2024
client
The Dev Difference is a job preparation and assessment platform helping create a holistic and equitable hiring process for employers and candidates.
project brief
As the founding designer for The Dev Difference, I designed a gamified, AI-powered mock interview platform that balances engagement with skill-building.
roles & skills
Founding Designer
Product Strategy
User Research
tool stack
Figma, Figjam
Maze
deliverables
Hi-fidelity prototype
Design System
Quality Assurance
collaborators
C-Suite
Solution
Background
Interview Anxiety & Lack of Confidence
Breaking into tech is tough, especially for underrepresented candidates facing structural barriers. The numbers speak for themselves, as candidates often experience:
🔹Interviews with 7 companies on average
🔹4-7 rounds interviewing, per company
🔹Navigating the job search for an average of 6 months before receiving an offer
Therefore, candidates could experience upwards of 50 interviews for different companies over their job search process. For many, the process is exhausting. A performance poorly in an interview can impact earnings for years, disproportionately affecting candidates who identify as Women, Black, Latinx, Native, Pacific Islander, and LGBTQ+.
Findings
Preparing for High-Stakes Interviews Without a Clear Path
By conducting semi-structured user interviews with participants in undergraduate and masters programs, as well as jobseekers hoping to pivot into tech, I uncovered key obstacles they faced, such as:
🔹Ongoing stress & self-doubt from lacking a structured approach and curriculum to follow, especially for roles assessing both technical and behavioral skills
🔹Inability to take advantage of the tool's full capabilities because of undiscoverable core features, such as creating custom questions and progress tracking
Motivated Users, Unusable UX
Additionally, I conducted usability tests with participants. These helped me observe user interactions and motivations, and identify screaming usability issues:
🔹79% of users expressed interest in reusing this tool for future interview preparation
🔹However 63% of users felt dissatisfied with the tool's usability, pointing to low re-engagement rates
My Approach
Sustainable Prep for the Long Haul
As the founding designer and researcher, I designed the MVP from zero-to-one, implementing a new intake form that caters to users diverse interests and career goals, a gamified dashboard to increase user-re engagement, an interview practice tool with a split screen paneling, and session completion pages.
Onboarding to Spotlight Feature Discoverability
Personalized Practice
Practice Tool & Session Overview
What was the impact?
Driving Growth & Revenue
The startup brought me in to revamp their UX/UI as they continued hosting sales calls and presenting at pitch competitions. Post-launch, the tool saw strong user traction and revenue growth, and my designs played a pivotal role in helping the startup land its first enterprise client.
Another key metric directly reflected a pain point candidates raised during initial user interviews: many users wanted the ability to explore multiple careers and prepare for more than one role. In response, the platform introduced flexible, role-based dashboards that allowed users to switch between career paths. As a result, just two months after implementation, the platform saw a 47% diversification in the roles users were preparing for.
