From Janitor to UX Director: Elena’s Leap into Tech”
Elena Rodriguez moved to Newark, New Jersey from the Dominican Republic when she was 17. She barely spoke English. Her first job? Cleaning offices at night — including the breakroom of a tech startup she’d never imagine working at one day. Every night after mopping the floors, Elena would sit in the corner of the office’s shared kitchen, stealing glances at books and sticky notes on whiteboards left behind by developers and designers. Words like “UX wireframes” and “user journey” meant nothing at first — but curiosity lit a spark. She started teaching herself design by watching YouTube videos and reading Medium articles. During the day, she slept. At night, she worked — and learned. She saved up for a used MacBook Air and enrolled in a $49/month online UX bootcamp. No formal degree. No mentor. Just drive. One night, the head of design from the startup walked in unexpectedly and caught her sketching wireframes on napkins. Instead of shaming her, he asked her questions. Impressed, he invited her to shadow his team one weekend. That single opportunity changed her life. By the end of that year, Elena landed a paid internship at a different company through a diversity-in-tech initiative. Fast-forward 6 years: she’s now Director of UX at a fintech firm in Boston, managing a team of 12. Her salary? $160,000 annually — and growing. She’s since launched a mentorship nonprofit called SketchHerOut, helping immigrant women break into design careers without traditional degrees. “I used to wipe the whiteboards. Now I draw on them,” she told Fast Company in a 2023 interview. Her story’s gone viral on LinkedIn multiple times, inspiring thousands of underdogs.
