Not Just Pixels

por Guo Chen

017 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Roblox

Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Roblox? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three design interns who completed their last summer internship at Roblox: 🎨 Pavan Garidipuri - Senior studying Arts, Technology, and Business of Innovation at USC 🎨 Shreya Senthil - Senior studying Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington. 🎨 Grace Chen - Junior studying Computer Science and Visual Arts at Brown. === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Roblox? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Roblox looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links 🔗 Apply to Roblox’s Design Intern Position (Summer 2023)!!! === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

8 nov 2022

20:50

016 - Design Operations, Navigating Careers Paths, and How to Plan Your Career with Jackie Ajoux of Roblox

Today, I’m talking to Jackie Ajoux. - Jackie is currently the Senior Design Operations Lead at Roblox. Before Roblox, she worked at Electronic Arts as a Design Operations Manager. - Now, it may sound to you that Jackie knew she wanted to do Design Operations from the start. But as you would later hear in the episode, that was not at all the case. In fact, Jackie actually has pivoted from multiple careers, including psychology, project management, and product management. And what underlies all these career pivots? Jackie’s incredible openness and curiosity to try new things. To give an example, in the future, her dream is to create her own anime show and publish it on Crunchyroll. Like holy how cool is that?! - Seriously, I really enjoyed my conversation with Jackie. There was a lot of laughter in this one, and so without further ado, here’s my conversation with Jackie Ajoux. - === Highlights ⭐ What is design operations ⭐ How to plan your career early on ⭐ How she navigated through multiple career paths ⭐ What it means to be a great design operations lead ⭐ Jackie’s aspirations for UX Research and anime show === Links 🔗 Big-Ass Career Spreadsheet === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

1 nov 2022

48:03

015 - Design in the Automobile Industry, 3-Month Sabbatical, and Finding Your Why with Michael Dimaano of Ford

Today, I’m talking to Michael Dimaano. - Michael now works at Ford Motor as the Product Design Lead. And before Ford, he worked at Hertz as the Product Design Lead as well. - During our conversation, what really stood out to me was Michael’s emphasis on the importance of finding your "why" - what truly matters to you. At one point, he felt so much imposter syndrome as a product manager that he eventually resigned and took a 3-month sabbatical. And that was the turning point for Michael’s career, which we delved deep into in this episode. We also talked about his transition from web design to product design, human-centered philosophy, work in the automobile industry, and so much more. This was definitely one of the first conversations where I seriously didn’t know where it was going, but there were so many golden snippets from this. So, without further ado, here’s my chat with Michael Dimaano. === Highlights ⭐ Web design to product design ⭐ Imposter syndrome from being a PM ⭐ Takeaways from a 3-month sabbatical ⭐ Working as a designer in the automobile industry ⭐ Personal life vs work life === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

18 oct 2022

39:36

014 - Watercolor Side Business, Being a Director of UX, and Perfectionism with Amanda Santello of Forge

Today, I’m talking to Amanda Santello. - Amanda is currently the Experience Design Lead at Forge, a construction company building the next-gen trades community. Before Forge, she worked as the Associate Director of Product Design at Chewy, and before that, the Director of Experience Design at Accenture. - I got a chance to meet Amanda for the first time during a club competition back at Tufts. And I’m so glad we got the chance to sit down and chat about a variety of topics including her watercolor side business, early days at an agency, what’s it like to be a director of UX, and so much more. I really enjoyed our conversation, so without further ado, here’s my conversation with Amanda Santello. === Highlights ⭐ Amanda’s watercolor side-business ⭐ Early days working at a design agency ⭐ Work at Accenture & Forge ⭐ Differences between an IC vs director ⭐ The idea of perfection === Links 🔗 Amanda's watercolor business - Design As You Wish === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

4 oct 2022

45:52

013 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Google

Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Google? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from four design interns currently working at Google: 🎨 Gabi Naoum - Master’s student studying Interaction Design at California State University 🎨 Rishabh Soni - Master’s student studying Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Texas 🎨 Christy Hu - Senior studying Graphic Design at ArtCenter College of Design 🎨 Mudra Nagda - Master's student studying Human-Computer Interaction at Georgia Tech === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Google? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Google looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links 🔗 Googliness at Google 🔗 Christy’s Portfolio Presentation === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

20 sept 2022

19:25

012 - Strategy, Designing for B2B, and Scrum Methodology with Charlie Weston of Atlassian

Today, I’m talking to Charlie Weston. - Charlie is currently the Senior Product Designer on the Migrations team at Atlassian. He leads a team focused on improving small-medium businesses and enterprise customers’ experiences while migrating between server, data center, and cloud environments at Atlassian. If you did not understand a single word I just said, don’t worry at all. Before Atlassian, he worked at a variety of enterprise companies specifically on the business-to-business, or B2B, vertical. - Going back in time, one of the reasons I wanted to chat with Charlie was because of his strategist background. And in our conversation, you’ll hear how his unique background shaped him into the designer he is today along with many other topics such as design culture at Atlassian, scrum methodology, and agile principles. So, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Charlie Weston. === Highlights ⭐ What is strategy? ⭐ How to get started in strategy as a designer ⭐ What’s it like working on B2B products ⭐ Design culture at Atlassian ⭐ Scrum & agile development === Links 🔗 “What is Agile?” (Atlassian) === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

6 sept 2022

32:54

011 - Imposter Syndrome, Ethical Design, and Working in Different Industries with Alicia Warren of Rippling

Today, I’m talking to Alicia Warren. - Alicia is currently the Product Design Director at Rippling, an all-in-one HR & IT platform. Before Rippling, she was a UX Lead at JPMorgan Chase. In addition, she’s an adjunct professor at Columbia College Chicago teaching experience design and design operations. On top of all these, she’s a city co-organizer for Ladies that UX, a welcoming community promoting women in UX. - When I first saw Alicia’s profile, what stood out to me was her diverse work experience in an array of industries such as academia, higher education, and more. But, her road to product design was not easy. As you heard in the beginning, in her early days, she was once unemployed for a full year and seeing where she is now as a director of product design, her journey has been nothing but inspirational. - We delved into a variety of topics such as imposter syndrome, the impact of working in different industries, ethical design, and so much more. I really appreciated the vulnerability Alicia showed during this chat, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one. And also, Alicia told me post-interview that Rippling is planning to hire new grad designers and interns towards the beginning of next year! So definitely check out the job board link in the show notes! Now, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Alicia Warren. === Highlights ⭐ How to cope with imposter syndrome ⭐ Ethical design & real-life examples ⭐ Responsibility as a director of product design ⭐ Teaching experience design at college ⭐ Her early day struggles & how she overcame them === Links 🔗 Dan Brown’s “Eight Principles of Information Architecture” 🔗 Rippling’s job board === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

23 ago 2022

40:02

010 - UX Engineering, Prototyping, and Tooling with Adekunle Oduye of Plaid

Today, I’m talking to Adekunle Oduye. - Adekunle is a UX Engineer at Plaid, where he's helping to build Threads, Plaid's official design system. He also co-authored the Design Engineering Handbook by InVision and is passionate about design systems, prototyping, and front-end development. When Adekunle isn't building software, you can probably find him reading up on Stoicism or planning his next adventure. - As a designer, I find it fascinating to learn about other roles. So, in our conversation, we delved deep into UX Engineering, a discipline that combines design and development. Adekunle shared a lot of insights into his day-to-day as a UX Engineer, best practices for prototyping, advice for people who want to become UX Engineers, and so much more. A lot of value packed in this one, so without further ado, here’s my conversation with Adekunle Oduye. === Highlights ⭐ What is UX Engineering ⭐ Day to day as a UX Engineer ⭐ How to work with designers, engineers, and PMs ⭐ Best practices for prototyping ⭐ How to become a UX Engineer === Links 🔗 Design Engineering Handbook 🔗 Adekunle’s new podcast “Code & Pixels” === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

9 ago 2022

32:06

009 - How to Land a UX Design Internship at Amazon

Have you ever wondered how to land a UX Design internship at Amazon? Well, today we’re gonna try to answer exactly that. - In this episode, you’ll hear from three design interns currently working at Amazon: 1. Lara Federspiel - Rising senior studying UX Design at SCAD 2. Andy Hsu - Rising senior studying Arts, Technology, and Business of Innovation at USC 3. Emily Hsu - Rising junior studying Computer Science at Stanford === Highlights: ⭐ What’s the application process at Amazon? ⭐ How did you prepare for the interview stages? ⭐ What do you think Amazon looks for in design interns? ⭐ Any advice for future applicants? === Links 🔗 Amazon's 16 Leadership Principles === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

12 jul 2022

13:53

008 - Serial Entrepreneurship, Design for Commerce, UX Methodology with Heidi Finn of GoDaddy

Today, I’m talking to Heidi Finn. - Heidi is currently the Sr. Director of Product Design on the Commerce team at GoDaddy, a domain register and web hosting company. Before GoDaddy, she worked at PayPal as the Sr. Design Manager and co-founded two startups - TripCraft and Videoo. - In our conversation, we delved into a variety of topics, including designing for commerce, the pros & cons of joining a startup as a designer, UX methodologies, and so much more. Personally, the most eye-opening part was when Heidi talked about the challenges of designing e-commerce vs physical commerce where cultural differences need to be considered. So, without further ado, here’s my conversation with Heidi Finn. === Highlights ⭐ Being a serial entrepreneur ⭐ Pros and cons of working at a startup as a designer ⭐ Challenges designing for commerce ⭐ UX methodologies ⭐ How to communicate with stakeholders === Not Just Pixels is a student-led UX Design podcast that strives to help you grow as a designer and get that next design internship or job. This is the podcast I wished I had as a design student, and I hope you’ll get something valuable from this show. === Have a great day! :)

1 jul 2022

38:24

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