Design Systems Saved My Career

I almost quit tech—multiple times.

Now, I know that's not a novel idea to many developers. Many of us dream of leaving tech, living off the grid, and spending our days farming or woodworking to pass the days.

I've spent most of my tech career feeling like an imposter, constantly hitting walls and forcing myself to learn backend architecture, algorithms, and leet code. I wanted to feel like a true software engineer.

I figured tech was just not for me. I tried the design path at one point but quickly realized I couldn't keep up with the other graphic designers either. I didn't see any way through other than to quit. I had different interests. I could give music a try.

The Struggle

Let's rewind a few years. My passion for the web started after taking a high school course on web design. The teacher was great, and the projects were engaging (Dreamweaver was my tool of choice). Sure, we were writing a lot of basic HTML and CSS, but creating something out of nothing felt so good. This was what I was called to do.

Walking on my college campus for the first time, I still felt like I knew after finishing my Computer Science degree that I'd be working at Microsoft or Google one day. But oh, did life hit me fast. I quickly began drowning in courses on discrete mathematics, algorithms, operating systems, and networking. All my courses used Python, C, C++, or Java. Was this what it meant to be a software developer?

At the end of my sophomore year, I was done. I read through the textbooks and wrote down pages of notes in class, but I couldn't keep up. I called my parents to tell them I wanted to change majors, maybe to something fitness or business-related. Thankfully, they encouraged me to stick it out. Perhaps they saw something in me I couldn't see myself.

I slogged my way through to the end of my senior year. Was I sitting at the graduation ceremony wondering if I had passed my final college courses? Sure. Luckily, I passed, but now I had to test my skills against the real world.

It took me four months of applying and interviews before I landed a developer role at a small software company. Although I initially applied for a mobile developer position, the hiring manager thought I'd fit better on the web team.

So there I was, responsible for building out entire frontend applications and tooling, with my only partner on the web team handling the backend side of things. I was excited to use HTML and CSS again. I started learning Bootstrap, which made designing layouts a breeze. But now I had to learn JavaScript frameworks. First Ember.js, then React. I didn't know much about frontend architecture, data fetching, routing, or controllers. I was right back to feeling overwhelmed and inadequate. I found myself more motivated to refine layouts until they were perfect than to fix caching bugs.

I ended up leaving that role to work with content management systems. However, I still gravitated toward the visual side of things: constructing views, building new theme templates, and designing interactive experiences. I just kept feeling like I'd never be able to sustain a career if I didn't get more serious about full-stack development.

Discovering Design Systems

I kept bouncing around different positions in the organization until I landed on a custom development team. They hired me to work on WordPress sites, which is more of the same stuff I'd been doing. I just went through the motions for a few months, wondering if I'd be stuck building WordPress and Drupal sites forever. Was this really it?

Then something unexpected happened. The lead application developer tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I wanted to help build some reusable React components for our single-page applications. Why not? At least it was something different.

From the first component, something clicked that had been missing my entire career. I wasn't just writing code anymore but creating a visual language. These weren't just random buttons and forms; they were pieces of a larger system that brought consistency to our interfaces. For once, I didn't feel like an imposter. I was building something that made sense to me.

The best part? I could focus entirely on this without pretending to enjoy the parts of the frontend that always made me feel inadequate: those complex APIs, data fetching patterns, and routing architectures that never clicked with my brain.

I had no idea what a "design system" was back then. I just knew I'd found my North Star. Finally, this was the career I'd always wanted but didn't know existed.

Why Design Systems Work for People Like Me

So why did this connection happen to me? Design systems hit this sweet spot between visual thinking and logical structure. They need someone who cares about how things look and fit together. There aren't many roles that live at that intersection.

What really pulled me in was the pattern-oriented thinking. As a junior developer, I always wondered: "How do I build this specific feature?" But design systems forced me to step back and ask bigger questions: "Why do all our buttons look different? How can we create a shared language across all these apps?" I went from hacking things together to actually thinking strategically.

The skills that make someone good at design systems are rarely the ones celebrated in typical dev circles. Raw coding skills aren't nearly as essential as empathy and communication. You need to understand what designers are trying to accomplish, what developers are struggling with, and what users need, all while creating something flexible enough to handle edge cases but structured enough to maintain consistency.

Design systems gave me the balance I needed. They're technical enough to keep my brain engaged, creative enough to feel fulfilling, and impactful enough to actually matter. I could finally stop pretending I wanted to be a "real software engineer" and just be me.

What Happened Next

Three years later, I'm now leading an actual design system team; our basic component library has now expanded to a full-fledged design system filled with Figma files and Storybook components. Every day, we progress towards accessible, reusable UI at scale. I enjoy waking up for work where one day, I may spend a few hours in Figma working on different variants of a button, and on others, I'm focusing on ARIA labels and keyboard interactions for a data table. It's made me feel more confident and engaged and has set the trajectory for my career.

Design systems didn't just save my career. They showed me I wasn't a bad developer or designer; I hadn't found the right fit yet. If you've ever felt like an imposter in tech, you're not alone.

Finding Your Own Path

Looking back, I wish someone had told me earlier that it's okay not to love every aspect of software development. I spent years feeling inadequate because I couldn't recite sorting algorithms or get excited about backend architecture. Truth is, tech is massive; there's room for people with all kinds of brains.

You may also be stuck in that awkward space between design and development. Maybe you also feel like you're not technical enough to be a "real developer" but not artistic enough to be a "real designer." I'm here to tell you a whole world of roles needs that hybrid mindset.

Design systems are just one example. UX engineering, frontend accessibility, design technologist roles, and more are emerging every day. The tech industry needs people who can bridge gaps and translate between disciplines.

I still have moments of doubt. I sometimes wonder if I should know more about data structures or state management. But then I saw how our design system helps teams build better products faster, and I remembered that I was exactly where I needed to be.

Let's Connect

I'd love to continue the conversation if any of this resonates with you. I'm documenting my journey building design systems and finding my place in tech on Twitter @_scottmay.

Whether you're just starting out or you've been struggling to find your fit in tech for years, know that you don't have to force yourself into a box that doesn't feel right. Sometimes, the perfect role isn't the one you've been told to want; it's the one that lets you be exactly who you are.

Keep building, keep questioning, and most importantly, keep going. Your place in tech exists, even if you haven't found it yet.