Devlin Peck
Vanessa spent 15 years working in independent schools as a technology integrator and digital arts teacher but she wanted new challenges.
She was looking for a career where she could work with adults and explore subjects in more meaningful ways and instructional design was exactly what she was looking for. The problem was: as exciting as the transition may be, it also brought uncertainty as she navigated leaving her established role in education.
After joining us in the bootcamp, Vanessa focused on mastering new tools and techniques, particularly Articulate Storyline, which aligned with her love for technology and visual skills. The bootcamp community and the collaborative feedback process helped her refine her portfolio and strengthen her design capabilities.
Within 12 months, Vanessa secured a position on the Learning and Organization Development team at UCSF. In this role, she develops training programs focused on workforce development and supporting individuals from underserved communities in building professional skills.
Her portfolio was a key factor in her success, standing out during the interview process and demonstrating her ability to deliver polished, professional learning experiences.
Vanessa's portfolio is a reflection of her strong visual design skills and commitment to accessibility. The use of a bright, cohesive color palette, coupled with a clean and intuitive user interface, ensured her work was both visually appealing and easy to navigate.
Her focus on usability and accessibility made her projects stand out, especially in terms of thoughtful color choices and attention to design consistency.
One of her key projects centered on using inclusive language to create successful sales, a topic that aligns with her background in DEI training. For this project, she applied her visual design skills by creating custom characters and adapting backgrounds to fit the needs of the course.
In a supporting project, she prioritized accessibility by replacing drag-and-drop interactions with dropdown menus, making the learning experience more inclusive and user-friendly.
Hear from Vanessa as she traces her instructional design journey from beginning to now:
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I was so impressed with the bootcamp package. I initially thought that I was going to teach myself all of this stuff on my own, but was very grateful that I ended up doing the bootcamp because it provided that scaffolding that I needed. When I started collaborating with my bootcamp pro to have that back and forth - the option to have somebody to run your ideas by - there's so much value in that.
You can't put a price tag on having that kind of relationship as you're really trying to build something that's going to hopefully get you a job.
When I first found out I got my job, it was just really exciting because when you take a bet on yourself of that level, especially somebody who works at independent schools when you have no real job lined up after a certain point, it was really scary to do that.
And there was a couple of moments where I almost was close to just saying, "I'll stay another year." But it was nice to be able to get the job that I think was the right fit for myself and gave me everything I really wanted, which was to work remotely.
It was a big day. And I wouldn't have done it without all the interview prep from the bootcamp. It was such a help to have those templates to fill out because this was the first job I interviewed for. So to be able to be prepared for the first one in a new field, kind of with a new type of language was something that I was really anxious about.
And I felt that those tools really helped prepare me to the fullest. It's been really fun just nerding out with people talking about Storyline. I really love having those conversations, and also just not being tied to that school calendar and taking vacations when I want. I'm not so fixed to this life of teaching and now have a life of flexibility while doing something that I'm actually really passionate about. It's just been such a game changer.
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