How millenials are making it into innovative industries like BlockChain
Once you open an app or a website looking for information, a service or a product, your user-journey mapping starts. You may not be aware of all the techniques used to smooth your browsing experience or just to appeal to you. But there is a lot of work under the hood to deliver an attractive stress-free experience.
Marta Rhyzok, is a UI/UX designer with a focus on Product Design. During her Master’s degree at Lviv Academy of Arts, Ukraine, she did an internship in Japan. After which, she landed a job with a global blockchain tech company.
What’s your favourite part of your job and how did you kick-start your career?
The moment my friends, especially those from creative fields, ask me “what the hell blockchain really means?” !
My background is in illustration and graphic design. I began surrounding myself with tech people while working on a design for a developers conference organized by a local Google Developers group. It was quite a geeky space as you could imagine. At every annual edition, there were 1 or 2 designers at most out of around 30 to 40 developers among the speakers, which was reflected on the audience as well. At first, I was wondering “What on earth am I doing here?”. Surrounded by unfamiliar technical jargon, products, and smart people, I was a bit intimidated in a positive way. I remember at the afterparty we were hanging with speakers, and there was one from Google teaching us how it’s necessary to hold a drink at hand while networking on such events.
Ever since I sought opportunities to nourish myself in such an environment and ended up working in a blockchain company.It’s fun to work on design while the technology is evolving. With every project, I dive deeper into the industry’s specifications and customers’ needs to provide a triggering user experience. I enjoy designing and organizing visuals, guiding users, learning approaches to solve problems in a way that the user feels smart using the product effortlessly.
As Steve Job said, “Design is all about how it works”.I want to keep the focus on product design because it requires me to be in charge of the entire process of creating an experience, even after launching. It includes a variety of interesting phases from defining a problem, going through the research on users and new industry, to final but not last steps such as wrapping it into the visual experience. After launch, it needs to be on track of how it grows, so the product can be improved according to business/market needs.
“It took me months to get the gist of how similar products work, how to navigate them, especially in a space which feels like it’s created for geeks.”
Can you recall a professional situation where you felt frustrated or challenged and how you dealt with it?
At the beginning, my knowledge about blockchain was limited. Though I knew about crypto space no more than Bitcoin is a digital currency not regulated by any intermediate, I found it fascinating to work in an emerging promising technology. This serious space deals with users’ sensitive information and great amounts of funds.
I was asked to think over the product improvements, which was already launched. I bet at that time the end users were more educated in the blockchain ecosystem than me. I was focused on understanding new terminology, processes of how to purchase crypto and transfer it. Even the log-in procedure is more complex than in traditional financial banking websites/apps. Onboarding was challenging. It took me months to get the gist of how similar products work, how to navigate them, especially in a space which feels like it’s created for geeks.
Working with engineers was tough sometimes, I found myself on the back foot and couldn’t catch up with parts of the meetings. Later, I realized that we just spoke different languages. Engineers would love to work with the complexity in details, designers on the opposite would love to clarify and simplify details to general meanings. In terms of getting the result, working with a new technology, we have to collaborate and come up with the solutions together.
Over time, things became familiar and I could build trust and make an impact through my contributions.
Advice to girls who want to go into the technology field?
Research:
Understand the values of the industry. I follow Simon Sinek’s main advice: “Start with Why”. Why are you willing to serve time in a particular space? If the answer is clear then the reason will be a motivation. What you can contribute should be answered, because you can always learn new methods or software.I plunged and learned about the technology my company works within a process, not before. It might be uncomfortable when it’s unknown, but that’s an efficient way to determine your roadmap.
Learn by using it:
Use products of the industry you want to dive into in daily life. It’ll ease onboarding in the first weeks. And find a few experts in that field you’re happy to follow and learn from.Grab a drink :D
Get a grip on attending tech conferences, sneak to after parties with a glass of whatever so you can chat to experts in a casual atmosphere. Acquire the vibe of the field you’re considering to dedicate yourself to. Try to get an internship at a tech company. Though it might not be the exact role you want to obtain for the next many years, at least you will find out whether you are up to spending most of your time in such a community or whether it fits your expectations.Share and receive:
There will always be people who know more, but also those who might find your knowledge useful. It’s worth sharing our ideas, methods that helped us tackle specific issues, materials, etc. There is no reason anymore to keep it a secret. Ideas don’t worth much these days without doing, right?
I agree with Marta on many points. Don’t be intimidated by new technologies. On the opposite, try to explore. You should know what you add to the table and don’t undervalue your capacities.
If you’d like to sneak a peak at Marta’s portfolio or connect with her on linkedIn to chat about Product design.
