How Designers Break Into the Industry: First Job Stories & Tools
Happy summer! We have some exciting launches and events coming up for you!
Every Friday at 12 noon pacific time, we do portfolio/resume/design roasts on LinkedIn and YouTube live. RSVP here: https://lu.ma/design
Launching CoPass
We’re building CoPass and wanted to give all design students and career switchers FREE early acess to content in our CoCreate design project cohort!! Want real UX industry skills?
Want to see how top startups design and ship products? Join CoPass and get full access to our 10-week program, 100% free in beta. https://www.copass.ai/timeline
Also, our recruiting has started for our next CoCreate design project cohort:
If you're trying to get your first job in UX design, our next CoCreate 10 week design project cohort for Fall 2025 is open!
Online event: How to elevate your design to build products that win customers
Ever feel like you're designing screen after screen in Figma... but it's not moving the needle? Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at how UX and product design were done at Siri and DesignPro—and how we used design not just to make things beautiful, but to win users, drive retention, and turn good products into great ones.
We’ll cover:
The truth about the “10X” designer—and what skills actually matters
How to get users to the aha moment faster
Real UX strategies that make products sticky
This is for designers who want to level up, think beyond the UI, and learn how to create UX that drives real product success.
How designers landed their first job + advice
We asked our community members on Discord about how they landed their first design gig and here’s what we got!
“first freelance gig, just offering my design services to a teacher who had a side business where he ran dance classes, so i helped him make flyers for his upcoming dance classes. Short answer: networking and talking to people” - Lasha
“After I started tinkering with Photoshop as a teenager and participating in online forum contests, my first paid design gig was 10 years later when I won a 99designs contest that was thematically about designing a swingers website. I had just learned about swingers from my then-new college friend introducing the show nip/tuck with me the week before. My design life has been bizarre since.” - All Heart
“I got a summer internship at the innovation center of a hospital making an e-learning platform for long-term children's hospital residents. I was hired as a graphic designer/illustrator, but there was enough actual platform design & unique user needs that I've felt comfortable selling it as my first Ux job. First " design" as in paid graphic design is probably flyers for an ex's friends band. One rule has served me well: don't charge YOUR friends for work. But charge THEIR friends that they'll send your way : )” - Hailey
“I was asked to join a team to design a product. This was a web3 project actually. And it was not a paid job. But it came with benefits in the sense that there are opportunities for grant. The key is to maximize connections.” - Kairos
“I was doing an internship at a very small print factory and just did one there for a few bucks, spent them on a sandwich and a soda.” - datty
“I used to be part of many clubs in my college and used to design for them. From there, an alumni noticed my work and found my profile on social media. Then I had call with two alumnus and a college senior and they offered me position of Designer in their organising team for their upcoming national tech conference. And then I went on from designing simple social media posters to leading the teams for multi disciplinary designs.” - Crust
“20 years ago, designing for magazines was a thing, haha.” - Vins
“Ahh I got my 1st in #🌿introductions hehe... It's was the best experience!” - PikaaPi
“I landed my first graphic design gig while I was doing an internship for my design diploma in college. I asked my supervisor if any full time openings were coming up. There weren’t, but he offered me a 1-year freelance contract that would start after I graduated. I freelanced full time at agencies for the first 2 years of my career. I somewhat accidentally changed careers and landed my first product design gig after getting laid off from a big tech job in 2023 and it’s been an amazing journey since.” lizzy
“I wrote all about it on medium: Failing My Way to Success https://medium.com/@madebypaul/failing-my-way-to-success-be4a1fa06ed3
TLDR; I had some crappy temp jobs but landed my first design job by answering a Craigslist ad, wearing clothes with the tags still in, and kind of winging it. Different era I tell ya...” - Voltage In
“Had a friend tell me about a job opening for UX design, I asked him if he could get me the hiring manager's email so I could send my resume. He let the hiring manager know I would be emailing him. I asked the hiring manager to lunch and shared my resume. At lunch I learned about a challenge they were facing. When the lunch was over I was informed I would qualify for the job and to keep in touch they might open a junior position in the near future. I went home and looked up as much info about the company and its style guide. Found screens of the app and designed my version of the answer to the challenge mentioned at lunch. I sent some mockups in the thank you for lunch email and ended up getting called by the recruiter the next day and invited to interview. I got hired as a UX Designer, NOT a Junior UX Designer and was told it was because of my self inflicted homework assignment to solve a challenge they were facing.” - Matthew Galley
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🐰 About CoCreate (Design Buddies/UXGO - we’re the same team)
CoCreate (Design Buddies/UXGO) is a community where you level up your design career. Land jobs, improve your design skills, and make friends. We have resources, events, design challenges, job boards, fun perks, and more.
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