Hina Mahboob

Tell us about yourself and your educational background.

Before BrainStation I was actually studying psychology and biology, just trying to understand human behavior a little bit better, but what I found is that I wanted something a little more creative and hands-on.

What made you choose BrainStation?

As I was researching my options, I came across BrainStation and their different programs. That's when someone introduced me to the User Experience Design Diploma Program, they said: “you have experience in psychology, this might be something you want to check out.”

After I did a little bit more of my own research, I found out that this program allowed me to blend my research experiences and the research that I love doing with something more creative and hands-on, so it's a nice balance.

How did your previous research experience help you with the program?

It was similar in the sense that I was going out talking to people and gathering insights that I would then pull data from. I would use programs like SPSS and statistical software to analyze the data and generate reports.

UX is similar in that you are still talking to people and gathering insights to inform your decisions. There’s just a little bit of a different approach to it.

This program allowed me to blend my research experiences and the research that I love doing with something more creative and hands-on.

What was the most challenging part of the program?

One of the most challenging things is definitely time management. It is a pretty fast-paced program so you want to make sure that you make the time for it and set aside all the other distractions. You have to make sure that this is something that you can really commit to in that time period because there's a lot to go over.

There's a lot that you can learn if you put the time into it, so just making sure that you have that space in your life is important.

What was the highlight of the program for you?

We participated in something called BrainStation 3D. It’s a one-day hackathon where you team up with members of the Data Science and Web Development programs, along with fellow UX students and come together to create a working website by the end of the day. You go through so many different things – it’s an experience and a half!

Seeing how all these different fields are contributing to the work and just having something that actually works by the end of the day. It's a really cool learning experience that I really enjoyed.

What are your thoughts on Demo Day?

It was really cool to meet people who are working in the industry and to get their perspective on my project. The questions they asked made me think about my project in a different way and I considered points that I maybe wouldn't have thought about.

Would you recommend BrainStation to others looking to make a career switch?

Absolutely, you’ll get so much out of it. Just make sure that you take out time for it because it is pretty intensive!