Why UX: A Degree in CS?
Why I pivoted from writing lines of code and deciding that UX was for me.
Jun 29, 2025
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4-5 min
🌱 Why Even Choose CS?
"I declared a major after one intro course. It sounds ridiculous, but it changed everything."
The Accidental Commitment
Like many others, I was lured into computer science thanks to one amazing professor. He had us building mini New York Times-style games with Python — fun little puzzles that made me want to do the homework.
It was sophomore year. I was still undeclared, and the deadline to choose a major was creeping up with no clear direction in sight.
So I did what any sane person would do:
Declared CS after a single course.
And to be fair, I didn’t hate it. I can’t count how many hours I spent stuck on writing miniscule text on my cheatsheets before exams or debugging my code, only to realize the entire problem was a missing semicolon or a period that should’ve been a comma. But somewhere in between banging my head against the wall and frantically Googling Stack Overflow posts from 2009, there were a few moments where I was genuinely enjoying myself.
Debugging/brainrot era
A 2-Credit Course That Changed Everything
It wasn’t until I took a tiny, once-a-week 2-credit UX course that I realized:
I was looking forward to my assignments.
I didn’t dread the readings or presentations — I wanted to do more.
That course opened a door I didn’t even know existed. It introduced me to human-centered design, where the goal wasn’t just building — it was understanding the why behind what we build.
From there, I was all in.
Becoming the Designer in Every Group Project
I enrolled in the only UX practicum offered on campus and loaded up my course list with front-end development, web design, and interaction courses that could count toward my CS degree.
Every time we had a team project, I gravitated toward the design side:
Building reusable component libraries
Adding delightful microanimations
Creating interfaces that made our professors do a double take
Designing became the part of the project I couldn’t wait to work on.
It wasn’t just about making it look good — it was about understanding users, workflows, and friction points.
From there, I was able to learn UX from a non-traditional perspective through playing the parts of UX/UI designer, front-end dev, back-end, and project manager all at the same time!
I had to Catch Up — Fast
Realizing I was behind my peers in formal design training, I kicked things into high gear. At one point, I was juggling three remote internships at once, all while finishing my degree.
Each one had its own:
Product objectives
Sprint cycles
UX research and testing expectations
I was switching contexts daily, hopping from design stand-ups to user flows to Figma files.
I gave everything I had to every single one of those projects.
And I still do.
I wasn’t just showing up to meet requirements — I was chasing impact, chasing improvement, and learning to advocate for users across everything I touched.
What About Now? I’m Still Going.
I’m still giving 100%.
Still seeking out projects that challenge me.
Still pouring my energy into creating thoughtful, useful, and beautiful digital experiences.
Right now, I’m looking for a team where I can:
Apply my hybrid CS + UXD background
Tackle real-world design problems
Grow alongside passionate, mission-driven people
I want to keep designing with empathy, building with intention, and bringing my full self — developer brain and designer heart — to the work I do.
— Emma
🌱 Why Even Choose CS?
"I declared a major after one intro course. It sounds ridiculous, but it changed everything."
The Accidental Commitment
Like many others, I was lured into computer science thanks to one amazing professor. He had us building mini New York Times-style games with Python — fun little puzzles that made me want to do the homework.
It was sophomore year. I was still undeclared, and the deadline to choose a major was creeping up with no clear direction in sight.
So I did what any sane person would do:
Declared CS after a single course.
And to be fair, I didn’t hate it. I can’t count how many hours I spent stuck on writing miniscule text on my cheatsheets before exams or debugging my code, only to realize the entire problem was a missing semicolon or a period that should’ve been a comma. But somewhere in between banging my head against the wall and frantically Googling Stack Overflow posts from 2009, there were a few moments where I was genuinely enjoying myself.
Debugging/brainrot era
A 2-Credit Course That Changed Everything
It wasn’t until I took a tiny, once-a-week 2-credit UX course that I realized:
I was looking forward to my assignments.
I didn’t dread the readings or presentations — I wanted to do more.
That course opened a door I didn’t even know existed. It introduced me to human-centered design, where the goal wasn’t just building — it was understanding the why behind what we build.
From there, I was all in.
Becoming the Designer in Every Group Project
I enrolled in the only UX practicum offered on campus and loaded up my course list with front-end development, web design, and interaction courses that could count toward my CS degree.
Every time we had a team project, I gravitated toward the design side:
Building reusable component libraries
Adding delightful microanimations
Creating interfaces that made our professors do a double take
Designing became the part of the project I couldn’t wait to work on.
It wasn’t just about making it look good — it was about understanding users, workflows, and friction points.
From there, I was able to learn UX from a non-traditional perspective through playing the parts of UX/UI designer, front-end dev, back-end, and project manager all at the same time!
I had to Catch Up — Fast
Realizing I was behind my peers in formal design training, I kicked things into high gear. At one point, I was juggling three remote internships at once, all while finishing my degree.
Each one had its own:
Product objectives
Sprint cycles
UX research and testing expectations
I was switching contexts daily, hopping from design stand-ups to user flows to Figma files.
I gave everything I had to every single one of those projects.
And I still do.
I wasn’t just showing up to meet requirements — I was chasing impact, chasing improvement, and learning to advocate for users across everything I touched.
What About Now? I’m Still Going.
I’m still giving 100%.
Still seeking out projects that challenge me.
Still pouring my energy into creating thoughtful, useful, and beautiful digital experiences.
Right now, I’m looking for a team where I can:
Apply my hybrid CS + UXD background
Tackle real-world design problems
Grow alongside passionate, mission-driven people
I want to keep designing with empathy, building with intention, and bringing my full self — developer brain and designer heart — to the work I do.
— Emma
