Should you stop being an expert?
Why copywriters should feel like permanent beginners
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.- Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
I like the concept of having a beginner’s mind. I like the idea that you can always be a beginner — and learn new things — even though you’ve been doing the same job for, let’s say, 20 years.
Copywriting is one of those jobs where you have to be permanently active. To be curious. To learn as much as you can from books, from life, from people. I thought that the concept of having a beginner’s mind fits nicely with this job.
Learn as much as you can. Don’t just stick to the copywriting part.
Learn some HTML, CSS and Javascript. Learn what the art directors do, learn to use their tools and try to create at least a project completely on your own. It will feel very satisfying, even though it doesn’t look or work as nice as it would if it was done with the help of someone who does this on a daily basis. Don’t be one of those persons who think that their job will be the same in 5 years from now, cause it won’t. Things evolve at a fast pace. If you don’t adapt, if you don’t “go with the flow”, you will lose your job. I’ve learned this the hard way a few years ago.
One of my first jobs was in project management; the next one was in PR; afterwards I worked as a digital copywriter. During this whole time, I didn’t just stick to writing copy or creating concepts. I wanted to understand how something works — the code — and why it looks the way it does — the design.
Delving deeper, I got interested in UX, and to be more specific, in usability and user interaction. I wanted to see how and why users interact with an app, a website or a page.I started creating wireframes for apps and websites, doing interactive presentations, and in the last month I’ve been coding a responsive website from scratch.
Putting together all these things, I’ve learned what can be done in a specific timeframe and what can’t be done — we, copywriters, tend to come up with things that are technically impossible to be created in a time frame of two-three days. I’ve learned the limitations, the problems that someone might encounter, how it feels like you’re trying to solve a puzzle. You get a little bit scared when you see how much work has to be done before something can be considered finished. In the process you will get frustrated, but you’ll also feel enthusiastic and want to do more.
In the end, I’ve learned that I have to learn a lot more. If I were to give an advice to my future self, that would be: Don’t try to be an expert, cause everyone’s one.There’s a shortage of beginners and learners.
Here are a few resources if you want to learn more about coding, usability and design:
Codecademy: www.codecademy.com
52 weeks of UX: www.52weeksofux.com
30 days to learn HTML/CSS: http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/courses/30-days-to-learn-html-css
You can find a lot of free courses here: http://tutsplus.com/courses?filter=free&page=1
Bootstrap Framework: http://getbootstrap.com/
Tympanus Codrops: http://tympanus.net/codrops/
