Kristy Glassick graduated from General Assembly’s part-time UX Design course in April 2016 and then started her own business, GlassickUX. We spoke with Kristy about her experiences — below, you can read what she had to say about General Assembly, Climb Credit, and founding her company!
What made you originally start thinking about attending your program?
I’d been [at a non-profit for] four years, and I was starting to feel a little bit stagnant. It’s a little hard to move up … I think I had just been married 8 months … We had bought a house together, so we had a mortgage payment to consider. I wasn’t looking to quit my job and find something else, so I was kind of looking for a medium — something that I could learn more about, and if it was interesting to me, then try to transition my career in that direction.
I had a friend who took the Immersive User Experience course at General Assembly, and I took her out to dinner and we talked about it. We talked about the cost and the benefits, and she was the one who encouraged me, if I couldn’t do the immersive course which is significantly more expensive and you really have to quit your job, to try out the part-time course. So I ended up, in the spring of last year [2016], looking into it and signing up for the part-time course.
And what made you choose to get a loan from Climb?
So then, once you decided to move forward with Climb, how would you describe the process?
It’s been a year and a half, but if I remember correctly it was a really simple process. It was the basic information you’d expect to get from someone who was going to give you a loan, and then I was approved quickly, and they handled everything well with General Assembly. I wasn’t worried about them paying General Assembly … I set up automatic payments, it’s a decent interest rate, it’s a low payment every month, and it just makes it really simple.
Do you think, if you hadn’t received financing, you would have moved forward with your General Assembly course?
100%, not getting financing would have stopped me. I don’t think I would have been comfortable just paying that money upfront and then trying to figure out how to pay myself back later. It would have been too much of a stretch.
To go back to your time at General Assembly, what are some of the most valuable skills or lessons you learned from your program?
The other thing that I would say I learned that was really valuable was just general best practices and understanding some of the nuances of web and app design — so things like how responsive design works, and the relationship between people who are coding websites or apps and designers, and how to navigate those relationships.
And after the program was finished, what did your new job search look like, and how long did it take to find a new job?
I graduated from the program in April of last year, and I really enjoyed it — the instructors were great. General Assembly is such a welcoming community, and even after I graduated they were willing to give me a couple of tips and tricks on what to do next. What I ended up doing was actually a little unconventional. I decided that I did want to do user experience, that it was something I was passionate about, that it was something that I could see myself doing long-term and really enjoying.
So, what I ended up doing was starting some pro bono work for The Williamsburg Winery over here on the East Coast, and that turned into a longer-term contract, so I formed my own company. Now, I have this steady income from working in marketing, and then I spend the rest of my time working on my business, building and maintaining websites for small-to-medium companies.
Was owning your own business an idea you’d always had, or was it something that came about during or after the program?
It definitely takes a lot of confidence to start a company on your own. Is that confidence something you found through your General Assembly course, or did you already have the confidence and General Assembly gave you the skills you needed?
What kind of projects are you working on in your business?
I’ve done quite a number of projects and website launches since I started my business. It’s been a busy year — I’ve launched about five websites and done other related work, such as an application design, website analytics, SEO, and some content creation. I work with two clients regularly to maintain and improve their website and am looking to grow in my second year of business.
How does running a business compare to the job you had before you attended General Assembly?
Looking back at the application process, is there anything you would do differently?
If you want to learn more about Kristy’s business, GlassickUX, LLC, here’s where you can find her online!
- Website: http://glassickux.com
- Email: hello@glassickux.com
- Instagram: glassickux
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glassickux/
Kristy is a client of Climb’s. However, she was not paid or otherwise compensated for this testimonial. This testimonial reflects the real-life experiences and opinions of Kristy; however, it should not be assumed that all users will have the same experiences. Individual results may vary.
This testimonial appears verbatim as given by the user, except for the correction of grammar and typing errors. Some testimonials may have been shortened or rearranged for the sake of clarity.
Schools do not endorse loans originated by Climb Investco, LLC, and Climb Investco, LLC is not affiliated with any school. Climb Investco, LLC is the loan distributor, not General Assembly.
Climb encourages students to do thorough research in selecting a training program that meets their unique needs. Details provided by Climb are for information purposes only and are not meant to qualify an institution or be relied upon in determining which institution is right for you.