Mapping my Journey Through the Google UX Design Certificate Program
Life is a prototype and it is time to iterate
Everyone goes through different phases in life and I am not different. I’ve been through a lot in my almost 30 years of life. I moved to another country, learned a new language, fell in love with someone who lived more than 4000 miles away. My work life went through different paths as well.
I worked not only as Dietitian but as a saleswoman, assistant manager, and supervisor. Seems like a lot but life is a constant iteration process, isn’t it? We usually have a plan in mind but life happens. A prototype is never perfect and it’s always time to reiterate. So, here I go again.
I’ve been thinking (a lot) about where my career is taking me and I feel like is time to open a new frame. I have noticed an interest growing in the past years and I decided to jump in because I don’t know how to life live in any other way. I decided to learn something new again, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Design has a place in my heart. It all started when I decided to design my own website, then I made thank you cards, stickers, and a logo for my jewelry store, Avante Jewel. After that, I started to design flyers and menus for a project at work, that’s when I realized I always having fun designing. I loved the process but I wanted to learn how to do it in the right way.
Google here, google there, after some research, and I realized I had 3 paths, I could enroll in a formal school, through a boot camp, or I could try to learn by myself getting pieces of information from different resources (books, youtube, online courses, etc). Don’t get me wrong I would love to go back to school, but to enroll in a university in the United States you need to spend a lot of money (I could write another article just on that) and I am the kind of person who needs some guidance to learn something new, so I was leaning towards a boot camp, however, I found an article saying that Google was about to release new certification courses, including a UX design professional certification program. I enrolled in the course as fast as I could.
I chose the Google UX Certificate program for a few reasons. The course did not require any prior experience, the classes are online, so I could take the classes in my on time. I was really interested in design, the premise of this certification program is to give the students the skills needed to get an entry-level job in UX Design.
I have been doing this course for a little more than a month and I have learned a lot. The Google UX Certificate program is divided into 7 modules, from the foundations of the user experience, including user-centered design through accessibility. The certificate program includes bite-sized lessons featuring Google UX Design as instructors, valuable UX design resources, and hands-on projects that you can I will be able to use on my portfolio. I have shared some of my thoughts on the Google UX certificate program on a youtube video. Check it out!
In each course, the level of difficulty has been increasing but so is the excitement of seeing my project progress. I have been learning new skills and I happy to finally learn how to use design tools. I decided to document my learning journey here by sharing my thoughts, process, and the challenges I am facing as I work through Google’s UX Design Courses.
Hope you join me on this ride!
See you soon,
Sarah Jhayse
