Jackie, a Site Merchandising Coordinator at Wayfair recently enrolled in Thinkful’s Product Design program to help her advance within her company. Here’s what a typical day in the program looks like—in her own words.
Morning
I usually wake up around 7AM. I’m not a morning person AT ALL so I try to get everything prepared—like picking out my clothes and making lunch—the night before. That helps me be out the door of my Allston (Massachusetts) apartment by 7:45AM so I can head to my day job at Wayfair, an e-commerce company that sells home goods.
My commute, which involves both the bus and the T (Boston’s name for the subway), takes about 30 minutes. This is one of the most tranquil parts of my day and I usually spend a portion of the time reading the Bible. I arrive at work by 8:30AM and my first order of business is caffeine. The ice in our office starts to run out by 8:45AM so it’s important I make my iced double espresso with oat milk before then.
Afternoon
Around 11:45AM, I take a much needed mental break and head to the gym with one of my Wayfair coworkers. Today, we’re doing Body Pump, but we do a variety of classes throughout the week. I’m back at work by 1PM and usually eat lunch at my desk.
I continue the work I started in the morning. Today, I’m pulling and analyzing merchandising data, one of the primary responsibilities I have as a Site Merchandising Associate. I’ve worked at the company for about seven months now and while I enjoy what I do, I want to be more involved in designing our products — like our external facing website and our supplier facing extranet. Right now, I conduct research about customer pain points; but our product design team is the team that actually gets to make changes to improve the customer experience. That’s one of the main reasons I decided to enroll in Thinkful’s Product Design program: to advance to a product design position within the company.
Evening
Around 5:20PM, I leave work and head back home on the T. I’m home by 6PM and I unwind for a little bit before I make dinner. Recently, I’ve been on a breakfast-for-dinner kick so tonight I’m making an elevated avocado toast. It’s a fairly simple recipe: quinoa bread from Trader Joe’s, avocado, goat cheese, tomatoes, bagel seasoning, and two scrambled eggs on the side.
I finish dinner around 7PM which is an hour before I meet with my mentor. Tonight, we are working on my first UX challenge. The basic premise is that I need to create a public transit app. One of the first steps in designing a good app is conducting a user survey. Over the weekend, I put together a list of questions and I’m asking my mentor for critical feedback. Specifically, I want to know if the questions make sense and if I’m asking the right questions to understand customer pain points.
My mentor session goes well and we chat until about 8:45PM. Before we end our conversation, we make sure to set goals for our next meeting on Thursday. I take a small break but then spend the next hour or so reading and watching videos on the topics of wireframing and usability testing.
Around 11PM, I close my computer and start to get ready for bed. I usually surf Youtube (I am subscribed to a few Vlogs!) or listen to music. Recently, I’ve been loving this song by Alessia Cara called “Out of Love.” It’s pretty mellow — perfect for helping me fall asleep and get ready for another packed day tomorrow!