My ‘User’ Journey — Part II: How Purdue Found My Clarity
My clarity began in December 2019 as a post-undergraduate. I returned to my hometown Chicago to start my journey. However, I live still uncertain about what the future holds for me. I focused on what to do with my scholarship because my scholarship covers graduate education, including a doctorate. I know I want to take advantage of my scholarship since I own nothing for college. I do not hold not a single penny to my undergraduate university, which does not support and does not allow me to pursue a bachelor of science in engineering. While remaining optimistic, I search for opportunities for me to gain work experience, find my clarity, and help support my family. I took on small opportunities to gain experience in higher education and non-profit organizations. When the pandemic hit Chicago, I felt uncertain about my future because of the shutdown of many businesses and many people laid off. I want to travel more and join a conference in New York City to meet other scholars. Sadly, my plans got canceled because of the pandemic. When the world went into lockdown, my life and career felt uncertain, with limited opportunities as a recent grad. I have little experience, leading to fewer opportunities because many industries require expertise. The saying goes, ‘you need the experience to get experience.’
My life is uncertain because of my financial situation as a gen Z individual. The cost of living keeps increasing, and I questioned why everything is getting expensive while the hourly rate and salary remain the same. Why does rent keeps rising and not living wages? Why rent never drops to be cheaper and more affordable? Since December 2019, I have lived in my parent’s apartment space where the pandemic hits in the United States. I am balancing between finding work and what to do with my scholarship. I worked in administrative assistant positions in higher ed and non-profits, and I know these jobs are temporary for me. I want to work industry that allows me to level up my experiences and help them with their mission. I have a mission-driven mindset. My dream job is to work on multiple projects and collaborate with different professionals for me to find my clarity.
When summer hit in 2020, my time ran out with my scholarship because I had used all my deferment requests. I request deferment twice for two years because I want to find clarity and wrap up my associate’s degree. My scholarship encourages scholars to complete their desired degrees before ending the scholarship in 2028. My scholarship has its mission to help 25,000 scholars in total, the 1991–2016 cohort, to complete their degrees. After 2028, my scholarship will achieve its mission to support 25,000 scholars for 25 years, including myself, to finish their degrees. I know I want to take advantage of the scholarship as much as possible. Earn a degree with no loan borrowed for a graduate degree with the help of my scholarship. Why not?
I want to find a degree with flexibility and accessibility to complete my degree, find my clarity, and search for the next opportunity. Luckily, I found Purdue as my graduate school of interest. Purdue has the chance to earn a master’s online without going to campus. I have remote experience so that I can make a degree at home and pursue a degree in engineering simultaneously. I want to try engineering because I commit myself to pursue an engineering degree beyond an associate’s. Purdue has the option and opportunity for me to follow. Purdue allows me to earn without having a bachelor’s in engineering. As a result, Purdue accepts me into the engineering program with the help of a letter of recommendation from my current and former hiring managers and close mentors.
I have been accepted into the Masters of Science in Interdisciplinary Engineering program with a Systems Engineering concentration in July 2020. Even though I got into the program, my clarity is a bit fuzzy because I have less than 1 year of work experience. I choose Purdue to pursue a graduate degree because the courses offer to explore, select, and learn differently from my undergraduate. I focus on earning my master’s degree the most just to take advantage of my full-ride scholarship. I was unemployed at that time, since October 2021, and need to find work as soon as possible. Again, all of the jobs I joined are temporary roles. I questioned myself about what careers to choose from still remain unknown? I hope my selected courses can reduce the uncertainty and help me find my clarity. Luckily, one of my graduate courses sparked my career passion and clarity: Product & Process Design course (ME553).
ME533 Product & Process Design’ allows me to add an entrepreneurial perspective and use my design thinking skills to develop products, services, and processes. I never thought engineering involved using design thinking and a business perspective. I admire this course because of the ability to work with other students from different engineering fields on group projects. On top of that, this course touches on UI/UX Design, which I am curious to learn. I got curious about what’s user experience and how to break into the career field. ME533 allows me to know Adobe XD and Figma to work on prototypes on mobile, desktop, and tablet devices. I adore product design, design thinking frameworks, and innovation to generate products that benefit the people.
As a result, I admire every minute because of the flexibility and structure to complete the assignments with deadlines. I am blessed to work with incredible engineers who are robust and get the work done. We, as engineers, get stuff done and are active team players. I never met engineers who abandoned their team players. I want to be a loyal and robust team player who has a growth mindset, respects others and gets the job done. Of course, as a heads up, I took 3 courses from Purdue in my first semester. :)
In my first semester, I found my clarity. I love courses that stray away from the traditional classroom experience. I want group projects that apply my learning and practice my skills to generate a case study. I am happy Purdue offers courses that stray from traditional classroom experience, including midterm and final exams. I hope Purdue expands practices with more projects and fewer exams to reduce stress for all students. Make courses doable and allow students to be successful.
I am passionate about learning more about Product & UX design because I love using my brain’s right and left sides to generate new designs. I knew that plan must address the problem I was trying to solve. From the courses I took, I learned that identifying and understanding the problem matters more than rapidly going toward the solution. I am hungry to expand beyond my coursework knowledge. I join design communities virtually and in person to meet new people and work on side projects. I gain experience through volunteer work and side projects to add to my portfolio and LinkedIn. I want to get my first job in product design as my career goal, but I need the experience to break into the industry. I am glad I found communities in Discord for me to expose myself and the opportunity to volunteer virtually. While a graduate student, I joined many designations and product sprints to build my portfolio and collaborate with students in the United States and Canada.
Here are the first design communities I joined first from Discord and in-person:
- Design Buddies
- UX Struggle Bus
- The Collective Studios
- Adobe Creative Career
- IterateUX
- CreativeMornings/Chicago
Since I have 2 year maximum of using my full-ride scholarship to earn a Master’s, I need to wrap up my studies and focus on my career development. I quickly wrapped up my graduate studies to continue my career journey in UX, and I completed my degree in 1.5 years! I am glad Purdue provides the flexibility for me to pick and choose the courses for each semester. Most of the graduate courses I registered for involved working on group projects and completing papers. I have fewer exams to worry about to reduce my test anxiety and logistics for taking the proctor exams.
Here are some of the courses I registered at Purdue:
- GRAD 590: Program Management
- AAE 590: System Safety & Reliability
- IE 578: Applied Ergonomics
- SYS 500: Perspective on Systems
- SYS 530: Practical Systems Thinking
- IE 533: Industrial Application Statistics
As the first generation in my family, I want to succeed, and I want to pass. I want to finish my degree as soon as possible, focusing on my career and future. I aim to give and complete the degree in less than 2 years. I am the first person in my entire family to earn all three degrees, including my Master’s. I know earning a graduate degree is not easy, especially since I am alone to complete the degree with limited guidance and support from my family. My family never went to college or graduate school, and they only can give me the love and support for every decision I made for me to be successful. The more classes I have taken at Purdue lead, the more clarity about my career. Product & UX Design is my clarity, passion, and motivation because I love design. I love to get creative. Product design allows us to work with individuals from different backgrounds, including engineering. I am glad Purdue enables me to explore various courses outside the campus.
My clarity involves my time as a human being, including where to work, attend school, and live on campus or not. As an undergraduate, I was alone. I need friends and loved ones to spend time with. When I took summer classes as my undergrad, the campus was so quiet that it was like a ghost town. I do not want to live in an isolated place just to complete a degree or work. I want to live where I enjoy working, exploring, traveling, and meeting new people all year.
I am glad Purdue offers the opportunity for me to become a distance learning student to me complete my Master’s at home in Chicago. I do not have to worry about moving and living entirely alone while wrapping up my studies. The pandemic allows me to stop, relax, and care for my mental health. The pandemic buys me time to complete my studies, find clarity, and build my portfolio. I know I am missing the work experience because I haven’t received any internships during my time as an undergrad. I wish companies offer internships for folks taking gap years, no higher education needed, or open for any folks who want to learn more about the company.
I graduated from Purdue in May 2022, and my future still feels uncertain. I want to work in NYC for me to live and learn about a different city. My goal is my first job in product/UX design. I would like to gain experience in freelancing to help clients with their marketing management. I have more years ahead of me to see my progress, career development, and support the younger generations. I know I will become a model, leader, and mentor to help newcomers with their career journeys. After graduating with a Master of Science in Engineering, I decided to end my scholarship to focus on my career. I thank my scholarship for aiding me in earning 3 degrees with no loans to worry about. I am blessed to have my scholarship, the Gates Millennium Scholarship.
Here’s my quick reflection: Collaborating and networking with individuals help shape my clarity, expand my experiences, and become a better problem solver. Even though Purdue gives me clarity, experience and education are essential for all humans to learn and have growth mindsets. All of us are open-minded, and all of us can help each other with our career journeys. We need to add value and demonstrate commitment. I want to thank every team player that made my time as a grad student was much more manageable and worked together to pass the class. They are the best team players that I could ever ask for. I hope to see them again in the future. As I like to say, ‘Until we meet again, my friends.
If you read my first published article, I want to thank you for reading. Support my journey through LinkedIn & Twitter.