In this interview, Thiago Alves, student of our Bootcamp Master Interface Design (MID), tell me how you migrated from the Administration to UX/UI Design. He did so because of his passion for Webdesign and the need to positively impact the consumer.

Thiago, share a bit about yourself and your background before migrating to UX Design.

I have a degree in Business Administration, with a postgraduate degree in Business Management. However, Design has always been very present in my life. Ever since I was a kid, my fun was making websites for my friends.

When I started college, there were no courses in the area of Design, so I ended up going to Management anyway.

What drew your attention to the UX?

After working in the area of creating websites, I worked for a long time with Digital Marketing, from 2014 to 2018. At that time, I was doing both Graphic Design, more focused on advertising, and campaign management.

I am passionate about services and products that place users at the center of decisions and operations. Like for example Nubank. So I already knew a little bit about UX, but not too deep. A year ago, I started to miss impacting people through Design, as I had been doing in Digital Marketing.

At the same time that I realized that I could make a difference in people's lives with Design, I saw an advertisement for the Bootcamp MID. I thought it was the right opportunity and decided to focus on that. I made the decision to migrate to another area and began to study a lot about UX.

How did your UX migration process flow?

I started working with UX when I finished the Management course - in fact, my college was my first client. They had a weak site and I took a redesign proposal. I did the presentation, they liked it and I started working for them.

After that work, things flowed naturally. Soon after, I created the website of the city hall of my city (Monte Carmelo, MG). Because it was a small city, I made a name for myself there. One recommendation led to another, and I ended up creating a very cool client base.

I also started working as a freelancer for a multinational company, through marketplace forums. In this specific forum, there were several sections with demands from different types of companies. There, they specified the size of the company, the requirements, and what the professional should do. Anyone interested would send a value proposition for the work.

Reading Tip: How to Take Advantage of My Background and Migrate to UX Design?

Thiago, you said you were going to change areas in six months. Did that happen, in fact?

I saw the announcement of the MID in August 2018 and started taking the course during that same period, probably at the end of the month. I got my current vacancy at seven months!

With each test I took, I learned a lot. I applied for a lot of vacancies. I received a lot of refusals. I was also left unanswered from various places — but I was never shaken. I always viewed each process as a new learning experience, so it was always an enriching experience.

I think that the combination of all these factors helped me to conquer this opportunity - everything I learned in the course, all my dedication, every interview and test I took, everything contributed to this.

I started looking for vacancies in November 2018. My first interview was that same month, oddly enough for the company where I am currently working, Indra, but it wasn't the same vacancy.

What difficulties did you experience in the UX migration process?

Initially, I experienced a lot of difficulty, not only because I was migrating from one area, but also because of the change in the way I worked.

I heard a lot in the interviews that I was used to working in a free form, so I had to argue that yes, but that I had the desire to work as a team and acquire this experience.

Before you got the job, had you done anything wrong with UX Design or Interaction?

I had an experience — it was a project that I even put in my portfolio.

In the second half of 2018, I received a request to redesign a credit company website and, since I was already thinking about moving to another area, I took this opportunity to apply everything I had already learned into practice.

I went to the corporate office and spoke with some members to try to understand what the problems were, what worked well and what didn't. Anyway, I did a lot of research to do my job and got first approval. Of course, I polished the project during the execution, but the initial scope was approved — it was a case that I used in my portfolio!

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

What were your main learnings during the interviews and tests?

I applied for the position at Indra in November last year, but I was not the best choice for the position. I was very grateful for the opportunity and understood that it really wasn't supposed to be this time. In January I ended up doing another interview for a new vacancy, but it didn't work out either.

Finally, the third time, I did the whole process, talked to the team's Designers, the client, the manager and I succeeded! The important thing is not to give up — you will receive a lot of hands along this journey, but they contribute a lot to your growth.

How is your job going? Are you having any challenges yet?

It's all being new! I'm moving to another area, changing the way I work (I've always worked alone and now I'm going to work as a team) and I'm moving to another city (now I'm in São Paulo). I already had the opportunity to start an incredible project, working with Santander's cash machines.

I have learned in practice a lot of things that I had already seen at the MID. The experience so far has been very enriching! I am very excited about this new phase.

Thiago, you played your career on your own. Now, you have undergone major changes and are currently working with UX Design. What are you feeling?

I'm feeling fulfilled. I am doing something that is being very big, I am participating in a project that will really bring me a lot together and is being a very big challenge.

All new learning, even regarding methodologies (at work, we use the methodology Agile) and all of this is being a school for me. I think I made the right choice to have migrated to UX Design.

What would be the main tip you would give to someone who wants to switch to UX?

First of all, I recommend Do the Bootcamp MID. It was a course that opened a lot in my head — as much as I had a bit of a sense of UX, I was very focused on the visual of things and the teachers helped me a lot to break through my barriers. I absorbed the content through the exercises and live classes, which I think are very important for our development!

I also recommend that you go for more — read the fundamental and extra books, open your mind to everything you can learn, and pay attention to tips from the community at Bootcamp MID. Take lots of tests, apply for lots of vacancies. However, always focus on the customer's needs.

What do you want for your future?

I want to progress and learn more and more. Maybe, in the future, touch a product or a team. Everything is still very new, but I think that's it, I want to grow in this area, take courses and specialize more and more.