88. A UX Designer’s Guide to Diving Into a New Industry with Casey Bombacie

There’s no guarantee you’ll land a job at your “dream job.” Casey Bombacie hadn’t stepped into a casino before getting a job for a B2B gaming company. Casey offers insights for UX designers switching domains.
How does a UX designer seamlessly transition and excel in an unfamiliar industry?
Casey Bombacie, a UX designer with over 15 years of experience, joins the show to discuss his unconventional career path and insights into thriving in new industries. Starting with a degree in geography, Casey found his way into UX design through a series of opportunities and a passion for understanding user behavior.
Casey’s journey took an interesting turn when he landed a job in the casino gaming industry, despite having little prior knowledge of the field. He shares how he approached learning about this new domain, from devouring industry publications to conducting in-depth interviews with floor operators. His experience highlights the importance of being adaptable and approaching new challenges with curiosity and humility.
One of the key themes in Casey’s story is the concept of going from “zero to one” - entering a new field or tackling a new problem with little prior knowledge. He emphasizes the value of transferable skills and how principles of UX design can be applied across various industries.
If you’re facing a career switch to a completely new industry or if you’ve been on the fence about switching, this episode is for you.
Topics:
• 04:16 - Casey’s origin story
• 09:07 - Getting from zero to one
• 13:25 - How Casey got into gaming/casinos
• 18:39 - Mastering new rules and new players
• 22:23 - Lots of things we do can be ported to another industry
• 32:33 - Learning a new industry
• 38:05 - Junior designers supplementing their lack of experience
• 41:53 - Interesting UX things related to Gaming and Casinos
• 46:15 - Ethical implications of UX of gaming
• 50:53 - Deceptive patterns in gaming
• 55:06 - Lessons from Casey