MASTER SERIES TO GAIN UX MASTERY / S01-E03
In this interview, Menaka shares with us the lessons from her very successful UX career. Having worked in diverse industries and organizations, Menaka shares some of the most practical ways to create a rewarding UX career even when you don’t know where to start.
Her journey is epitomized how there is no shortcut to success and the only way you know if something works or not is by doing it. She shares how not asking questions might be holding you back from being a better designer. Make sure you are taking notes as she shares extremely practical ways to start a career even when you feel you have nothing to start with, on how to find mentors, how to do reach outs for jobs and much more.
TIMESTAMPS QUOTES BOOKS ABOUT COMMENTS
TIMESTAMPS
[7:28] | How can someone make that decision whether UX is a career for them or not? |
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[12:53] | How can someone from a different background than design make a portfolio? |
[18:59] | What are the paths and skills that are important to enter into UX Design? |
[23:02] | What are the mistakes a young designer make? |
[25:12] | How can someone find a mentor? |
[28:04] | Why asking questions is important? |
[33:53] | How should one approach towards UX Jobs? |
[37:53] | How should one decide whether to do freelance or a Job in a company? |
[41:47] | Product Company or Agency – What path to choose? |
QUOTES
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- Don’t redesign for the sake of a portfolio, It needs to be solving a genuine problem. Because understanding the problem is a very different skill and it comes with practice.
- Just keep your eyes and ears open to any sort of news. It doesn’t need to be design related but reading about generally what’s happening in different parts of the world is very helpful.
- Education or learning is something that never goes to waste.
- Read a lot of blogs and articles. That’s a lot of inspiration to take in.
- You have to do the homework of what kind of jobs you want to apply before you apply. Don’t consider it like a machine-gun approach where you apply for all the jobs at once. I think it’s better to be a sniper and sort of target the companies you want to go in.
BOOKS
ABOUT

UX Designer
Menaka Chandrasekhar is a senior UX Designer at Property Guru which is Asia’s Most Influential Brand for Online Property Search. From creating brochures for her freelance clients to now designing a product with 2 million property listing and 50,000 agents, Menaka’s journey is quite remarkable.…
Though she make it sound so smooth and easy, there is a lot that has gone into making it a successful one.Over the past 10 years, Menaka has worked in diverse working environment and with clients across the globe including names like Huge Inc., Avanade Singapore, SapientNitro Singapore, Qern among others.
Formally trained in Graphic Design, she transitioned into UX with a lot of hard work, self learning and Grit. Now she loves to learn and share with others.Though she specializes in creating human centered products, she also understands the value of business needs and goals.In past she has worked closely with the multiple stakeholder to build both successful and usable products. Read More
Other episodes(9)
Episode 10: Stop complaining and do the right thing | Joe Natoli
14 March 2019, 60 minutes
In this interview, we are interviewing the legendary Joe Natoli. We start with learning from Joe about how to gain rapport with the stakeholders and then design products that sell. Joe has an extremely open mindset and his advice on why designers need to step up the game instead of waiting for the permissions is extremely powerful.
Episode 9: How to understand what UX actually means | Preeti Sheokand
7 March 2019, 50 minutes
In this episode UX mentor Preeti Sheokand sits with us and shares how she transitioned from being a scientist to a UX designer successfully. She shares why defining what User Experience means is the most important question that one must answer to create a meaningful UX career. Preeti also shares framework to critically evaluate the designs. Preeti also shares the inspiring story of her design school – Design Shift and how she is designing a unique curriculum for every aspiring UX designer.
Episode 8: How to design a life and a career you love | Karthi Subaraman
28 February 2019, 55 minutes
In this episode we sit with Karthi Subbaraman, the founder and Chief Design Officer at Xperian School. Karthi brings with her a wealth of new insights and perspectives that force us to look beyond design in the context of just interfaces and products. Karthi has learned and taught how to use the design principles for not just designing products but for designing your body, life and even death. She asks some really uncomfortable questions which will make you look harder at your own life and choices you make. Karthi also tells us why designers should embrace business mindset and how they can do so. She defines designers as “sense makers”.
Episode 7: Why designers should embrace storytelling | Amit Patel
21 February 2019, 40 minutes
In this episode we talk UX designer and mentor Amit Patel. With no formal degree in design, Amit went on and learned UX by talking to users, businesses and doing a lot of work. He shares with us how asking right set of questions can be a game changer. He talks about the things he is teaching his students at his design school – Experience Haus. Amit focusses a lot of attention on the art of storytelling and shares a practical framework to design a story for your product.
Episode 6: The skills that will make you a great UX Designer | Sudhir Mor
16 February 2019, 55 minutes
In this episode, we bring to you Sudhir Mor who is the co-founder of Design Shift- a UX School in Banglore. Sudhir shares his incredible and inspiring design journey with us. He is empowering his students with not just conventional design skills but also giving them exposure to different industries, businesses, and technology. His perspective on design education is very unconventional and practical. You may not want to miss this episode if you are struggling with how to create a perfect portfolio, as he shares some awesome tips on that too.
Episode 5: How to bring visibility to UX research in your organization | Upasna Bhandari
7 February 2019, 60 minutes
In this episode UX researcher Upasna Bhandari shares with us how she used her extreme academic research skills and implemented them in one of the best startup of Singapore. Unlike typical research studies which can be months long, Upasna is setting up agile research processes which are more suited for fast paced startups. While she is doing it she is making sure she is training the stakeholders and her teammates within her organization in user research.
Episode 4: How to look past the default and create an amazing life story | Paul Millerd
2 February 2019, 45 minutes
In this episode, we sit down with Paul and learn how to think beyond the default path. He shares why winning the prestige bingo is not the only way to succeed and tying self-worth to money is a bad strategy. He teaches some tactical strategies and questions that can help you create a powerful personal story.
Episode 3: How not asking questions can be holding you back | Menaka Chandrasekhar
26 January 2019, 48 minutes
In this episode, Menaka shares with us the lessons from her very successful UX career. Having worked in diverse industries and organizations, Menaka shares some of the most practical ways to create a rewarding UX career even when you don’t know where to start.
17 January 2019, 50 minutes
In this episode, Markus Hofman tells us why designers should master empathy for their users as well as for their own organization. Working very closely with the business stakeholders as well as end users, Markus offers a different perspective on how to contribute better as a designer.
Episode 1: How to get the education of a lifetime | Xavier Bertels
7 January 2019, 60 minutes
In this interview, Xavier shares with us how he successfully transitioned from Graphic Designing to User Experience Design. A successful design entrepreneur with a deep interest in music and martial arts, Xavier shares how education is not a one-time event that stops at a degree but it is something you do for your lifetime. He further discusses how did he start his company, how they navigated the challenges of the remote work and how he has created a solid culture within his company.
Bonus: Why Designers must learn Storytelling | Jake Knapp
3 minutes
In this video, Jake Knapp - the author of NY bestselling book Design Sprint and Make Time tells us why Storytelling is one skill that every designer must master. Jake explains how designers can leverage storytelling to gain empathy with users, share their story internally and build teams and then share their solution with the users.
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