There is always something about the different paths that people take that is really insightful. It gives you lessons that you can apply to your own career. I have always wondered about how people got where they are now in their careers and how they got there.
Where it all began
I was in the third year of my BTech graduation, one year more and my college journey would have come to an end. Everyone around me was doing coding, so I started doing it too. I was trying to fit into the development world but to be honest I wasn’t really enjoying it. I wanted to explore more options. I think this phase is very common in most students’ lives when they are not sure where they are heading, sometimes feeling unsure about their choices and that’s when I began to ask myself what to do instead.
Intro to UI/UX
During the 6th semester, an organization named coloredcow visited our college for a week. They introduced us to the whole process of building software from scratch. We had read all about it in books but seeing the practical implications was a completely different experience. We got to learn the process of how it all starts with some requirements and leads to launching the live product. One of the processes which caught my attention was UI/UX. I had never thought about this part before, it was a whole new experience for me. I was intrigued and excited to learn more about it.
The first session
I thought about giving UI/UX a try, so I joined the Seminar to get more Knowledge on it. In that seminar, I got more understanding of how to wireframe and how to move ahead with the design. This process had more to it than design. It was more about solving a problem, learning about the challenges, and how to resolve them. Solving challenges has always been a subject of interest for me, I think that’s why I took an interest in UI/UX.
The lockdown story, turning disaster into an opportunity
I was home from college for Holi break. It was supposed to be a week-long holiday, when the time came for me to get back to college the 21 days lockdown was announced. It came as a shock at first but as a student, it was more like a holiday. Who knew it was just the beginning. The starting days of lockdown went past quickly, it felt like time was flying and it made me realize I was wasting this opportunity. I thought this was the best time to start something, why not use this time to explore UI/UX design. That’s when I contacted Coloredcow about the internship program they told us about during the college visit. I wrote an email to show my interest in exploring the UI/UX design, and the very next day got a response that if I am interested I can start the same week. I was happy about my step and excited about starting my Design journey officially.
Journey begins
Due to the lockdown imposed all over India, I began with my internship virtually. There were two more students from my college joining for the same. The internship started with a new exercise. For the exercise, we had to build a management platform from scratch. This time we started building from documentation to final designs, from learning about the market to designing the system. We were mentored throughout the process. We did our tasks individually and used to showcase and discuss that on our weekly call. Our mentor used to give feedback on our work and helped us make them cleaner and build further.
Begins the real challenge
The exercise was one thing but the real challenge started when I got the chance to contribute to live projects. I think that was when things started to heat up I was finally contributing and doing what we would be required to do ahead in our career. Working on that itself was rewarding, thinking what you have worked on is being used by the people out there is the greatest feeling of all.
Working experience/learning
During my journey so far I have worked on a few projects. I got to work on some exciting projects and to work with some amazing people sharing their knowledge and experience about the Software world.
The first project I worked on was with CII for one of their sustainable development verticals. My task was to learn the ongoing design pattern and add more pages to the design on that knowledge. On top of that, I also had to make responsive designs for the same. That was the first challenge from where this journey took a flight after that, I got to contribute to more projects. This in turn opened opportunities to interact with clients, which gave more and more value to this internship. With each challenge, I got to learn new things and got more hands-on experience. Working with Coloredcow made me realize that there’s a bigger picture to working in an organization. It’s not just about completing tasks, it’s about building a team, interacting with them, sharing your knowledge, and a lot more.
This whole experience answered my question on how people reach their goals. It all starts with a decision and then you start walking on that path step by step. You don’t need to rush it, move a little each day, and in no time without realizing you’ll be there.
I’m Ankit Kukreti Signing off!
will share more in the future.
Thanks for reading.
