2022: My Year in Review
Being a private person I prefer to keep to myself, but looking back on everything I accomplished in 2022, it’s worth sharing in order to encourage not just other people, but also myself. Yes, I am my number one fan, supporter and motivation, so here’s my year in review 😌.
Started a new role 👩🏽💻
Commuting to work was one of my toughest challenges; I had to get up very early and spend hours on the road every day, taking a bike, a bus and the train back and forth to the office. I loved the view from my previous office, the 7th floor of the MNC Tower because I could see the high-rise buildings in Jakarta, and the scenery for photos was beautiful. The year 2021 ended with me leaving my job as UX designer at Vision+. I had no idea what the future held when I told my boss I was quitting. I had nothing but hope that something better was on the way. In December of that year, I began applying for a new position, and on January 4th, 2022, I accepted a new offer as senior UX designer.
Started mentoring 👩🏽🏫
I started becoming active on twitter, I spent most of my time creating content for my YouTube channel and posting about design. As a result, people began reaching out via direct message (DM) for assistance, mentorship, and collaborations. I decided to start mentoring designers, with the goal of mentoring at least 15 people every month for free. I put out a google form link on twitter for those interested in the mentorship to fill, many people showed interest and I picked fifteen people with whom I created a telegram group. I frequently met with my mentees through Google Meet to lecture, give assignments, and review their work. In February, my first set of mentees’ published their project about electoral voting, the case study can be viewed here.
As someone who always want to giveback, my highlight was seeing my mentee’s land their dream jobs, it brought so much joy to me, view testimony here
Got laid off 💔
Three months into my new job I had accomplished so much. I worked so hard even late at night I would stay up designing. In three months, I had redesigned our entire app (native), web app and revamped our website. In early April I discerned that I would be laid off. I personally started interviewing for other roles cause I saw it coming. On April 21st, human resources (HR) broke the news to me giving no tangible reason for their decision. It didn’t surprise me, but I was hurt and a little afraid of the unknown, it kind of affected my mental health.
Started teaching UX design 👩🎨
While working at my previous job, on March 31st, one of the co-founders of Lighthall reached out to me about teaching on the platform. I loved the idea about teaching others and in April I started holding classes on the platform on weekends. I would create a poll on Twitter asking people to vote on what they wanted to learn, and then choose a topic to teach each week. That same month, I got approved as a mentor on ADPList after being rejected on my initial application. I invited more people to join my Telegram community, and instead of 15 individuals every month, more than 1,000 people joined. I reviewed other designers’ portfolios, resumes, and taught several classes, but what made me so happy were the warm reviews and comments my students left during classes, as testimonials on lighthall, on my YouTube videos, on ADPList and on Twitter.
Held a bootcamp 💻
I held my first paid UX design bootcamp in July, with over 40+ students enrolled. The curriculum of the bootcamp was more structured, and extra lessons were done on weekends to help my students understand the concepts taught. I recall tearing up on the last day of bootcamp as my students expressed their gratitude for my time and how much they had learnt. Yes, I’m an emotional person and seeing people reward or thank me with such touching words can bring me to tears 😭.
My highlights of the bootcamp were the stunning case studies from my students. See thread of their unique works here.
Got a new job 💼
Although I had freelance projects I was doing while teaching, I kept interviewing for a new role. I remember interviewing for a senior product design role at gojek in June. I had cleared all four interview stages and had even sent my document for the offer letter. I waited on them to resume only to be ghosted by the HR last minute. I reached out to them much later and was told that they froze hiring 🥲. The HR apologized for ghosting me. That same month, I began interviewing at my current employer. In August, I accepted an offer as a senior UX designer. I relocated due to my job and resumed work in September.
My wins 🙌
The best win for me is being alive and healthy. I’m most grateful to God for his infinite mercies and most importantly for life and good health 🙏.
I’m not the kind to discuss my finances in figures, but one thing is certain: In comparison to 2021, I made more money in 2022, from my job, side hustles, teaching, influencing for brands and investing. To reward myself for my hardwork, I upgraded my laptop to a Macbook Pro M2 few weeks after it was launched in June and I bought myself an iphone 13pro max as birthday present to me. I also made the list for ADPList 100 most impactful mentor 2022. I grew my twitter following to 32,000 followers, my YouTube channel to 3,700 subscribers, and my newsletter to 2,800 subscribers. 2022 was amazing and I look forward to an even better 2023.
🖤 Nabhel
