As someone in your early twenties, you struggle with what to do with your life. Wouldn’t it be great if there was someone to guide you along?

In this series, I ask women in the community to share their career trajectory and how they got to where they are today.

If you feel like you’re behind in life, this is for you. If you feel like you don’t know what you want to do in life, this is for you. If you want some directions or guidance, then this is for you.

Let’s get to it!

Check out the previous interviews here:

• Gabriela Shares What it Takes to Be a Software Engineer
• Freelance Writer Camille Shares Her Tips on Spotting a Toxic Workplace and More

Can you tell me a bit about yourself?

Hi! My name is Leanna. I’m 25 years old and live in Indianapolis, Indiana. My friends will tell you I’m a total plant mom and it’s true, haha. 

I have about 25 plants along my window sill and my favorite is my 10-feet tall (and still growing) Monstera Minima. I love to travel (last year was rough because of Covid-19) and my favorite trip was with my family when we spent Thanksgiving in Iceland. 

You will probably find me hanging out at a coffee shop; my favorite drink is a honey lavender latte. Other things I love include reading, playing the piano, and watching Korean dramas (Kdramas)! 

In my spare time, I enjoy creating digital illustrations in Procreate and I hope to someday open my own Etsy shop as a creative side hustle. I’m currently reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner and re-watching Crash Landing on You, my favorite Kdrama.  

What do you do for a living and how much do you make per year?

I am a product designer at Zotec Partners and have been here for exactly one month. My income ranges between $75,000-$85,000 depending on base salary and bonuses. 

How I got this position was quite interesting. 

I initially applied for the product manager position that Zotec had opened up. After my phone screening interview with HR, I was passed on to the hiring manager and while I was talking to her, she mentioned that my skills and interests were more aligned with their product designer opening, so she ended up referring me to the hiring manager for that position. 

That person was the director of product design. We did an informal design review, but I didn’t make it to the next step. I asked for feedback on my interview (a tip that I picked up from previous interviews) and he said I was a finalist, but that they chose another candidate who had more design experience. Although the position had been filled, HR mentioned that they wanted to keep in touch in case anything should come up.

A month passed, and HR reached out again saying that they were hiring another product designer and that the hiring manager who first spoke with me was the one who was looking for someone. They wanted to set up an interview between me and those on the team. 

I was currently in late-stage interviews at other companies but wanted to give Zotec another chance so I agreed. I left that interview with positive feedback and they said they would let me know about next steps within a week. 

During that week, I received full-time offers from two other companies and decided to be transparent with Zotec by letting them know about the offers, and that if they were serious about me as a candidate, I would need an offer ASAP to consider all my options. 

The day after Memorial Day, they called to give me an offer and I was elated! I chose Zotec over the other companies because being a product designer was exactly what I wanted. The other offers were more strategic-focused versus Zotec that was more design-focused. 

What does a typical day at your job look like?

I’m still quite new to Zotec, but a typical day so far starts with standups with the two teams I am currently reporting to, followed by designing wireframes on anything they asked for. Standups are daily meetings where team members discuss what they did yesterday, what they plan to do today, and any upcoming roadblocks, all designed to help team members connect with one another so no one is stuck on anything. 

I then have weekly check-ins with the rest of the designers (we are all on different teams) to get design feedback. I also have design reviews with engineers and product managers to review the design and content of medical billing products that Zotec owns. 

How did you end up where you are today?

I graduated from Purdue University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. My major was Multidisciplinary Engineering with a focus in Medical Systems, a combination of industrial and biomedical engineering coursework. 

Although I studied engineering and currently do not work as an engineer, I’d say I am somewhat doing work related to my major because I am in the healthcare/healthtech space. 

While in university, I worked as a product management intern at Milliman within their MedInsight team, and it was incredible. 

I learned so much about products (e.g., the design of products but also what products are in general), user interface/user experience (UI/UX) design, and UX research. My team was also incredibly supportive and gave me all the tools I needed to be a successful intern and individual. 

I left that summer happy and content with what I wanted to do in my career. The only thing stopping me was a voice in the back of my head asking “What about consulting?” 

As an engineering student, you hear all about consulting and the idea of working in a fast-paced environment for multiple companies on a variety of projects. Consulting was something I was always interested in and so, for the sake of appeasing the “what if” question in my mind, I told myself I would do consulting for a few years then exit to industry if I didn’t like it ( in other words, leave consulting for a more specific field of work).

How did you get your first job?

While interning there (mind you, this was the Seattle Milliman office), I got the opportunity to meet some members of the Indianapolis office. When I started applying to jobs, I wanted to be in Indy to be close to family, so I applied to a position at the Indianapolis office, and they reached out saying the Seattle office had nothing but great things to say about me. I had one in-person interview and they sent me an offer shortly thereafter. My income here ranged between $64,000-$70,000 depending on base salary and bonuses. 

I started working at the Indianapolis Milliman office as a healthcare data analyst for their pharmaceutical consulting team. I laugh at the title because it isn’t an accurate depiction of what I actually did. Due to the needs of a small team and the ever-changing state of consulting in general, my position evolved to more of a business analyst/associate consultant position where I would attend client meetings and create PowerPoint deliverables. 

What challenges or successes did you experience at your first job?

The most challenging thing was that the Indianapolis Milliman office operated very differently than the Seattle Milliman office. The work in Indy was less collaborative and, at times, isolating. 

I struggled to make connections with coworkers in my first three months and considered quitting because of the high learning curve and the feeling that I was very alone in trying to figure everything out by myself. By the end of my first year, I made friends and figured out the work. I was getting into a groove, but felt burned out due to long work hours and voiced that I wanted to try different projects. 

I struggled to make connections with coworkers in my first three months and considered quitting because of the high learning curve and the feeling that I was very alone in trying to figure everything out by myself.

Leanna

I hit a wall where I was unhappy with the projects I was on and didn’t mesh well with certain project managers. I had started applying for a new job and got an offer. When I brought this offer to the head of our team, he told me to weigh the options. 

He expressed that the team enjoyed working with me and didn’t want me to leave. I ultimately decided not to leave and instead negotiated to be staffed on new projects that I was more interested in and with project managers that I worked well with. 

Staying was a great choice because it was at that point when I really started to grow my skills. By doing this, I was able to get a good mix of projects—50% research-based, 50% tech-based. This was the best decision I made at the Indy office. 

My new project managers were more personable and offered support that I hadn’t received prior. I thrived in this new environment. 

How did you know what you want to do next?

I started designing fake apps in my spare time, and that’s when I realized I wanted to go back to product. I missed being creative and innovative in my work, so when Milliman scored a project that included designing an app for pharmaceutical sales reps, I jumped at the chance to join. This was what really motivated me to make the career switch. 

I joined a ton of online organizations to network with women who were in tech and product, created a portfolio, and even took an online course on how to become a product manager. The path was tough, but after months of job searching and rejection, I was faced with three job offers—one of them from Zotec—which were more than I could have ever asked for. 

As I mentioned earlier, I used the other two as leverage to prompt Zotec to give me a quick response if they were serious about me, and they did, so that is how I end up being a product manager at Zotec today.

Working in product design is a slightly slower pace of work than what I was used to in consulting, which is something I’m still trying to get used to. I enjoy that I am able to have a social life outside of work again and still find the work interesting. 

Can you share a high-level recap of your career and income trajectory?

• Healthcare Data Analyst at Milliman: 2019-2020: $64,000-$70,000
• Product Designer I at Zotec Partners: 2021: $75,000-$85,000 

What skills would someone need to thrive in your position? Are there any degree requirements for your job?

Here are some of the skills required for a product designer.

• A Bachelor’s Degree in design or equivalent professional experience (in my experience, I was doing side projects for about two years and took an online course through Udemy. I also had a prior internship in UX design)
• Experience with prototyping software. The industry standard is usually Sketch and InVision or Figma. I also have experience with Adobe Xd and have self-taught myself basic HTML and CSS.
• A strong portfolio that highlights different types of design and your thought process behind the decision-making.
• Since my position is within healthcare, it would help to have experience in healthcare/healthtech or to be knowledgeable about the healthcare insurance process.

At a high level, I also saw that some of the things I learned I learned from my engineering degree also helped me with my UI/UX job. The knowledge I gained from my engineering degree taught me how to problem-solve. It taught me how to utilize the information given to form a hypothesis and carve a way to an answer. 

There are aspects of engineering that present themselves in UI/UX design such as ergonomics and human factor design (both of which I took classes on in college) but that’s about the extent that my degree and job overlap.

Do you have any tips or advice to help someone break into your industry?

Become a sponge for information

When I decided to make the career switch from consulting at Milliman to product design, I joined a ton of tech and design communities and forums. I joined Elpha, Women in Product, Product in Healthtech, Products by Women, and OwnTrail. By surrounding myself with women who were in the same bucket as me or who had blazed their own trail to product, it made me feel like I could do it, too.

By surrounding myself with women who were in the same bucket as me or who had blazed their own trail to product, it made me feel like I could do it, too.

Leanna

Familiarize yourself with tools used in industry

Tools like Adobe Xd and Figma have free versions that you can use on your own. I found that these products were very intuitive to learn and these were the tools I utilized in creating my design portfolio.

Create a design portfolio

The best way to get good at design and to show that you’re dedicated to the career path is by doing the work. The work you showcase doesn’t have to be a real, delivered project. In fact, all of my projects were side-projects that I either made up on my own or prompts that I found online. As long as you can back up the reasons why you chose the prompt and why you designed your app a certain way, you should be fine.

Ask for feedback from your interviews

One of the best interview tips I was given was to ask for feedback when you get rejected. I can’t even count how many applications and rejection emails I received before I landed my job at Zotec. Even after getting past the phone screening and a first-round interview, I was frequently experiencing rejection; it sucks. But the best way to learn and improve is by asking for feedback. 

The first interview I ever had for a product manager position resulted in a rejection, but the woman who interviewed me was kind enough to give me pointers on how to improve my resume and was the one who referred me to Elpha and other communities to learn more about what hiring managers look for in candidates. I would never have known about all these resources if it wasn’t for her and her feedback.

What piece of advice would you give to someone who doesn’t really know what they want to do?

Trust your gut

Even though I went into consulting when I knew I loved product and design, I should’ve trusted my gut that product was where I wanted to be.

Talk to your friends. 

Sometimes you get a lot of perspective from hearing your friends talk about what they want to do or are currently doing. One of my friends works in fintech and I always loved hearing about what he does and what teams he interacts with. Even if your friends’ interests don’t align with yours, there could be teams that they interact with that sound interesting to you! 

Read books!

I love reading and some of my best inspiration has come from books I’ve read. Two of my favorite books are:

• Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Join communities at a national or local level! 

Talking with a group of women with their own stories can help you understand where you want to go and also give you ideas about how to get there. At a national level, I am a member of Elpha, Products by Women, and the local chapter of Women Who Code here in Indianapolis. 

What goal or projects are you working on next?

I’m actually getting married next May, so my next big project is planning a wedding! 

I was hustling for months leading up to my new job, so now I’m finally taking time to relax, enjoy the new job, and the process of being engaged. Mental health is so important, especially with everything going on in the world, so I’m trying to normalize taking a break every once in a while. My fiancè will tell you that I suck at relaxing, but I’m trying, haha!

I’ve toyed with the idea of opening an Etsy shop for stationery items just as a fun side hustle, but I’m waiting to see how my current workload pans out before I make any big moves. 

Right now I’m just enjoying my new career and job, but something I’ve learned through this process is that I love making connections with women in the industry! If you would like to chat further about career transitions, product management, or UX design, don’t hesitate to add me on LinkedIn.

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So, what do you think? Comment down your thoughts and reactions. I personally think it’s very interesting to hear about what other people are doing and how they got to where they are today. Check back for the next interview!

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