Bits of Good
Role
Design Bootcamp Instructor
Design Intern Panelist
Product Designer
Timeline
Fall 2021
Fall 2021
Fall 2020 - Spring 2021
Skills
Leadership
Product Design
User Research
Team
Rosie Sycks
Kimberly Do
WHAT I WORKED ON
Giving back to the Georgia Tech design community
I felt like I jumped through so many hoops to get to where I am now; my goal was to guide others so they didn’t have to.
When pivoting from physical to digital product design, I noticed a lack of up to date UX Design resources at Georgia Tech. My professors had us create physical portfolios (hand-bound and everything) and the terms “case study” and “white boarding challenge” were foreign to me. But, I loved digital design and made it my mission to learn as much as I could on my own. After 4 hour studio class, I would watch Youtube tutorials, read Medium articles, and reach out to designers to learn UX fundamentals. I also molded my education by picking up any interesting electives I could find in the Computer Science, Psychology, and M.S. Human-Computer Interaction departments.
1.5 years later, after interning at Adobe and The Home Depot, I felt like I was in a place that I could mentor new design students. During the Fall 202 semester, I led a 12-week design bootcamp for Georgia Tech students in order to pay my knowledge forward.
Bits of Good is a Georgia Tech organization that creates student-run teams to create web and mobile applications for local non-profits. As a Product Designer, I spent two semesters collaborating with Developers, Product Managers, and a non-profit client to design and ship products.
The Design Bootcamp is a 12-week bootcamp that teaches GT students the fundamentals of product design and user research.
Weekly lectures to learn UX fundamentals
Weekly homework assignments to build UI skills
Semester-long case study to exercise all skills learned for each stage of the design process
impact
As a Design Bootcamp Instructor, I:
Planned and led lectures
Provided feedback on assignments and case studies
Organized guest lectures and student panels
Facilitated bonding events for bootcampers to get to know each other
Being a part of the Bits of Good Design Bootcamp was extremely rewarding. I was able to help students learn product design in a digestiblre and interactive way as well as offer personal advice and feedback. Many of the bootcampers went on to become Product Designers for Bits of Good as well as land product design internships 🎉.
I’m extremely passionate about lowering the barrier to break into the product design field and tech industry, so this opportunity was extremely touching to me.
