Port.Collab
Competition Project
Background
Google Ignite! Is a 7-week program run by Google and Women in Tech (WiT) that exposes participants to a product sprint experience, provides mentorship opportunity and masterclasses focusing on Google Developer technologies and personal development.
At the end of the program, each team will with to a panel of judges from Google, based on the challenge statement.
Challenge Statement
Choose at least 1 UN sustainability goal and develop a tangible IT solution that achieves this goal. The solution must make use of at least 1 Google Developer tool/technology.
Project Period
Sep 2021 - Dec 2021
Chosen UN Sustainability Goal:
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Quality Education
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Decent Work & Economic Growth
Our Users
Entry-level job seekers
Key Question
How might we enable entry-level job seekers to take charge of their career journey and personal growth?
My Role
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Research on the identified gap in the market
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Design the UXUI for the identified problem
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User testing and further iteration
Research
Process
With my 4 other team members, we looked at the UN sustainability goals that resonated most with us. Given the time constraints and the scope of this design sprint, we interviewed one another to get insights on the matter quickly. We realised we shared a similar concern – getting an internship or a job as fresh graduates who had no prior experience to present to hiring managers can be very challenging.
We dived into research for existing solutions in the market or concepts that would allow a better chance to find that “starting point”. We also sent a survey to 90 aspiring job seekers to find out what they have been doing so far to secure a job in the Singapore market
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Survey and Research Takeaways
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With or without experience, it is beneficial to have exposure to projects.
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Students have access to career resources, but it is not always the case for adults.
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Collaboration has many benefits that can be the key to closing the skill gap in the market
Design
User Persona
As a university undergraduate, I want more opportunities to gain real-world experience so that I can effectively build up my career portfolio towards a job I want to do in the future.
​Sarah Lee
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Year 2 Computer Science Undergraduate
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Prior education - Junior College
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Personality - bubbly, outgoing, eager to learn, hardworking
Context
Sarah is currently looking to take up an internship during the upcoming summer break. She is still unsure of her career path although she has spoken to her school’s career coach on multiple occasions. As a motivated student, she wants to explore career opportunities in the ICT industry. She finds it challenging to compete for job roles relating to software engineering due to her lack of experience. She wished there were more real-world opportunities to expand her skills portfolio and specific guidance with respect to the ICT industry for her to discover her career interests. ​
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Goals & Aspirations
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Primary: She wants to learn and gain skills that would be beneficial for her career in the technology industry in the long run.
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Secondary: She wants to secure an internship at an MNC.
Concerns
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Primary: No prior experience to showcase other than school projects she has completed.
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Secondary: Preparing a portfolio that would attract the attention of recruiters and hiring managers.
As an adult looking to switch my careers and start one in the tech industry, I want more opportunities to work on coding projects so that I can effectively integrate into the ICT industry.
Adam Reed
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Currently working in AIA, Senior Financial Advisor
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Prior education - SMU Bachelor of Business, Major in Finance
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Personality - friendly, positive, team player, fast learner
Context
Adam decides he wants to try something new after 7 years in the industry. Recently, he became interested in software development and is looking to enter the ICT industry. As a fast learner who taught himself how to code, he wishes to accumulate some software project experience. However, he finds it challenging to practice coding on his own due to his lack of industry experience. He wished there were more opportunities to learn from experienced people and practice his skills at the same time.
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Goals & Aspirations
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Primary: He wants to gain experience in software development projects.
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Secondary: He wants to learn new coding languages.
Concerns
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Primary: Finding projects to try out to accumulate experience.
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Secondary: Lack of guidance to enter the ICT industry.
Key Design Considerations & Goals
Social Proof
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Number of users who are working on the project
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Number of users looking for collaborators
Collaboration
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Communication between people working on or who are interested in the same project
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Working in team
Mutual Learning
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Networking and mentoring opportunities
Solution
We decided to design and build a web platform that competes with similar portfolio builder platforms in the market such as Behance and Dribbble.
This platform allows users to connect with like-minded people to obtain greater exposure to different projects. Key features include career guidance, portfolio building tips, recommendations to discover interests, and mentors to guide users on their career journey.
User Testing
After coming up with a prototype of the web application, I conducted a usability test with 3 users to ensure the usability of our platform.
User Test Prototype
User Test Insights
UX writing for the labelling of tabs were not familiar
As a new user, it is not clear what users can do on each page
Projects on the profile page do not clearly show which are personal projects or collaborations, this can be confusing and time-consuming to identify
Final Prototype Design
The final design was improved upon based on the insights from the user test.
Learnings
Due to the novelty of the platform’s concept, users depended heavily on UX writing to navigate and use the web platform.
Through this experience working closely with my team members who did the software development of the MVP, I learned various terms regarding the code infrastructure. Moreover, since we worked under time constraints of 2 weeks to build, many features that I wanted to include for the user experience of the product were not possible. It was a good challenge to look for and think of alternative user experiences that could be built in a short period of time.