Launched in 2021, Techsphere provides free on-demand mentorship for Vietnamese students and professionals working in the technology industry. The platform helps people who have trouble finding their dream job, seek career path navigation, promotion guidance and organization leadership.
There are 2 user groups: mentees who are Vietnam tech undergraduate and fresh graduate and mentors are seasoned professionals in the tech industry.
I joined the team as the solo Product Designer. I worked with Chief of Design, Product Manager and Software Engineers to create a minimum lovable product within 2 months.
Before Techsphere, Vietnamese tech students and professionals rarely access the right help timely when they struggle with professional careers.
It’s challenging to find a community or people that matches with my major to ask for career advice. So I normally just have to figure things out on my own, which took so much time.
- Quote from a student
Initially, I aimed to conduct research to understand the needs and pain points of our target users. However, there was an existing research conducted by the product team, I met with the product manager to align on research insights and findings. With their input, decided to make a call and work on the design based on the pain points mentioned. This approach allowed us to expedite the development process while still ensuring that our solution effectively addressed the challenges faced by users.
Along with the pain points, I conducted competitive analysis with current competitors in the market such as ADPList, Merit to evaluate their end-to-end experience. While these platforms may offer comprehensive user experiences, Techsphere focuses on prioritizing speed and personability throughout the user experience journey as opportunities to differentiate ourselves.
From the insights from the product team and competitive analysis, I focused on solving these pain points:
The MVP version included:
To achieve our strategy of shipping the product fast as requested by stakeholders, I work with product manager and design manager to map out full scope capabilities through creating an information architecture, then finalize minimal lovable feature releases with simple yet scalable workflows.
I went through many iterations and reviews with stakeholders, our internal teams, and actual users to arrive at a clearer and more optimized user flow. Upon going to the landing page, users will see clear and direct CTA summarizing Techsphere, followed by top 12 mentors who have the earliest availability. Since we want to make sure users spend the least time from finding mentors to booking the first call, we want users to quickly find and connect with mentors on the landing page without navigating through multiple pages.
The usability testing comprised one-on-one interviews with a diverse array of participants, including mentors and mentees as active users, along with experienced professionals, undergraduate students, and young professionals as potential users.
The testing methodology incorporated both remote moderated sessions and in-person observations with task scenarios.
I collaborated closely with our engineering team to translate design concepts into functional and scalable solutions. We work in a scrum team, breaking tasks into sprints. After each spring, we hand over to the client and users for review. Every week, I have stand ups with engineers and product managers to review progress, discuss blockers and prioritize tasks; then a separate check-in with with engineers to discuss ongoing design work, design iteration updates, and feedback on the implementation process
average calls per user
visits to signups
Mentor profile to Schedule a call
These metrics collectively signify a positive user response, validating the platform's value proposition and its ability to convert sign-ups into active and purposeful interactions. Moving forward, a focus on sustaining and improving these metrics will be pivotal in further enhancing the user experience and solidifying Techsphere's impact within the tech mentoring landscape.