“I want to change careers, but where do I start?” 🤔

This is the most common question I get from people looking to transition into Design. Here’s my practical approach for overcoming the overwhelm:

First, identify your transferrable skills (working with a coach or mentor can be incredibly helpful here). Then, become a job ad detective. Study postings for your target role and create a concrete list of the skills you’re missing. This isn’t abstract – it’s based on what employers are actually asking for right now. Now prioritise the skills on the list, and you have a plan.

But now you’re back to the same question: how to pick where to begin?

Here’s the key: Start with practical, tangible skills. For example, if you’re moving into UI design, don’t begin with abstract design theory. Instead, master Figma by recreating existing designs. The foundations of visual design will make much more sense once you have hands-on experience with the tools.

Finally, the best relevant advice I heard in my interviews comes from Raffaella Roviglioni:

Follow your gut in your learning.

As she explains: “The physicist Richard Feynman would tell his students to follow their hunger for knowledge, and not to worry about the order in which they read stuff or study. There is no structure needed — the best approach is to follow what your mind asks you to learn, because doing so helps fill up the gaps based on your own internal brain structure. He taught people to follow their gut on what to learn about, and stop whenever they feel it’s enough.” (Read the full interview with Raffaella »)

You don’t need to learn everything at once. Pick one skill from your list. Get some experience with it (let go of perfection). Move to the next. Repeat.

PS 🤫 This advice applies to any dream role, not just Design.