SARIKA SINKAR
A little bit about myself.
My name is Sarika Sinkar and my passion lies in leveraging design to solve problems and improve the lives of others. I'm constantly nurturing my curious mind by continuous learning and connecting with people who are driven and open to sharing their innovative ideas.
As a self taught designer, I have learnt UX/UI and product design methodologies through attending workshops, reading books and blogs, podcasts and hands on application at work. I am very much a big-picture thinker and enjoy working on products end to end, from research, ideation, all the way to development.
Ascend
An online learning platform that bridges the gap between classroom education and industry experience.
RESPONSIBILITIES
User Research
Product Stategy
User Testing
User Flow, UI
TOOLS
Figma
PROJECT TYPE
Solo project to flex my design skills
DESIGN PROCESS
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Design
Test
Background
With the rise of bootcamps and open courses, people have the autonomy to “reskill” and create their own career path. As I embarked on similar journey, I discovered the following pain points:
Quality complaints. Many bootcamps and online courses face challenges in keeping up with current industry trends, as their courses are outdated. Graduates often struggle to attain proficiency due to time constraints.  The fast-paced nature limits both the depth of engagement and the practical application of learned concepts. It’s relatively easy to learn concept theories but to deploy them effectively takes years of experience.
Job Uncertainty. The job market is inundated with courses claiming quick employability, resulting in an influx of low-skilled workers. These programs often fail to develop fundamental skills and neglect to nurture innovative ideas, making it challenging for graduates to distinguish themselves. The homogeneity of skills and portfolios leaves hiring managers unimpressed and creates uncertainty in job prospects.
Don't unlock highest potential. Today, people want to enjoy work and feel fulfilled. Bootcamps teach basic skills but lack the experience in different aspects of design or coding to be leaders in their fields. They don’t unlock your highest potential to develop as a leader.
Challenges with workforce development. I made this general assumption that hiring managers face challenges recruiting talent with in-demand skills, necessitating training for new employees to meet company standards. This training incurs significant costs, including both the expense of the training itself and the productivity loss during the training period, as time spent training is time not spent working.
Research and Empathize
USER INTERVIEWS  
I began my research by conducting interviews with students and professionals aiming to upskill or reskill in the tech industry. The objective was to validate existing challenges and identify specific obstacles hindering their employment prospects.
Additionally, insights into hiring manager's challenges were sought through an interview with an industry leader to gain an understanding of the situation from both learner and employer perspective.

Findings and Insights from Students

Findings
Insights
1.  
Courses are instructed by inexperienced   teachers, many of whom are either out of touch with the industry or have less than two years of experience.
Findings
Insights
Students prefer learning skills from industry experts who are currently active in the field.
2.  
Courses focus on bookish knowledge lacking skill application. The focus is on academic skills, some rarely used.
Findings
Insights
Students have a preference for practicing the application of the skills they have learned.
3.  
Courses are pre set and not up to date with current industry trends and demands.
Findings
Insights
In fast paced tech industry, students aim to upgrade with skills in demand by top companies and industry
4.  
Students are overlooked and underserved with lack of guidance to navigate their careers.
FINDINGS
INSIGHTS
Students seek mentoring for launching and advancing their careers, placing value on guidance and support.

Findings and Insights from Hiring Managers

1.  
It takes a lot of time and resources to train employees
FINDINGS
INSIGHTS
Managers prefer employees to go beyond training and onboard quickly. They value employees with practical skills who can contribute from the first day.
2.  
Most students are well informed novice vs experts. Expertise is build with experience and occurs over several stage.
FINDINGS
INSIGHTS
Managers prefer expert employees who are well-prepared for reality and capable of problem-solving.
3.  
Potential employees lack uniqueness, individuality and are hard to stand out.
FINDINGS
INSIGHTS
Managers prefer employees who embrace their individuality, push boundaries and express unique perspectives and innovative ideas.
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There are four steps people currently take towards career planning:
1. Explore different careers and courses and select one to their liking
2. Learn academic skills via school, bootcamps, open courses or self study
3. Prepare for job interview
4. Apply to jobs in the industry
With ASCEND, users can develop practical skills and get industry experience to bridge the skill set gap in Steps 2 and 3. A responsive website that offers this would be a great tool.

PERSONAS
"Who will use Ascend to accelerate their career? What do we know about them?"
After conducting research, I identified three distant user types that Ascend aimed to address and solve problems for. The primary objective is to highlight recurring patterns and pain points, thereby enhancing empathy with users.
Emma
Unemployed grad looking to bridge her theoretical knowledge and experience gap

Emma, 22 years old, a recent college graduate, is looking to bridge her theoretical skill and experience gap.
Education level
Undergradute
Motivations
Opportunities for growth, affordability
Goals
  • Find fulfillment by joining a growing tech startup and become a leader.
  • Seek out a mentor to receive personalized guidance and support.
Frustrations
  • College courses did not include up-to-date technology and current industry trends.
  • Graduated from college with theoretical knowledge but lacks practical technical skills.
       “I want to be part of tech team and be a leader, not just work for the company. I want to unlock fulfillment in work by aligning my passion with my profession.”
William
Financial professional looking to re-skill and pivot to tech industry
William, 32 years old, is passionate about technology and looking to reskill. He currently works in finance, and wants to pivot to tech industry.
Education level
Undergradute
Motivations
Opportunities for growth, Impact
Goals
  • Unsatisfied in his current job, he aims to take the next steps to establish a career he loves.
  • Having self-taught HTML and CSS, he now seeks to learn coding, stay updated on current trends, and acquire practical skills to transition from a novice to a proficient programmer.
Frustrations
  • Overcoming a steep learning curve and the pressure to quickly become proficient.
  • Uncertainties in job market and potential setback.
      “I want to integrate my finance knowledge into tech and eventually land a lucrative job in fin tech company or start my fintech startup.’’
Kelly
Hiring Manager looking to teach, mentor and hire great talent  
William, 32 years old, is passionate about technology and looking to reskill. He currently works in finance, and wants to pivot to tech industry.
Education level
Post Graduate
Motivations
Creativity, innovation, contributing towards success and growth of the company
Goals
  • Accelerate employee skill development through knowledge transfer.
  • Find great talent to enhance team performance, contributing to the company's success from first day.
Frustrations
  • Spend resources to train employees.
  • Lack of individuality and innovative ideas.
       “It will be a real benefit if students understand some of the nuances of how that company does things.  So, having students who already know how some of these things fit into the greater organization is a real benefit for them as well as their employer.”
Define
HMW QUESTION        
With goals and needs defined through research, I reframed them as How might we? question. With this question, I was able to brainstorm solutions.
How can we create a learning experience that enables students to construct
knowledge through exploration, interaction and reflection, ensuring they
gain rich experiences aligned with industry standards?
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PRODUCT VISION
As a product, our core differentiators will be the following three areas:
Re-invent learning. Users learn specialized skill based learning and work on inspirational real products. With the help of latest ed-tech tools, there will be space to communicate, collaborate and inspire users. Additionally, small class size guarantee interactive and personalized attention from instructors.
Experience validation. Use simulator as a teaching strategy mimicking real problems. Users learn and test what works and what doesn't which provides them with confidence to tackle real problems, boost motivation and novices can become experts.  Additionally, students have the chance to learn and collaborate with industry leaders, benefiting from their experience. This exposure allows students to learn from experts who have made similar decisions, avoiding mistakes and accelerating their career growth.
Career Development. Students can showcase their previous, current and future potential skills and projects in a new age resume, which catches the eye of hiring managers. Additionally, mentoring enables knowledge transfer, allowing students to learn and grow from experienced mentors. It fosters development through personalized guidance and contributes to career advancement by providing insights, networking opportunities, and strategic guidance.
Ideate
With a clear vision, I outlined user flows to identify different paths Emma will take towards her ASCEND journey. User Flow helped me think about how to organize the app and its screens.
Ideating User Flow
Next, I brainstormed key features to capture the MVP. The product vision and user flow brought ideation into focus and defined features for Ascend, keeping user needs at the forefront.
Brainstorming features using Fig Jam
Time to get some screens sketched! I made sketches for each iteration, incorporating elements and screens to achieve user goals, to quickly see which ideas worked best. I continued to refine my ideas.
Snippet of sketching session

I transferred my initial ideas into mid-fidelity wireframes in Figma. I created about 10 screens with the user flows in mind. I needed to create the priority features necessary for user testing and to reflect the user needs and goals I’d defined.
User Testing
''The difference between zero and little data is astounding.''
I conducted user testing before finalizing my designs with high fidelity mockup. After gathering various insights, following changes were made.
1.
Initially, course reviews were omitted as all courses were to be taught by credible industry leader
User feedback indicated a preference for adding reviews, considering them helpful in building trust.
2.
According to feedback, users want real career support, not just automated responses or chatbots.
I added "Contact Career Guide" link, allowing direct access to a career counselor for personalized guidance.
3.
Users suggested to add a functionality to unblock learning curve incase they are failing or struggling.
Following brainstorming and user validation, two solutions were added.
First, is an early alert system enabling instructors to directly assist struggling students.
Second, involves suggesting targeted study materials based on missed questions to help students in subsequent attempts.
4.
There was no option to save notes and import documents.
I implemented a note-saving functionality for users' convenience and added a feature to import documents or assignments directly into the Ascend platform.
Final Design
I created a clean UI that conveyed trustworthiness and progression for future-oriented individuals. The brand attributes are refreshing, minimalistic, clean, modern, simple but strong.
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Home Page
Find courses
Browse Instructors
Course Details
Select simulator assessment topic
Simulator Assessment Quiz
Simulator assessment score
Student Dashboard
Instructor Dashboard
Interactive resume
Reflection
More projects
Let’s connect
Get in touch for opportunities or just say hi!