Week 1 @ GA: My Brain Hurts

I think the main way that I know this was the right step for me is that my brain hurts. Like really hurts. I haven't truly thought this much everyday since... no I've never thought this much everyday in my life. In college, you only had 3 or 4 classes a day and they were broken up and you only had to halfway pay attention because you were focused on just passing the test. High school was all day everyday, but you were also only focused on passing the test. General Assembly immersives are all day, everyday, and you're learning information to help you with your actual profession. I quit my job, sold my shit, packed up my car, drove 30 hours, and paid $10K to be in this class to be successful in this field that I'm rapidly becoming passionate about. You bet your ass I'm paying attention and using my brain. So it hurts and I'm really excited about that.

The first exercise we did was a task analysis of the parking situation in Santa Monica. Most people came up with app solutions for parking, but none of us truly got to the bottom of the real problem of parking. After the exercise, we were (re-)taught a "back to basics" approach that needs to start with "why?" Why is there a parking problem in Santa Monica? Because there are a lot of people and cars in Santa Monica. Why are there so many cars in Santa Monica? Because people from all over the world want to come here. Why? Because it's beautiful and there are a lot of shops and restaurants and things to do. So the real question becomes "How can you get a lot of people to Santa Monica, have them stay for awhile, and have them leave?" It's not an issue we solved, but it became an interesting way of thinking about how to get to the root of a problem.

The instructors here at GA have such an insightful way of thinking about not only UX, but society and the world. I have so much to learn from them in the next 9 weeks so hopefully I can turn my brain into a sponge. One of the best questions asked in class so far has been, "When people ask you what you do, what do you say since no one knows what UX is?" Ashley (one of the instructors) responded with "I'm an engineer." This immediately resonated with me because my brain is naturally a "how do things work?" kind of brain that is well-suited for engineering, but the math and science classes were too boring and over my head in school. UX is going to be a great bridge over the gap of my skill set.

Best piece of advice so far: When in doubt, take a breath and go to the ocean.