As I sit down to write this, I’m filled with a sense of gratitude and pride. It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since I started working at Rakuten as a UX/UI Designer.

When I first walked through the glass door in Futako-tamagawa (Rakuten HQ), I felt a frisson of excitement — I didn’t know what to expect from my new job or my colleagues. But looking back on the past year, I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned, how much I’ve grown, and how much I’ve come to appreciate my job and the people who work here.

Join me as I reflect on my first year of work, express my gratitude to those who have supported me, and share some tips for others starting out on their own career journeys.

Currently, I’m a UX/UI Designer at Rakuten Travel, designing end-to-end user experience for Japan’s leading hotel-booking platform. I work in a Scrum team to deliver design improvements iteratively and incrementally. This means that we work in short sprints, typically three weeks, to deliver a small piece of functionality or improvement. We prioritize features based on user feedback and business goals, with the aim of delivering value to our users as quickly as possible.

As a designer, I have to work closely with developers, product owners, and business teams to ensure that we are all aligned on the goals for each sprint. We have daily stand-up meetings where we discuss progress, roadblocks, and dependencies, which helps to keep everyone on the same page. After each sprint, we conduct a retrospective to evaluate what went well and what we need to improve on. This feedback loop allows us to continually improve our processes and deliver better results.

Yes. Rakuten is known for their Engineer, Product Management, and Quality testing new grad hire, but Design … was unheard of. I will share how I landed the role in another article.

Being the first person to do something can be scary, but it also puts you in an exciting position where you can pioneer and set benchmarks for others. As the first UX/UI Designer New Grad at Rakuten Travel, I felt a lot of pressure to perform well, but I also saw it as an opportunity to make a positive impact and set the stage for future designers.

If I can wrap my first year in 3 key highlights, it would be these.

As a fresh designer, I was unconfident with my work (I still am…).

All members were senior designers. They all came from design backgrounds, or had been in the field for 8+ years. Everyone knew what they were doing. I was the noob of the team. I was always afraid my designs were “meh” and “not-that-special”. I remember constantly changing minor details, switching back and forth over which design decision works best. I was not sure if it was “creative”, or “logical” or “good” enough.

Major imposter syndrome.

So … How is this an achievement?

Because, having imposter syndrome means you have a strong desire to improve and do better. It demonstrates a willingness to learn and grow, and to acknowledge that there is always more to learn. Furthermore, feeling unconfident helped me stay humble and hungry, always striving to improve my skills and knowledge.

It’s still a work in progress, but I am slowly opening up to individual designers, asking them to share their design process, as well as giving me feedback for mine.

Here’s one thing I never fail to do as a UX/UI Designer every month:

April: Learn
May: Learn
June: Learn
July: Learn
August: Learn
September: Learn
October: Learn
November: Learn
December: Learn
January: Learn
February: Learn
March: Learn

When you’re curious — You are engaged, You ask questions. You take actions. You learn.

I’m happy to say that I have been consistently learning in the past 12 months:

It’s so important to speak up, and speak up early as it encourages creativity and innovation, promotes critical thinking and fosters a culture of learning (check point no.2 again). New designers look at things with a fresh perspective. By questioning existing processes and methods, I saw myself gradually bring more meaningful discussions in our “Weekly Design shares”. Here, everyone came together to evaluate what was working and what was not, bounced some ideas off of each other, and continued to reiterate.

Some ideas I came up with, and is now currently leading / supporting:

To be honest, none of those ideas were original, some were even basic industry practices.

However, innovation is not always about coming up with completely new ideas. It’s often about being the first to apply an existing idea or process to a specific situation or context. By identifying these industry practices and bringing them to your workplace, I demonstrated initiative, leadership, and a strong understanding of what works.

I always feel excited to come to work, and will forever be grateful to be in a Design team that provides positive feedback, supportive team culture, and opportunities for everyone to grow. This was the secret sauce that boosted my confidence as a new designer, and created a dynamic and productive team environment.

Even though I had designed for 20+ JIRA tickets and been on multiple sprints, when reflecting on at my first year, I only picture fun, happy memories with my team members.

During New Grads training, I would hang out with my doki (people who join the company at the same time) every week. We would go bowling, karaoke, and even to Kamakura during summer for Hydrangea season. At the end of the year, we also watched World Cup together.

In my Product team, we always have Friday FIKAs — where PDM, POs, Designers, and Managers can take an hour off from work to NOT WORK. FIKA time means eat-trip to Baskin Robbins, a walk to the nearby park, or a stroll around Tsutaya bookstore.

I’m especially thankful for my Design team, where I am not entitled to the “Junior” in my job title — everyone see me as who I am. They don’t criticize me as a Designer; Instead, they challenge my thinking process, and provide continuous feedback. Even to my manager, I could frankly share my work and ideas with him, I also have visibility with my Senior manager, and cross-team managers. Everyone is kind, and simply wants me to do my best being myself.

I experienced a lot of rainy days in my first year.

Each of them was very tough, and different in their own way.

They were all unique challenges, which portrayed a very realistic working environment. And each challenge has a different way to approach and solve. As I continue to go head-to-head with more challenges, and figuring out how to , will definitely grow me into a stronger, more rounded designer.

In December, I was honored to receive the MVP Award for running Design Thinking workshop for 25 New Grad Product managers, Engineers, and QAs. It was an incredibly proud moment for me to receive an honorable award in my 6th month of working. I received a medal and a limited-edition Okaimono Panda 🐼.

Now that I took off my “新卒 / New grad” badge, the pressure is definitely on. It’s terrifying, but at the same time, exciting.

Some work goals I want to achieve this year:

Here was what I have pinned in my work Notion, where I check every morning at work.

This was my ⭐️ North star️️️ ⭐️, keeping me grounded every day at work, and boosting me to become a better version of myself tomorrow.

Remember, starting a new job can be challenging, but it’s also an opportunity to learn, grow, and develop new skills. With the right mindset, attitude, and approach, you can set yourself up for success and make a positive impact in your new role.