Volunteering and Learning a New Skill

For the past few months, I've been juggling to manage my time. Most of it is because I am trying to learn new skills that will help me land a freelance or corporate job while also upskilling so that I can be a more valuable asset to the company today.

A brief background on myself: I am an electronics engineer with years of experience in R&D, technical writing, and web development.

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WORK EXPERIENCE

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My R&D experience was primarily in geodetic and civil engineering, though engineering methods and principles were applied throughout the project. It includes data analysis, data validation, and quality assurance because the output should be a highly detailed flood hazard map. Yes, I was able to use Python to develop pre-processing tools since I was on the data processing team, but it felt like a fleeting experience, to be honest. On the web development side, I can say that it's not that deep since my scope is limited to maintaining and enhancing the documentation site. Documents involve datasheets, user manuals, and tutorials, which somehow make use of my electronics side since I edit and review them.

_{Attended free trainings and webinars, and one of them is the Open RAN Academy webinar. (Left) Post-test assessment with Abhishek Dubey as the resource speaker. (Right) Open RAN Academy webinar: Open RAN and 5G by Engr. Richard Matias}

_{Attended a Software QA webinar conducted by MSTConnect}

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CAREER GOALS

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My goal for this year is not only career growth but also financial stability. I've been attending various webinars every weekend since April of this year. It started solely for the CPD points for license renewal, but as time went on, I found it rewarding whenever I passed the assessment and received the certifications. I've been experimenting with various topics by attending weekend webinars, ranging from electronics to telecommunications to software, and I've realized the career I want to pursue in the corporate world and the services I want to provide as a freelancer. There may be some changes over time, but I believe it will remain close to what I have decided.

In the freelance department, I'd like to offer technical writing/support services, whether in the software or electronics fields. Though I prefer the software side because I want to gradually transition to QA. My QA experience, however, differs from that of QA in the software industry. In my opinion, if I want to be an effective QA, I need to be more involved in the development side, which, by the way, I somehow dislike because hard-core programming haunts me even in my dreams.

 

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LEARNING FIGMA

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Recently, I started learning a new skill just because I was a little bit impatient and wanted to make progress with a certain project and start preparing the data set. I won't go into detail, but I ended up volunteering to create a mockup with a three-day timeline. (Both the face and the guts are as thick as encyclopedias!)

_{Figma design templates}

I know how to make a flow chart, but not this one. I am not a UI/UX designer and had no experience with wireframing or web design tools when I volunteered. So three days just wasn't long enough for me. I underestimated things: I need to watch tutorials, conceptualize the flow chart as a web design, and also manage other urgent tasks and requests from different teams.

I consumed nearly a week's worth of tutorials while looking for videos on how to create a specific feature in Figma. I use Figma because it's free, not realizing that I need to subscribe to export the wireframing as well.

I began by enrolling in a free course on Udemy. The assignment was to create a mobile food app. The course was brief, but the fundamentals were well presented. I was over the moon when I finished the project.

After that, I immediately jumped into creating the mock-up, feeling ready and well-prepared (a bit cheeky, I must say). I assumed it was just a simple design and wireframing, but I was mistaken. When I tried to connect everything, things got complicated. In addition, I must consider both the end user and the developer. Frustration set in, especially when I was unable to replicate the design and features I had in mind. I watched several YouTube tutorials just to finish the mockup.

Later on, I consoled myself by reminding that it was just a rough draft and that the UI designer would redesign it once she was finished with the other project, and I tried not to complicate things any further. Although I'm not entirely satisfied with the result, I believe I effectively conveyed my proposed new flow.

_{I can't show my final output, but here's the finish assignment when I enrolled to a free course in Udemy.}

It only became clear after sending the proposal that, despite my frustrations, I still enjoyed the designing portion. It reminded me of when I was in college and took IC layout and design as electives. So I'm still designing websites and mobile apps in order to build a portfolio and offer freelance UI/UX services.

I guess my volunteer work was a smart move. I get to show them that I am capable of doing other things while also learning new skills that may help me land a freelance job.