Amanda Worthington | UX, Product Designer

I studied engineering in college, and then I worked as a software consultant, doing the whole Monday through Thursday travel thing for years. And though I loved my clients and loved the challenge of it, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted long term.

The problem was that I felt pigeonholed as an expert in my company’s outdated software, which meant I had skills that wouldn’t apply anywhere else.

I needed to get off the road. And I needed to learn technical skills I could actually use and put on my resume. But I had no idea where to get these skills or which ones to focus on first. I felt like I was completely starting over.

Skillcrush was the first step in my career change — it was everything.

Then I stumbled across Skillcrush, and it just made sense! It wasn’t a huge bootcamp investment — it was something I could do on my own and self-paced, so I didn’t have to rush through anything. Plus, it was actually fun! I remember sitting with my computer laughing by myself. I liked it so much that I ended up taking three courses: Web Design, Front End Development, and WordPress.

I’m now working as a User Experience Designer. That means I’m in user interviews and work closely with product owners, which involves a lot of problem solving — something I love. When I see something that’s not working the way it should be, I really like being able to figure out how to fix it. And I know how to do that thanks to the skills I learned at Skillcrush.

Now that I have tech skills, I have more than just a job. I have an entire career. Along with my day-to-day work at my current position, I’m also hosting a UX career conference in September, and I do freelance web design for entrepreneurs, which is really fulfilling.

When I started to change careers, none of it seemed like it made sense at all — going from engineering to consulting to taking Skillcrush courses. But looking back, everything makes all the sense in the world to me. I’ve realized that a lot of people come from different backgrounds, especially in UX design. And that’s actually viewed as a positive, because you have so many skills you can leverage for your work at your new job. 

And the best part is, I now have a seat at the table, a seat at the conversations that are shaping our industry and the way we approach problems and solutions for our customers. And that couldn’t be more rewarding.

If you’re interested in taking a Skillcrush course, you should definitely do it. You could end up opening up an amazing trajectory for your career that simply wasn’t available before. And what could be better than that?