Do you feel stuck in your current job and have limited time to spend on a career change? Are you thinking of delving into product design? According to author Xinran Ma, most people struggle to break into product design, not because of their lack of skills but their mindsets. Work backward, land a job faster, plan for the next project, chunk tasks, pause and reflect. A former mid-career architect, Xinran Ma became a senior product designer after listening to the advice and insights of thirty mentors from different platforms, leading to a change in the portfolio and case study presentation. With The Minimalist Career Changer, the author will help you initiate a real-world project to work on and provides you with step-by-step guidelines for building a case study, showing how case studies are presented in interviews.

The Minimalist Career Changer: How to Build Case Studies, Nail Interviews, and Land Your First Product Design Job in Minimum Time will give you the tools to build a good portfolio and resume that impresses interviewers and lands you your ideal job. Stop wasting time being stuck in a job doing something you don't want and go after your dream job. Xinran Ma uses personal experience and knowledge acquired from these leadership mentors to offer valuable insights on career change and product design to help you make a smooth transition and thrive as a product designer. What does the interview process entail? What does your personal brand signify? Get the answers to these questions and more with The Minimalist Career Changer, a handy little guidebook for any career-driven professional. All in all, I found this to be a thoroughly informative and motivational read.

The Minimalist Career Changer opens with Xinran Ma’s devastating rejection after he’d progressed through several rounds of interviews with the company that he most desired. Determined to change fields, he gathered information from several professionals in product design. Ma used that knowledge to write a book to inform others about switching careers, even when they don’t have a lot of time to devote to it. The author imparts ideas for networking and building professional contacts, shares successes and failures, and communicates ideas on how to find real-life projects and establish a personal brand. The author asks questions to help readers find answers applicable to their situation and provides opportunities to enrich their knowledge after each chapter.

Xinran Ma presents a guide to landing a product design position straightforwardly and efficiently. Due to increased growth and competitiveness, Ma encourages readers to move into the product design field quickly. The author guides his readers through the importance of visuals expertly, developing a good presentation base, and the importance of making an impact. He includes the best way to present yourself on LinkedIn and how to get relevant feedback. While discussing what you can expect and supplying a detailed look at each step in the process, Ma challenges potential candidates to review every possible angle. The author provides a useful roadmap to link the information and assess the most important points. He outlines how to present a winning case study and apply for the right position. The Minimalist Career Changer is a highly informative book for working adults who want to find a way into product design in the fastest, most efficient way.