How Do You Measure Experience?
- Experience isn’t about years — it’s about growth, adaptability and resilience.
- I value iteration, self-reflection and always asking, “Is there a better way?”
- Freelancing taught me to trust my instincts and challenge the status quo.
- Some of my biggest lessons came from moments of failure — and choosing integrity over comfort.
- Real experience shows up in how you think, how you care and how you keep showing up with purpose.
It’s one of the first things that comes up in a design interview:
“How many years of experience do you have?”
It’s a strange one, really. Because years don’t always tell the story.
You could spend five years doing the same thing over and over or one year growing like hell.
For me, experience isn’t measured in time. It’s measured in growth. In resilience.
In how often you’ve questioned the way things are done and actually tried to do them better.
A CV can only tell you so much.
It won’t show the moments you stepped up.
The decisions you made when no one was watching.
The times you chose integrity over ease.
Or when you improved something, not because you had to, but because you couldn’t not.
That’s where the real experience lives.
I Don’t Count Years. I Count Growth.
In UX and design, we all know nothing’s ever really “done.”
Everything’s evolving, including us.
That’s how I work.
Try, test, learn, adjust.
Challenge old habits.
Even my own.
I keep asking, is there a better way?
And the best work I’ve done?
It came after the mistakes.
After sitting with what didn’t work.
Owning it. Learning from it.
And doing better.
I’ve never been the type to just do the job.
I want to understand it. Push it. Rethink it.
And do it with care.
Freelance Taught Me to Trust Myself
When I moved into freelance UX/UI work, it wasn’t just for flexibility.
It was about ownership. Creative accountability.
Learning to trust my instincts especially when something felt off.
Because let’s be honest:
Some environments reward routine over results.
It’s easy to default to “how it’s always been done.”
But real UX the kind that moves people doesn’t come from playing it safe.
It comes from asking harder questions.
From caring more, not less.
Freelance gave me space to break the rules not for the sake of it, but to build better things.
Things with intention. Without compromise.
Some Lessons You Learn the Hard Way
During a company acquisition, I was asked to skip research.
No user testing. No feedback.
Just... design it.
Everything I believed in was pushed aside.
I spoke up. I tried.
But I was tired. And when things didn’t go to plan, I was told I wasn’t good enough.
That moment hurt.
But it didn’t define me.
Because one person’s judgment doesn’t get to decide my value.
I know what I bring to the table.
And I’d rather walk away from work that doesn’t align with my values than compromise what I stand for.
That’s experience, too.
The Words I Still Carry With Me
Some of the most meaningful feedback I’ve ever received had nothing to do with skillsets:
“You don’t make false promises. You say it, and you do it to a high standard.”
“You’re a flower in a square box factory. Go show the world what you can do before it breaks you even more.”
Those stuck with me.
Because they reminded me this work isn’t about perfection.
It’s about care. Intention. Integrity.
So... How Do You Measure Experience?
Not by job titles. Not by how many years are on the page.
But by how you adapt.
How you show up.
How you build something meaningful and keep building.
I’m still learning.
Still asking better questions.
Still growing.
And honestly, that’s what excites me most.
The best work is still ahead.