My 2020 Journey

Introduction

Hi, I’m Muazzim. UI/UX Designer from Malaysia. Currently working at one of the best Hong Kong startup, Vanna. In this writing, i would like share on my journey in this challenging year 2020. This will be a really long and boring writing, so feel free to leave it. But, if you really interested to know the journey that i’ve been through, make sure you read until the end. 😆😆😆

The Beginning

I’m gonna be father!

The beginning of the year, I was shocked by happy news which is my wife is pregnant!! We both happy and can’t wait for our baby to come out to life 😆.

COVID-19

We though live normally, but then COVID-19 strikes our country. The Malaysia government has announce the Movement Control Order (MCO) across the country. At that time, only one person is allowed to go out for foods and groceries.

Work from home

I was forced to work from home (at this time I was still working at Dyson). I’m so glad that the company really care about their employees and take this approach. My working time become flexible and I can really take care of my wife.

Move out from Johor

It’s almost mid year, and the situation is getting worst. We afraid that this situation might be last until end of the year. So, we decided to move out from our rent house and go back to my wife’s hometown at Kedah.

New life

Since beginning i really love doing UI/UX Design. Even when i was working at Dyson as Web Developer, I’m volunteer my self to do all the designs for every of our projects. In Q2, I decided to start looking for a job change, and retires myself as web developer (just kidding about the retirement, I will be always code).

Got few interviews

I think i sent more than 30 applications through job platform like Linkedin, Jobstreet, and Glassdoor. I must said that UI/UX Designer role is quite high demand in Malaysia. I even got interviews from some of good companies like Zalora, Razer, HP, Celcom, Petronas, and Vanna (place where I’m working currently).

Yes. I got rejected on my very first interview at Zalora. It makes me realise that I need to keep learning and improving myself in order to get my dream job.

First assignment

Passed the first round of interview with Vanna. They giving me an assignment. The assignment is all about designing screens for their upcoming product, and I only got 2 weekends to finish it. Luckily, I manage to deliver the assignment on time despite having a lot challenge as my wife is already at her 8 months of pregnant.

Officially become a father

On 2nd September, 2020, my little princess is safely born. I think I am one of the happiest person on that day. We name our daughter Khalisha Azzahra. She’s so cute like her father of course 😝.

New responsibility, new challenge, and new experience for both of us.

First presentation as father

While still happy with the birth of our daughter, I had to present the assignment that I worked on to Vanna. I’m so glad that they giving me a few days for me to get prepared. Basically I did the presentation during my paternity leave. So, I can really focus on that presentation.

Got the job!

I’m so blessed. That’s the only thing i can say at that moment. Vanna has offered me with the job and i accepted it! All the works i did before is finally paid off. On 19 October, I’m officially a full-time UI/UX Designer at Vanna.

Wrap up

2020 has come to end. A lot of things happens. Everyone struggle in this year. Some loss their jobs, some loss their family members due to COVID-19. I’m really grateful that all our plans goes pretty well.

Ready for 2021

It seems the situation will be continue in 2021 too. We need to keep moving forward to survive. As for me, I have started to plan my 2021 goals. It’s a bit sad because I only manage to complete 35% of 2020 goals. So I target that for year 2021, I will try my best to complete 100% of the goals.