How I learned UI/UX design while working full-time — 6-month honest timelinE
by Elyana Mohd·May 25, 2026
Background: marketing manager with no design training. Built enough UX skills to get a junior product designer role in 6 months. HerE's exactly what I did.
Month 1—2: Foundations
- Google UX Design Certificate on Coursera (free to audit), do all the assignments
- Read "Don't Make Me Think" and "The Design of Everyday Things", understanding design thinking matters more than Figma skills
Month 3—4: Tools and practice
- Learned Figma from free YouTube tutorials (DesignCourse is excellent)
- Redesigned 3 apps I personally found frustrating, these became portfolio pieces
Month 5—6: Portfolio and job search
- Joined the Malaysian UX community on Facebook, people critique work honestly
- Applied for junior roles emphasising my user research skills (my marketing background was actually valuable here)
Total cost: RM0 for learning. RM0 for Figma (free tier is sufficient for portfolio work).
The key insight: Employers care that you can think like a designer and articulate decisions. A well-documented case study beats technically perfect mockups.