It’s a been a while, so I thought I’d drop in with this bit of news that will explain why I haven’t been actively posting on here or Instagram:

I’m taking the Google UX Design course through Coursera!

via GIPHY

It has been on my radar for at least a couple of years, but in true to me fashion, I finally took the plunge in July, signed up, and started this journey.

If you know me in real life and we’ve spoken in depth about my wish to leave retail and customer service jobs behind for good, then you know that this has been a long time coming. Like years in the making.

If you’re new here, hi! I’m a mostly self-taught designer, have taken courses here and there, and previously went to college for art, but ended up working in retail and customer service jobs over the last ten years because:

1) Something has to pay the bills - right??

2) Contrary to popular belief, exposure does NOT pay the bills. Time and time again, I kept getting told, “We like what you create for us, we love working with you, but we can’t pay you,” (graphic design volunteer position AND unpaid internship) or “You don’t have enough experience/certification for us to consider hiring you.” (Which…hello, is a Catch-22.)

3) I honestly gave up and figured that maybe this wasn’t a part of my path because it just wasn’t happening for me, without sounding too woo-woo.

When I went back to work this summer regularly after working on a not so regular basis throughout the past year, (thanks, pandemic!) I was determined to not only give this course a go, but to also plan some sort of a strategy to get closer to where I want to be.

And now here we are!

via GIPHY

I’m currently on the course number five out of seven, so while I’m close to completing the professional certificate, I know that there’s still a lot more work to do with my portfolio project.

I will be showing what I’ve done so far with my online snack ordering app for a movie theater, which consists of a lot of wireframes, prototypes, an affinity diagram, and more.

There will be blog posts detailing each main step of the way, so please bear with me as I get them up and out over the next month or so!