Questions I get asked as a designer with 3 years experience
I am officially a product designer with 3 years experience. That’s basically the equivalent to the time I spent in high school. And soon that will be equivalent to a university degree. As I gather more experience under my belt, I can see why years of experience is an important aspect to consider when hiring. The knowledge and skills I have accumulated within these years have been tremendous. I went from being a very bad amateur designer to someone who can make things look pretty good. There is still lots to learn and improve, but I can confidently say that I am a pretty good product designer. As a designer putting herself out there, I want to help others gain a perspective on what it’s like being a designer and the reality of it (or specifically, my reality).
Do you feel like you are living the dream?
After I had graduated and didn’t know how to utilize my business degree, I turned to design. I was originally very passionate about designing websites and apps for a long time but didn’t know it as a career. Now that I’m able to breathe and think about design every single day for 40 hours per week, I can say that my passion has depleted. It is no longer a dream of mine to look at a computer screen for long periods of time. I feel inspired and passionate about design, but it definitely does not feel like you are living the dream. My definition of living the dream would be that I would wake up and be super excited to start the work day, which I am not. Others might feel like they are living the dream, but I feel like a large majority of designers just enjoy what they do, simple as that.
How do you stay inspired?
I don’t have many outlets for inspiration but I do browse X/Twitter daily to stay relatively up to date on all things design. It is the best way for me to see how other designers are spending their time, what fun things they are creating, and what’s new or trending. There is always something fun I stumble upon and it gives me a spark of passion (whether it is design related or not). It also expands my toolkit for things to use when I am designing. Example, Fons Mans posted about a website called Lummi Photos that has a filter for you to only view photos with a dark, neutral, or light luminance which is pretty great if you need photos that look and feel the same.
How do you avoid burnout?
In today’s society, I feel like everyone in the tech industry is burned out. There are many resources online that tell you how to avoid burn out but it’s tough out there. You constantly are in competition with other people to do better and to chase the next best thing. Even though I feel like I’ve managed my feeling of burnout to a moderate level now, I am still burned out from the many years of hustle. In order to feel less burned out, having a balance between work and life is super important. You want to do things that simply turn your brain off. Try to check in with yourself and how you are doing mentally. Always keep the balance because if you don’t, you will get burned in the end. If you are hustling right now, keep on going but don’t neglect yourself! Everybody’s way to recover from burn out is different and it was honestly the shift in perspective for me that helped: Work is not my life.
What is the most memorable project you worked on?
The most memorable project I’ve worked on has to be one from my internship at an agency. With a small knitted team, challenges, and my mentor guiding me, there was a project that I was given the opportunity to lead more. I finally knew the ropes of the entire UX process and was trusted to take it all the way to the end. I felt scared to lead one of my own projects, but it also challenged me to get out of my comfort zone. So you can say that my most memorable projects is not ones that I was the most passionate about, but the one that challenged me to grow.
How do you continue learning and honing your skills?
When it’s your job to be designing, researching, and strategizing, it becomes just something you do every day. You will encounter situations where you are not knowledgeable in a certain area, so you ask other members on your team, or scour the internet for answers. Aside from learning on the job, there are courses or books that I try to learn from. A good collection of design courses can be found on https://maven.com/courses/design or https://www.dive.club/. If I had all the money in the world, I’d invest into every single one of those courses. But I’ve only taken Shift Nudge for visual design so far. You can read all about my experience here. I’d also recommend this eBook called Refactoring UI, it was one of the very first resources I relied on to improve my visual designs and they have become my foundation. Thanks to my manager at the time for introducing it to me.
What would you say to yourself 3 years ago?
Do not rush and take the time to build on your foundational skills. Absorb all the knowledge that you can while you are passionate. When you aren’t burned out, it’s definitely easier and more motivating to want to learn everything. Another thing is, meet other designers on the same journey you are on! Life is more exciting when you have designer friends to get feedback from, ask about things you aren’t sure about, be hyped about conferences and gadgets, and etc. Do not be afraid to put yourself out there and reach out to designers you look up to. They are just human and you could become great friends with them afterwards!
Can you see yourself being a designer for a long time?
I can see myself staying in this career path for a couple more years. I think there is so much to learn with technology constantly evolving. There is always new products, new features, and new tools that you have to stay on top of or you risk being out of touch with the world. There is also always new opportunities you can jump on, and maybe in the future I can finally find a role in design systems like I’ve always wanted to. No single day is the same and this is another reason why I enjoy it. Being a designer also gives me flexibility in understanding if in the future I’d want to explore a career as a product manager, front-end developer, accessibility expert, or even a copy writer. Who knows where my career will end up afterwards.
How did you get into design?
I was never the artistic creative person in my family but I did enjoy creating things. In University, we had marketing projects that involved design mockups which I would be in charge of. When I couldn’t fulfil my dreams of becoming a marketer overseas, I enrolled myself into Springboard’s UX/UI design bootcamp to see if this was something I could do. As I was going through the curriculum, I found it to be everything I wanted to do. So in a way, you could say I stumbled into the design realm as I was uncertain on what my life plans were going to be. Everyone’s path to design is different, whether you went to school for it or not. I don’t think it matters how you got into design, but it’s great listening to everyone’s story and their transitions.
For those who are interested, here is $750 $̶1̶5̶0̶0̶ off your first Springboard course, https://www.springboard.com/invite/TOCKE.
Last thoughts
My journey to becoming a designer came with a lot of hardships and uncertainty. I didn’t know how well my backup plan would work and now coming up on my 3 year anniversary, I can say that it worked out super well. I am grateful for all the opportunities and people I’ve had along the way. There is definitely more things to look forward to as I continue to grow in my career! If you’re thinking about getting into design, well take it as a sign that you should go for it.
