According to Juliana, the main factor that stimulated the change of area was the desire to participate more actively in the discovery and decision processes of the projects. Check out her journey and tips she gives for those who also want to migrate to another area.

Juliana, what was your background before migrating to Product Design

I graduated in Industrial Design, when the course still had that name, in 2013. In my second term of college I got an internship at a small agency, so I ended up doing a little bit of everything, but focusing on UI - at the time, it was called Visual Programming.

I was fortunate to have good bosses, so I've always been able to learn a lot from all my experiences. I ended up falling for Motion because the other members of my teams didn't want to do it, so there was plenty left for me.

With my background of flash, I worked remotely for a startup in São Paulo at the end of 2016. It was at that time that My eye shone into the product area. When I needed to travel for in-person meetings, I saw the close service, the difficulties and pain of the users, and how the team worked to solve those problems.

As a Motion Designer, I felt like a cog in a machine - I performed a lot but didn't participate in the creative process. This bothered me more and more and I decided that I really wanted to migrate to another area.

Reading Tip: Migrate to UX Design - 10 Initial Steps

What were the initial steps you took to migrate to UX Design?

At that moment I knew that I wanted to change, but I didn't know exactly how and for what. I started participating in some workshops of UX and UI to understand a little more about the areas and what a UX Designer does.

After a short time, I knew that I wanted to go to UX/UI and I started looking for ways to specialize. I took several materials to study, participated in more workshops, created a circle of contacts in this area and entered a graduate program very focused on UX and I ended up missing UI.

That's when I found the Bootcamp Master Interface Design (MID), by means of people who took the course and got a place in the area. I I watched the interviews, I went after the portfolios of the students and I thought it was incredible.

From the moment I decided that I wanted to change, I went after making that happen.

How was it having to learn a lot of new things, build a portfolio, and apply for UX jobs?

When I left the startup in the middle of 2017, I started studying UX/UI Design. It was early 2018 when I went to the first workshops.

I even commented in the MID community that I suffered from impostor syndrome, because I never thought I was ready - I always had something to improve and a detail to adjust.

In this sense, MID helped me a lot. After so much watching presentations and applying for vacancies, in addition to the whole process of a lot of discussion with the community and with people from my graduate studies, I was able to improve my confidence in Product Design.

I think that something very cool about our area is that not only does it have a lot of offers, but there are also a lot of people willing to help.

With the internet, we can easily find people in the same situation as ours to exchange experiences. In fact, all the people I contacted were very helpful, both to ask questions and to exchange knowledge.

Something very interesting that we had at the MID was that we became partners with other Bootcamp students, that is, having someone to discuss our doubts, difficulties and project development. It's really cool to have access to people who are doing the same thing as us, or at least what we want to do. This goes a long way in building trust in your own portfolio.

Reading Tip: UX Design Portfolio - 6 Essential Tips for Building Yours

What was the process like to get your first job in Product Design?

A The first thing I did was set a goal to get a job in Product Design in early 2019. I subscribed to LinkedIn Premium and some opportunities were emerging, I applied it to several places also, thinking about the maxim of “I don't already have it”.

I even interviewed at several legal companies, until in January a recruiter from Juno, where I work now, invited me to be part of the selection process. I thought it would be bold on my part, because it's a large company with several employees, but I took up the challenge. It didn't work out.

At the time, my portfolio was not yet very structured, but I didn't want to let that stop me from starting to participate in selection processes.

I continued applying to other places and again a Juno recruiter called me for a new process. I was called for the first interview and at the end I had a test to take. I already knew that this is a common practice in the market, despite being controversial, so I did it, not least because it was an elimination phase.

In the meantime, we talked a lot and I was very sincere, I said that I was participating in other processes and I made it clear that I had no previous experience in Product Design. They enjoyed it and on the same day, after the test, they told me that they were going to send me a proposal and I ended up joining as a full member.

And the most unexpected thing is that the day I started here, I received a proposal from another company!

What has it been like working with Product Design?

I was fortunate to start here at Juno on a project that was still in the immersion phase, that is, at the time when we were trying understand the user's need to use that product.

So my first task was to present this. I did quantitative and qualitative market research, with the help of people who were already here, to get as much information as possible. At this stage, I worked hard with some Costumer Experience professionals.

I understand that being Product Designer involves doing both the strategic part (research) and the execution part, when you translate what you've discovered into an end user interface. Working in Product Design involves the entire process, from start to finish, so it can be a bit challenging, but it's also really cool.

Reading Tip: Product Manager - Business, Technology, and User Experience

What would you say to yourself when thinking about migrating to another area?

I think I would say go deep. My only regret was that I didn't migrate to Product Design before. I have friends who are in very cool companies and I think I ended up taking a long time to get interested and change the time.

Now, I'm evangelizing as many friends as I can to migrate to UX/UI. I think that the moment we become a thinking part of the whole, there's no way not to fall in love with the area.

It's hard to change areas, you have to jump right in, study hard and have a lot of motivation. But go without fear because it will work out!