Forging A New Path Into UX Design And Learning Invaluable Skills | Case Study

At The Coders Guild, we’ve been delighted to host a series of Digital Skills Bootcamps and train over 200 people in building valuable skills in software testing, web development and UX.

We love seeing our graduates thrive and that’s certainly been the case for Ellie Stevenson, who was able to improve her UX knowledge through our bootcamps and continue to develop her career in the tech industry.

To learn more about Ellie’s journey in UX, you can read this fantastic article that she’s written about what drew her to the sector.

We caught up with Ellie to see how she’s been putting her UX skills to use and how she feels the industry could move forward in the future. Here are her insights:

Before you came into the UX world, you came from a creative background, and we’d be interested to know if you felt there were any differences that stood out for you in coming into a new industry.

There are definitely a lot of transferable skills coming into UX from a creative background. I had a good foundational knowledge of design; this triggered an interest in UX/UI design.

You’ve previously completed an apprenticeship in digital marketing and it’d be great to hear about what specific skills you learnt and do you feel it helped to prepare you for The Coders Guild bootcamp?

There were a few sessions in the Coders Guild Bootcamp where I applied what I had learned on the Digital Marketing course. For example, in the Google Analytics session, I was able to talk to my group about how I now use the software when analysing web pages in marketing.

I also had valuable insights when talking about high level service design. My background in email marketing was relevant here.

How did you hear about The Coders Guild and what was the experience like with our UX Bootcamp?

I found out about the bootcamp in an advert on social media.

In my cohort, there was such a range of people. Some were just hearing about UX having pivoted from a different industry and others had 20 years of experience in web design; this made the sessions varied and enjoyable.

Especially as every session broke out into smaller groups to complete tasks as a team. Often people’s backgrounds were helpful when completing these tasks.

We had a lot of support from The Coders Guild, who designed the course to be very flexible – which was ideal for people like myself who had a job, or even small children.

What is the most valuable lesson you took away from the boot camp?

The most valuable lesson that I’ve learned from the course is: just put yourself out there. That could be writing an article on Medium, publishing an online portfolio or sharing a post on LinkedIn.

All of the UX professionals that spoke to us throughout the course seemed to have got to where they are today by doing exactly that.

Would you recommend other people take training courses with The Coders Guild in future?

I’d definitely recommend the bootcamp to others. A friend of mine has recently signed up for the latest bootcamp after I suggested she should give it a go. If you have the chance to attend one, then go for it.

How do you feel creativity could be brought into the UX design field and are there any projects you’re excited to be a part of in the future?

I believe that UX design isn’t just about making products usable, but also enjoyable. Products that are designed for delight stand out. Designers have to be creative to achieve this, with micro-interactions and even loading pages.

I’m excited to start work on my first app project, especially as this is an area where I can start to deep dive into micro-interactions.

What kind of changes would you like to see in the UX industry in the future?

There has been a big trend in designing for accessibility over the last year; this is so important. 18% of people who are working age in the UK have a disability. It’s our responsibility to make sure that the content we design is accessible for everyone.

I would love to see an even bigger drive to make products accessible.

How would you like to further develop your UX skills going forward?

I’m excited to further apply the methods that we learned on the bootcamp to more projects to develop my skills and confidence in UX design.

To continue learning about UX design, I often read articles on Medium and the Neilson Norman Group. I’m always on the lookout for webinars and online UX events where I can get involved too.

For anyone else who's interested in pursuing a career in UX design, what would your best advice be?

Anyone interested in pursuing a career in UX design should consider attending a course or bootcamp. This is because there are so many principles and theories to learn about. It can be overwhelming.

If that isn’t an option, there’s a lot of valuable content within the UX community on YouTube and Slack groups where you can get feedback and collaborate with others.

We’d like to wish Ellie the best of luck in her career and are confident she’ll continue to bring a new perspective to the tech industry in the years to come.

If you’d like to learn more about the experiences of our graduates, we recommend reading about the story of Ben Palmer, who completed a software testing apprenticeship with flying colours.

For anyone who’s interested in developing similar skills to Ellie or Ben, you can get in touch with us here.