happens in a professional workplace setting. Through this opportunity, I was able to reflect on my own abilities, see what additional skills I need to practice / improve on, practice professionalism, and draw parallels from my education to my future. While it was all virtual and I couldn't be with my team in St. Louis, I still learned a lot with a great team and mentor while also learning about Boeing!
I got to work with an amazing team of 5-10 people with an amazing UX Designer as my mentor. Throughout these 11 weeks, I not only got to build on my design skills, but I also learned how to translate those skills into the company's business values. In the classroom, I never had to report my findings to people and talked about how it aligned with overall goals. During my internship, I got to present my findings but most importantly, I learned how to redesign my ideas based on user feedback. My design may not always be what the user wants, but I learned that that means I'm not a bad designer. Instead, I potentially might have missed some research or misinterpreted what people wanted. And that's an important part of the design process we miss in the classroom. It normalized that making mistakes is normal and having to try something different ways and try again.
By the end of the internship, I improved my design skills while also understanding how the UX Design process happens in a professional workplace setting. Through this opportunity, I was able to reflect on my own abilities, see what additional skills I need to practice / improve on, practice professionalism, and draw parallels from my education to my future. While it was all virtual and I couldn't be with my team in St. Louis, I still learned a lot with a great team and mentor while also learning about Boeing!
A Minor Step Towards Graduation
During B-Term of Summer Quarter, I took advantage of online asynchronous classes to take INFO 340, Client-Side Development. Through this course, I learned the fundamentals of front-end engineering and web development. I learned how to use new programming languages such as JavaScript and React!
At the end of the course, I not only grew my skills, but I also completed my minor! Each class taught me new design skills as well as basic development skills that will allow me to develop my own designs and aid in its production! |
Summer 2020 Highlights:
June 19th - September 3rd: UX Specialist Internship @ Boeing
Classes: INFO 340
Completed Informatics Minor!
June 19th - September 3rd: UX Specialist Internship @ Boeing
Classes: INFO 340
Completed Informatics Minor!