The Overwhelming Daily To Do List of a UX Student

Living with imposter syndrome

Imposter syndrome is real. I know there have been many articles written on this subject in recent years and the myriad ways to combat the crushing feelings of self-doubt. However, as a UX design student just starting out in my training, I have been finding that it is nearly impossible to feel confident when I struggle to do seemingly simple tasks on Figma or to retain the vast quantity of new information from classes. My way of coping with feeling overwhelmed since starting my UX training three months ago has been to fill my down time with learnings of all kinds to make sure I am not missing out on any crucial information that I should know by the time I graduate. So here, in no particular order, is a list of things I have been doing almost daily to fight the feelings of inadequacy as a newbie UX design student. Will I no longer feel like an imposter by certification time? Probably not, but at least I will have tried my best in the journey from student to graduate.

1.     Read an article on UX from the UX Collective

2.     Listen to a UX podcast

3.     Follow new posts on UX Slack channels

4.     Check out Meet Up events for UX designers in my area

5.     Discover case studies and portfolios online to learn how things are done

6.     Browse through new posts in UX Facebook Groups and collect resources that others have shared

7.     Do a daily UI challenge

8.     Reach out to UX designers within my network and set up meetings to learn from them

9.     Read an article from the Nielson Norman Group Website

10.  Do a daily UX challenge

11.  Search for upcoming UX conferences to attend

12.  Watch a new YouTube Figma tutorial video

13.  Look for UX/UI inspiration on Behance

14.  Find new UX resources on LinkedIn Learning

15.  Get design inspirations on Dribble

16.  Read a chapter in a UX Design book

17.  Follow UX experts on LinkedIn and read resources they post

This is not an exhaustive list of daily learning by any means, but it is certainly exhausting. Each of these steps can cause me to inadvertently fall down a winding rabbit hole due to the vast amount of information out there on each platform. I have not even mentioned all the UX resources available on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media outlets where one can lose track of time being inundated by the tidal wave of all kinds of new information.

I can’t gauge whether I will know enough by the end of my course to be hirable, but even as I wander down so many rabbit holes, I am also starting to realize that it’s okay to be in the opposite end of the comfort zone; the not knowing if I know enough, if I am doing enough, or if I tried enough. I have come to accept that we all must start out somewhere and to just acknowledge the chaotic feelings of being a newbie. Maybe I don’t have to know everything by the time I graduate, because it’s not possible to know everything anyway. Just embrace all the new learning, the messy process of growth in a new-to-me field, and take things one step at a time.