You are not your user. Except when you are.
Interface Error
Nearly a decade ago, I caught my confused reflection behind lines of code in a glassy monitor. I knew something needed to change.
I’d been a struggling junior web developer for a year and scrunching my face at code for what seemed like far longer. Neither made sense anymore, if they ever did.
My coworkers were busy and Google was no help here. I wasn’t even sure what I was asking.
Finding my Calling for Help
Looking back on it now, the solution seems so clear. The problem truly was between my keyboard and chair. I’d been pivoting and iterating this idea of “career” for decades, bouncing around from graphic design, to linguistics, to data wrangling, and trying to grasp code. I no longer had perspective on who I was or what I wanted.
I’d spend the next 4 years working my way up to Senior UX Researcher before I discovered the common connection between all these roles — a deep fascination with understanding language and how people use it to express ideas, concepts, and ultimately, themselves.
Now that I see it, I can’t unsee it. And I’ve made yet a new career for myself, something lasting, with listening and languaging at the heart of it all.
Discovery Call
Like sitting in a broken chair, it’s sometimes hard to see what’s going on when all your weight is bearing down on a problem. You need an objective vantage point. Sometimes, that’s simply “you” from a different time and place to offer helpful perspective.
What I needed then was a coach, someone to guide me through this challenging process of making sense of all this seemingly disparate data.
Seven years since that first reflection, I have become that coach. And along the way, I picked up valuable UX skills to help myself and others in this neverending process of self-discovery.
Matched with my lived experiences, I have all that I need to help myself and others through any life and design challenge.
Callback to Action
There’s a saying in UX that goes, “you are not your user”.
It’s true in all cases but one. When you are.
Looking back at various times that you’ve struggled, what help did you actually need in those moments?
Nobody is in a better position to answer that question than you.
Taking what you know, who — like past you — could use some help right now?
If you’re ready to ask for help, or want to use your experience to help others, we should chat!
This article was first published in Designed Transitions on December 4, 2022.
