The Secret to Self Learning

We all want to learn new things. We just can’t figure out how.

It’s your canvas. You paint, what you want to — Unknown (ok, it’s me! Pretty deep, eh?)

Last week, I was at an event, sitting amongst a few product designers. I had just finished a humble brag about my self-taught product design journey — being a civil engineering grad to currently a Sr. Product Designer at a leading business agency in Toronto. Just out of nowhere, someone asked...

How did you self-teach product design?

Yea, I didn’t put the drink down though | Credits: Giphy

I paused for a moment, introspected my life’s journey in quick flashback mode lasting 10 seconds, and replied “Umm..I like..just kept on learning and teaching myself!”

What a “brilliant” reply, eh?

While I would’ve loved the applause, the expression on everyone’s face said it all. Womp womp womp! Since then, that moment has been replaying in my brain constantly, cursing myself in search of the perfect answer.

I do recall the time I switched to Sketch from Photoshop. I also recall the first time, I tried out Optimizely to do some A/B testing on the Well.ca website redesign project. However, the mystery was to uncover that one key factor that was consistent through my 9+ years of work experience. As I triggered myself into a much slower flashback mode this time, there it was…right in front of me. It had always been there…

SIDE PROJECTS!

Viewer Discretion Advised: Looking at this gif repeatedly might cause nausea. Try it only at home. Yea thanks, Giphy!

I assume that with the new year, you also must’ve made quite a few resolutions around side projects. Be it learning iOS development and building the app idea you’ve had, or starting a new meetup group for there is none around “Designers for Comic Sans”. Well, stop dreaming and get those side projects lined up.

Side projects have immensely helped me in 3 ways:

1. Make a career switch:

After graduation, while on my first job, I started a small side project to design and print myself a t-shirt for then upcoming Indian independence day. It was a way for me to learn Adobe Illustrator (as I had mostly been toying with Photoshop, until then). Little did I know, that this side project would get me the first ever recognition as a designer.

Yup, at that time, the smoke brush was the coolest brush out there!

Facebook was a new thing and ‘viral’ was a term not that frequently used. However, the design got quite some attention, leading to 100+ requests to purchase the t-shirt. Not only did I had to learn about preparing your designs for print, but also about the t-shirt manufacturing and printing process at large.

I was also unaware at that point, that this side project would lead to a t-shirt startup eventually, and be a reason of introduction to my now fiance, landing us both in Toronto, Canada.

I ran my t-shirt startup, Karma Republic for about two years, opened a physical store, won a few awards and sold about 2000+ t-shirts.

In 2012, me and my (now) fiance, decided to move to Canada… with dreams in our eyes and new side projects on my mind!

2. Build a network:

Moving to a new country, especially when you’ve crossed the 25-year mark isn’t easy. While attending school here for a post-grad business degree, I used the weekends to experiment around different problems I was encountering in my new immigrant life. First on, was the idea to build a platform for students at my business school, to find locally sourced, real business case studies to work on.

Of course, I thought the idea was neat. Validation proved otherwise.

The platform didn’t go beyond the initial validation phase and pitches with the business school faculty, but helped me understand the process of idea validation and lean business canvas.

I, then, moved on to collaborating and helping others with their side projects. Be it helping set up the web presence for Product Hunt Toronto or helping launch the digital presence of my friend’s dream project.

Side projects are like tiny seeds, that not many care about. No high expectations but just keep sowing them as you walk along. You never know which one is going to sprout into something bigger and bear the fruit of all your efforts.

Some of my favourite folks, I worked with, thanks to the side projects.

3. Pick up new skills:

Passion and curiosity have been my key parameters, to decide what side projects to work on. Curiosity helps you venture into the unknown and passion ensures you do stick long enough to learn something new.

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” — Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech 2005

Building that small intro video for Classpitch (above), got me to learn about Adobe After effects. I learnt about building e-commerce websites, while working on my t-shirt startup. My most recent side project, Advicely, got me into an idea stage incubator: Founders Institute. I learnt quite a bit about idea validation, building financial projections, investor pitches, cap tables and last but not the least, going to market with a half-baked product for faster validation and then iterating on the feedback.

Side projects are not a section in your resume but an ongoing opportunity. A chance to work with like minded people, explore your entrepreneurial instincts and channel your creativity.

So, what are you still waiting for? Get started.

Need some inspiration? Check out some of the people in my circle that inspire me, with their kick-ass side projects:

• Kathy Song is crafting some pretty awesome handmade custom quilts & baby items on Etsy.
• Nicole Murphy loves email marketing so much that she started a podcast around it.
• Daryna Kulya hosts one of the largest Product Hunt community event
• Kiran Shahbaz blogs about healthy plant-based, gluten-free recipes on HappyGut
• Paul Syng, initially a strategist, learnt all about design tools, through his 365 day project

Inspired by the last one, I too started my 365 day project on Instagram.

I spend 30 mins everyday to express my day’s thoughts into a graphic, experimenting with design tools and styles I do not get to use much, as a Product Designer.

Do comment below and share some of the side projects that have helped you in your personal learning and growth.

Preet works as a Senior Product Designer at TWG in the product team. Aside from that, he spends his time curating and fostering Toronto’s growing design community through DesignX.

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