S2 Ep 14. Finding New Passion After Teaching: My Mystery Tech Job

A brief reflection on how children and family members perceive the shift from dynamic classroom teaching to the seemingly static world of UX research. What looks like "just clicking all day" to a 13-year-old is actually detective work uncovering patterns in human behavior and advocating for users.

• The visible nature of teaching versus the invisible complexity of UX work
• What my family sees vs what they don't see
• Family members' amusing interpretations of my job 
• Finding meaning in work that appears mysterious from the outside
• Teaching children about UX careers through school career days
• Discovering new passion after leaving the classroom

Chapters

• 0:00 Kids Think Tech Jobs Are Boring
• 1:18 Life as a UX Researcher
• 2:44 The Invisible Magic of Tech Careers
• 4:39 Finding New Passion After Teaching
• 5:42 Closing

Transcript

Announcer: 0:01

Hello teacher friends, welcome to the UX Teacher Prep Podcast, and I'm your host, zee. So today's episode is going to be a little bit silly, but it's something that I had to do. So the other day, my 13-year-old son walked past my desk, aka my three-screen command center, and said Mommy, you used to be so lit when you were a teacher. Now you just sit there clicking all day. What do you do? You just sit in front of the computer all day. That's mad boring. And that was the moment I knew I had to do this episode. Stay tuned.

Announcer: 0:37

Welcome to the UX Teacher Prep Podcast, the ultimate destination for educators who aspire to break into the field of user experience and product design. Your host, z Arnold, a 15-year teacher turned UX researcher, is here to guide, coach and mentor you through every twist and turn as you make your career transition into tech. If you're ready for a more satisfying career and lifestyle and you want the balance to unleash your creativity, this podcast is for you. Now for the show.

Coach Zee: 1:18

Today is going to be one of those short and sweet episodes, but I hope you enjoyed as much as I enjoyed creating it. For years I taught in a classroom filled with energy. Every day I was on my feet, walking, talking, reading, teaching, redirecting, encouraging, correcting, surrounded by noise and love and chaos and a bunch of teenagers, really, and a bunch of teenagers I remember. Every summer my own kids used to come with me to set up my classroom for the next school year. They'd see me organizing the room, putting up bulletin board backing paper. They were helping me set everything up for the new year, planning senior events and just being so excited to dig into teaching and learning. I think I was like a superhero in their eyes. Mommy, the teacher and I had all the answers. And now they see me hunched over a desk, headphones on, scribbling things on sticky notes, talking to my screen on Zoom calls and using phrases like prototype handoff and usability test. And now, when questions come up, they say, mommy, you're not a teacher anymore. Seriously, kids will be kids, but I think my 20-year-old understood more of what was happening in terms of what I was doing. So I think my 20-year-old understood more of what was happening in terms of what I was doing. So I have a 20-year-old daughter, I have a 15-year-old daughter, I have a 13-year-old son and I have a five-year-old daughter. So different kids have different reactions. But the smaller ones, they basically didn't know what was going on.

Coach Zee: 2:40

So when I made the switch to UX research, it wasn't because I stopped loving teaching. It was because I wanted something new, something that challenged me in different ways, let me grow and, yes, something that let me work from home with flexibility for my family. But trying to explain that to my kids or to my cousin at Thanksgiving, phew, not easy. So here's what my kids see Mom surrounded by three screens, mom typing notes really fast, mom watching videos of strangers using prototypes and mom looking way too serious for no reason. What they don't see is what I feel when I work. I feel like a detective uncovering patterns in human behavior. I feel like a translator bridging the gap between what people need and what our products offer. I feel like a translator bridging the gap between what people need and what our products offer. I feel like an advocate for users, for students, for accessibility, for educators, for empathy. And yeah, some of that does look like me sitting very still staring at sticky notes, not getting my steps, but inside there's movement, momentum magic.

Coach Zee: 3:46

Explaining UX research to your family is a journey. My mom still thinks I do something with websites. I think she thinks I'm a website designer. My cousin probably says I work in techie education and one time I heard my five-year-old say to herself mommy's job is in the computer and honestly, I get it.

Coach Zee: 4:04

It's not super visual, it's not like teaching where you can see kids learning and laughing and doing things in the classroom, but I love that it's kind of a mystery. I love that what I do isn't obvious, because that's kind of the point. My job is to look beneath the surface to notice what others miss. So yeah, it might look boring from the outside, but it's the most creatively stimulating work I've ever done. So to the moms out there with mysterious tech jobs, to the dads explaining product and design systems to confuse grandparents, to the aunties in data science, the cousins in cybersecurity and the ex-teachers in UX keep doing your invisible magic.

Coach Zee: 4:43

Our kids might not understand it now, but they will, and that's why, every chance I get, I show up at a school career day to teach middle schoolers and high schoolers about UX, design and research and maybe one day they'll have mysterious, meaningful jobs too. I used to think teaching was the only profession I could be passionate about and love, but I'm over here, clicking, listening, learning, and I love every second of it. So thanks for joining me today. If this episode made you smile or gave you that yes, exactly feeling, go ahead and share it with a fellow career shifter or someone in your life with a mystery job. Until next time, keep doing what makes you come alive, even if the kids think it's boring.

Announcer: 5:38

Do what makes you happy. Talk soon resources to help you on your tech transition journey. Head over to uxteacherprepcom. Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at uxteacherprep for daily tips and motivation. Have a topic you'd like to hear addressed on the show? Send us a DM on Instagram. If you're listening on YouTube, like, subscribe and share. Until next time, be well.