From UX Internship to Amazon UX Designer: How Vasudha Got Hired With a Master’s in HCI

Intro: [00:00:00] Hey, I’m Sarah Doody, a user researcher and product designer with 20 years of experience. In 2017, I noticed something a little ironic. UX and product people, despite being great at designing experiences for other people, often struggle to design their own careers. That’s why I created Career Strategy Lab and this podcast to help you navigate your UX job search, grow in your current role, and avoid skill and salary plateaus all in a chill and BS free way.

So whether you’re. Stuck in your job search or wondering what’s next in your UX career. You are in the right place.

Open House Intro: Hey, this is Erin. I am one of the coaches inside of Career Strategy Lab, and I wanna let you know that this episode you’re about to listen to, number one, is awesome. And number two is actually from our open house. So in this conversation, you should know that there were other people on this call and there was a live audience.

So if some of the editing seems a little bit weird or abrupt, that’s why it should still make sense [00:01:00] for you. There’s so many gems of wisdom to grab from this episode, so we hope you enjoy, and if you do like this format where you really can get to know someone and learn more about their career journey, please let us know.

You can send Sarah a LinkedIn message, or you can email hello@sarahdoody.com. We love the feedback and we wanna create more of what you enjoy and find helpful. All right, let’s get into the episode.

Sarah Doody: We are gonna be talking to people who were a part of my job search program, and the goal is that you really get to hear a little bit about their experience in terms of where they were at in their career and job search before they started working with me, and then their kind of journey through designing their career roadmap, working on their. Marketing materials, right? Their resume, their portfolio, their LinkedIn, how they leverage their LinkedIn, et cetera. And then [00:02:00] we will see if we touch on um, how they leveraged relationships and connection, et cetera before and during their job search.

We have Vasudha, who will be joining us

Sarah Q1

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Sarah Doody: So to get started tell everyone like, what are you doing right now?

Uh, how long have you been there? And then tell us a little bit about what motivated you to ever join career strategy labs.

Vasudha: So, hi everyone. I’m Vasudha and, uh, presently I’m working as a user experience designer at Amazon, uh, specifically at AWS Applied AI solution.

So here at my role, I am, uh, working on different services. Uh, recently I have started working on healthcare and life science, uh, you know, solutions we, which we have been creating. So, My Going back to, I think the other question with Sarah asked about, like, from where I [00:03:00] started and where I am at, so I was part of CSL program in 2023, end of 2023, so somewhat the same time in 23.

And, uh, I had a. A little different journey, I would say. I know many people might have similar journey, but I worked as a user experience designer earlier for like good six to seven years. Then I decided to do my master’s. And, uh, when I joined, uh, CSL, that was I think my last semester or even last month of the semester, uh, when, while I was graduating, I already had my internship done at AWS, but looking at the job market, I mean, I wasn’t sure if they’re going to offer me, you know, that full-time return position.

Uh, and anyways, like my journey for Job Hunt and was going on, I was aware of CSL from, I think since the time I came here in the US and started my you know, master’s program. I don’t know how, maybe through LinkedIn or something [00:04:00] like I was aware about, like, you know, okay, who is Sarah and what is CSL? I remember when I was, uh.

You know, trying to understand like, you know, okay, I have my master’s program, plus I want to invest my money for this program as well, and looking for job, and I’m an international student. Uh, I did reach out to someone from this team and ask them like, can you connect me to any alumni so that I can get my, you know, questions clarified, like, is it even worth joining?

And that’s a very genuine question for whoever is planning to, you know, invest that time as well as that, uh, money and building like your career, like just your next goal when you’re planning that. So, i, uh, I, again, on top of my head, I don’t remember who it was, but someone helped me connect with uh, an alumni I think she’s in Europe or something, but she was very, very helpful.

She, uh, you know, hopped on a call, answered all my questions, like, you know, [00:05:00] did it help you? Is it worth joining? And whatnot. And that’s how I was like, convinced. She literally, like, I was sold on, you know, the way she, uh, she had her journey here and she also joined like, I think maybe, uh, three, four years ago as part of the CSL.

And that’s how I was like, okay, let’s get started. And I joined and then it was, you know, till date I go back to my, some of the materials I have and try to just like improvise it. Whenever I’m doing my LinkedIn updates, I go through that. I look into it. I try to just add more things based on like, you know, currently what I’m doing.

Till date, I use it and I mentor a lot of people. I would say, obviously I can’t recommend each and everything, but I try to incorporate those suggestions when I’m looking at someone else’s portfolio or resume. Resume or, you know, uh, I know recently one of the, uh, I would say aspiring UX designers reached out to me and she was struggling.

Like, I don’t know how [00:06:00] to start the conversation. Like, what should I talk about myself? And I just helped her understand like, you know, why don’t you just talk about your, like past, your present and future, what do you want to do? And this like, you know, these things which you learn here. It’s not like just for now you are going to.

Use it everywhere in your career going forward? I, as I said, like I still go back, I look into those materials and the portfolio. I would say that is the biggest piece. You have to invest your time. I will not say that, you know, it’s not time taking, it is time taking. And once you are going through that particular course Sprint you will realize that there are a lot of things which we don’t think.

When we are doing our case studies by ourself, there are a lot of questions which we don’t answer, and we only realize when the hiring manager is asking those questions in an interview. So I would say it’s that has helped me a lot, like breaking down each and every, like, what, why, [00:07:00] how, you know, why did I choose a particular method?

Like, I didn’t even thought about it. But there are a lot of thought process, which goes into like why I am, uh, you know, picking a certain method when I’m doing my project right now at Amazon, maybe tomorrow, and hiring manager will ask and I’ll be like, okay I don’t even remember. Like I, it’s been so long, but these are the things I would say.

You keep it for your life long and is you are going to improvise on it. You can, you can customize based on your skills and needs and, you know, particular job roles. And, but I would say like thanks to Sarah and the team, they have been really, really, uh, helpful. Throughout the time you join even now, like if I reach out to them, I’m still part of, I think the Alai, uh, group.

Uh, I do post sometimes if there is an opening in my team or something like that, and I’m happy to refer people if I know them personally.

Sarah Doody: you did such a great, great job. I was taking some notes of things that I wanna try and follow up [00:08:00] on. I think one thing that, that really stood out to me is, you know, when you said that the things that you learned and did in CSL were not just, you know, within the x number of months that you were a part of the program, but.

You’re using them with yourself, with people that you’re giving advice to, et cetera, you know, now, literally years later. Yeah, and I, I think that’s a big part of it. Someone at one of our last open houses described career strategy lab is kind of like a career operating system. And I think the way you described it reminded me of that because you, you are still using it, right?

Yes.

Vasudha: Yeah. I do use it like, uh, everything, like, as I said, like, you know, if I’m going to update my LinkedIn, which I have to update right now, I, I was just reminded, uh, I go back to it. I look at, you know, how we did when I was at CSL when I was [00:09:00] looking for job those. Those notes are still helpful for me.

Uh, I can just, you know, revise it, improvise it, and just use it for now. So it’s not like, you know, we are in this era of where everything is changing so fast, and now I think with all these AI tools, if it’s, it’s even more helpful that I have a. I would say I, I would not really call it template, but I have a process or structure to follow.

And now with the help of AI as well, I can even, you know, make a step ahead of, or, you know, customize it the way I want. So sometimes I do feel it’s okay, these courses are for UX designers and researchers primarily. But I think like, to some extent this can be helpful for any other roles as well. Even product managers or, I’m not sure about software STEs.

But yeah, product managers or you know, program managers, they [00:10:00] can certainly make out of it. So it’s not just like, you know, it’s only designed for designers and researchers.

Sarah Q2

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Sarah Doody: One thing that I think it would be helpful for, for everyone listening, and feel free to drop questions in the chat also, but one thing that I think people might be curious about is, you know, we talked a lot about your, your shift around your confidence and how it helped you, not just when you were applying and, and interviewing, but also, you know, years later, months later.

But thinking back to career strategy lab, apart from that first sprint of designing your career and the, the compass statement, which other sprint or maybe plural jump out to you in terms of, you know, most valuable, most mind blowing, most, you know, like, changing how you think about stuff?

Vasudha: it was the portfolio one. I will tell you why. There are a couple of things which I still think about it. [00:11:00] Uh, one is my experience as a user experience designer. Earlier when I started my Master’s or CSL, it was of, uh, startups. I came through startups like, you know, we don’t really follow any process, process, but you know, you are designing at the end of the day.

So when I was preparing my case studies, I kind of realized that, okay. I have this entire, you know, my artifacts and everything, but I don’t have a lot of whys. Like I’m not answering, I haven’t really answered like, okay, why did I do this? And when I do that right now, like if I’m starting a new project right now, I try to answer those questions in my process itself.

So, because I know tomorrow if I’m going to put this project on my case study, I need to have those answers. So it’s kind of like, when I was at CSL, I looked back to my [00:12:00] experience and saw that, okay, these were the things which I never thought about, but I have a complete project. So at that time, I was trying to answer because it was my project.

I had end-to-end everything, the data and everything. So I tried to answer those things to finish my case study. But right now, if I’m working on a project, I try to answer those questions beforehand because as a designer, it is going to help me when I’m putting my. Case study portfolio and even like interviewing at different places.

You know, the hiring manager is going to ask me for those questions, so I have it ready, like beforehand and it kind of touches the, uh, question. I think what does CSL do to help people who are not confident about their past experience?

So that’s, I think that’s what I’m touching on. Like I had experience but it was not, it was not very robust, and that’s why I needed a master’s, you know, a graduate school to help me get a degree in as a user experience designer, and then to look for a job. That’s where I think [00:13:00] I spent those couple of months answering those questions, going back to my, whatever projects I did earlier and trying to like, make myself I would say not really opinionated, but also like, have my UX rationales answered for like my interviews.

Uh, then if that, uh, yeah. I hope that answers your questions

Sarah Q2 – 2

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Sarah Doody: one kind of follow up question I have here is you said, you know, when you start working on a project, now you’re already thinking about those questions related to your case study.

Have you experienced a scenario where that also helped you do the project? Meaning like collaborate and communicate with stakeholders or clients or your manager or whomever, like, I’m trying to kind of figure out, did the portfolio part of CSL also help you approach projects for the purposes of doing your job, not just to add it [00:14:00] to your portfolio?

Vasudah A2 – 2

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Vasudha: I mean, yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, if you are in a mid, like mid, uh, senior or senior ux, uh, UX designer, I think these are very important, uh, questions to answer. Like, you know, the collaboration or communication, you know, you are being customer obsessed, but at the same time you are also like, uh, you know, you are, uh, trying to.

Uh, create a feasible solution. It’s not that, you know, uh, I’m just designing something out of the box, which is like, uh, you know, not, uh, my developers can’t even do that. Or it’s, it’s not feasible for our um, PMs to achieve that or not. We don’t have any customers. So I think, uh, all those aspect of it, like, you know, but whether it’s like stakeholder communication, uh, talking to, uh, you know, talking to your end customers, interviewing them, or, uh, asking those questions on behalf of customers if you don’t have access to customers.

I think [00:15:00] all these aspect of it, whenever like I am I am on a project, like these are the things which I think about and then try to, you know, also depart. Like, okay, I have to have this po uh, project on my portfolio tomorrow. So how I can think and answer all these questions beforehand so that it’s easier for me when I am trying to create that, uh, case study.

Uh. You know, whenever this project is done.

Vasudah A2 – 2 Cont

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Vasudha: would also like to add one more thing. I was just thinking even now if you, if I refer back since I was talking about case studies, it is also important for my promotion internally, like when I’m not thinking about certain thing, but it is one of the criteria for promotion. So I like to like go back to it and look at, you know, okay, what is missing and then try to answer that.

And it’s not that it’s just going to be for my case study, which is, uh, you know, whatever is the end result is be it website or a slide. [00:16:00] But I can also answer those questions regarding my project and I can use that from my promotion internally when I’m, you know, talking to my manager if he’s looking for a certain thing which is lacking, but maybe it’s somewhere hidden.

So I think those questions really help me answer those. missing items or minor items, which I don’t see is valuable, but is really a criteria for a promotion within a company. And I know different companies follow different criteria, so I think, uh, I just wanted to highlight like, it’s important in several ways, not just one for getting a job.

Yeah.

Sarah Doody: Yeah. I, I think one theme I am hearing is the idea that this really helps identify blind spots, two components, I think blind spots in terms of essentially the product of you, right? My, you know, my whole philosophy and like your skills, your strengths, your superpowers, et cetera, that maybe you didn’t [00:17:00] recognize or em embrace.

Maybe ’cause you’re so good at it, you’re just like, oh, it comes naturally to me, whatever. But I think too, the blind spots around. What is my boss looking for when it comes to time for promotion? What is that hiring manager? What is that random recruiter on Reddit or whatever that found that person? Like what are they looking for?

And I think when you can identify those blind spots, then that makes everything e easier. Because if you can dial in your story and if you can understand what the people want, then you get hired or promoted.

Sarah Q3

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Sarah Doody: Okay. I have so many other questions I would love to ask you about. I feel like storytelling is such a big part of our theme today and.

This will be our second to last question. So I’m curious, like, when it comes to, you know, the story that you were maybe telling yourself about your career or that you were telling [00:18:00] other people about yourself, like what is, you know, one thing that really jumps out to you in terms of

how did your internal or external story shift as a result of, you know, being a part of the, a career strategy lab?

Vasudah A3

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Vasudha: It’s also about wrong story.

Sarah Doody: Yes. Um,

Vasudha: Because I have met a lot of people, uh, and even myself, like I, I am a user experience designer, but to be very honest, from last couple of years I’ve realized I’m more of a generalist and I thrive at being a generalist.

Uh, why I’m seeing that is, sometimes what happens that something fascinates you? And it’s mostly for early career designers or when you’re starting, uh, for, as a UX designer or researcher, you are not sure you where you want to go. And I think that was also part of, uh, you know, something we did as first, uh, sprint, I believe, where we, where you try to understand like where you thrive the most.

What do you enjoy [00:19:00] doing the most? Is it the visual aspect of it? Is it maybe just the design system or, uh, it’s just the, you know, end-to-end experience design or it’s just the research? Uh, I think it’s very important that somehow it gives you that clarity when you are working on this entire, you know, portfolio of yours or the way you are packaging yourself because you are a product at the end.

So the way you are packaging yourself, I think that’s very important. It helps you drill down that where you exactly want to grow what you enjoy the most. So it’s. It’s also like, you know, you are getting a clarity at the end of the program that, okay, maybe I’m calling myself UX designer, but it’s mostly like the visual part of it where I’m mostly interested and not the, you know, where I’m, uh, you know, buried into design artifacts, like I’m creating journey maps.

No, that’s not my way. So I think it gives you a clarity of better telling your story and maybe sometimes we [00:20:00] are too overwhelmed with the terms we have and the job description and everything that, you know, you tend to confuse like, okay, who you are, which job you really want to apply for. And I remember now that I’m talking about, about job description, like going through job description and reading, are you.

Will you be happy doing this job role, which is defined in a particular job description? And you know, now I read and I kind of see that, okay, calls itself UX designer, but I don’t think I’m gonna enjoy doing these things on my day-to-day life. So I think that gives you a lot of clarity on, you know, your personal story and maybe you are telling your wrong or maybe some misguided story about yourself.

So it gives you a clarity about how you’re presenting yourself and looking for jobs.

Sarah Doody: Yeah, I think just the permission to not fit in the box kind of right, because. Even when it comes, you know, we spoke about the LinkedIn [00:21:00] sprint and resumes and portfolios and things, and even just coming down to, what do you call yourself on LinkedIn? You know, it, it doesn’t have to be your literal job title that you hold right now.

You can call yourself whatever you want. And if you, for example, like you do product design, but you also do research, you can say that, you know, I’m a user researcher and product designer. That’s literally what I would say. I think it might be on mine, honestly, but like permission to rewrite your, your story also, and not in your case, like recognizing, wait a sec.

I am a generalist and I’m really good at it, and I don’t care what people say in terms of whether that’s right or wrong. I know that’s what I am. And companies need generalists as well as specialists.

Vasudha: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Sarah Q4

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Sarah Doody: Okay, last, last question. We’re gonna kind of do it rapid fire. If someone you know was, you can answer it two ways.

If someone was [00:22:00] thinking of joining career strategy lab, like what would you tell them? Maybe if they’re on the fence or if they do join? Like what advice do you have? And you can also answer both if you really want to. So

Vasudha A4

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Vasudha: think

I’ll keep it very short and quick. And to the other other question that Sarah asked about if you are on fence, uh, because I was on fence, like I took a lot of time deciding whether I want to join or not.

I think if you have time, a decent amount of time to dedicate every week, I would say just go for it. It does need a little bit time because you have to collect a lot of things about yourself and then get started. But at the end once you will see the result, you will see the feedback from this community and you know, you will see like, okay, what beautiful piece of portfolio or resume or a compass statement you have, uh, about yourself.

So I would just say like, you know, uh, go for it. If you can spend some time of your week just working on this.

Sarah Doody: thank you so much. I know that [00:23:00] your, like honesty and just sharing your story and being vulnerable about what you were struggling with and you know, how you transformed as people and professionals through this has been really valuable for people.

’cause I know so many people feel the tension of like, I do X but I need to fit into this box over here. And the topic of confidence, right? And just kind of the permission to not fit into that box and know that the world needs people in all areas of ux, whether you’re a generalist or a specialist.

I think that’s it. Hopefully you feel more hopeful about your job search, about the job market whether or not you join Career Strategy Lab. I just think. It is so helpful to hear other people’s journeys and to feel less alone in whatever your situation is and whatever path you choose to go down after this.

[00:24:00] So that is all and have a great rest of your week and we’ll talk to you soon. See ya. Thanks for hanging out. Bye.

Outro: Thanks so much for listening to the Career Strategy Podcast. Now make sure to follow so you don’t miss an episode, and you can check out all of our episodes at careerstrategylab.com/podcasts now to learn more about how to apply UX and product strategy to advancing your career. Whether that means leveling up in your current role, getting a new role, getting freelance work, or just being ready for the unexpected, then I invite you to watch my free UX job search workshop at careerstrategylab.com/hired.

And please feel free to send me a DM on LinkedIn. I would love to hear from you.

Post Roll: Hey there. Before I go, I wanna speak to you specifically if you’ve applied to 50, 100, 200 or more jobs and you haven’t secured an offer or interviews [00:25:00] yet. First of all, I want you to know it’s not your fault. It is challenging out there and learning how to navigate the job, search, interviews, negotiation, et cetera.

It is not something that we are taught. Your boss is too busy to help you. Your friends just give you vague advice. Your family doesn’t really know how hiring in UX works. This is why I created my Career Strategy Lab, UX job search accelerator. If you are tired of your DIY approach. Not leading to the results you want, then I challenge you to consider.

Maybe it is time for a pivot, just like products pivot. Maybe your job search needs a pivot too. So head over to careerstrategylab.com/apply to learn more or have a call with someone on my team or myself so we can answer all of your questions. Hope to talk to you [00:26:00] soon.