The Hunt
The Hunt: Sounds like an edge-of-your-seat thriller, right? Or perhaps a dystopian short story you were forced to read in 9th grade. What about a nature documentary à la the most anxiety-inducing parts of Planet Earth 2? Or, maybe it could be just a trite romantic comedy (sigh).
If any of those were what you were thinking this is going, you’d be wrong.
This hunt is the hunt for a job. And it’s exactly what I’m about to dive head-first in to. The end of my masters program grows ever-nearer, and it is time for me to go from being a student of design to a full-time, paid (paid!) practitioner of design. And I couldn’t be anymore excited and simultaneously nervous/afraid of failure/primed for imposter syndrome.
Let’s gooooo!
Priming Myself: Putting All the Pieces Together
Now, I say I am diving head first, but this is not without some preparation. Since I don’t graduate until May, I wanted to wait to actually start this hunt and have been biding my time researching, networking, connecting with various folks on LinkedIn, and having informational interviews. As many people have told me, being a student gives me a license to ask currently-working designers anything, whereas when I am graduated, I won’t really have that in.
I have put myself out there in ways that I haven’t really ever done before. Which is good! Being able to talk to people who have jobs that I want has taught me a lot: I now have a better grasp for what people actually do day-to-day and what job titles tend to mean at different types of companies. That has helped me get a better idea of what I eventually want to do and the types of jobs I want to apply for.
Lessons learned:
- Junior-level UX jobs are a bit harder to get in the Denver area (but not impossible).
- A lot of times, junior level UX jobs are also UI design jobs.
- I don’t want to work at a traditional ad agency.
- But as it stands, I am down for most everything else (*subject to revision).
- “UX designer”, “UX/UI designer”, “product designer”, “interaction designer”, “interactive designer”, and “designer” can all mean very similar or very different things depending on the company. The devil is in the details. My job will be to ask the right questions to figure those details out.
- There are a lot of folks in design who have non-traditional paths and backgrounds. As a former server/teacher/trainer, that is reassuring and confirming as all frick.
- It seems like designers might start in diverse ways at the beginning of their careers, but a lot of designers end up product-side, at smaller companies, or as freelancers or the head of their own companies (big generalization but true for a lot of people that I talked to).
So, months and months of cold emailing and coffee meetings later, it’s time that I get all my stuff together to start actually applying to jobs. Number 1 on the list: updating my portfolio.
Now, I had a portfolio. And it was ok. Well, there were some good things about it, but it also kind of sucked and I disliked the hosting service it was on. So, I decided that I wanted to level up and move it to Wordpress. There was a pretty steep learning curve there, and I wanted to do some cool stuff for a minimal amount of money invested (“I know code,” I said. “It will only take a little time to figure it out,” I said. “I don’t need to pay money to people who know what they are doing,” I said).
THREE PLUS MONTHS AND SOME LATE NIGHT HEART ATTACKS LATER (I hope to never see the WPOD — white page of death — ever again), my portfolio is ready to go! I brought over what was good from my old portfolio, I left behind what was not so good, I added some new shiny things, and the whole thing was much cleaner looking.
SUCCESS!
Ok, cool. I have some connections, and my portfolio is looking fly. Now, let’s start looking at some job postings. What? I need a resume? Whyyyyy? Why can’t my LinkedIn be enough?!?
Ok, fine. I’ll fish out my old and totally awful and un-updated resume and make something of it. And I’ll make it look sort of cool, like *I guess* a designer would.
A couple hours and a few abandoned directions later, and I have myself a resume!
And Now… Applying (ughhh)
Why does applying to jobs online just feel demoralizing? I mean, it just feels like I am throwing my resume and portfolio link into a deep and dark abyss never to actually be seen by anyone, ever. Maybe, MAYBE to be scanned by a robot for key words. UGHHH, amirite.
Over the past 3 days, I have applied to 5 jobs. I have a super sweet Numbers spreadsheet to keep track of everything I’m doing to nauseating detail that brings me a weird sort of contentment.
Everything I have talked about lately have been summarized by, “Well, when I get a job…” Since I started my masters program, I haven’t bought any new clothes and have sworn off shopping until I graduate and am gainfully employed. I love traveling and want to plan an international trip somewhere SO.BADLY. I want to do ALL the summer Colorado things when the weather gets warm. But it all hinges on getting a job.
“Well, when I get a job, EVERYTHING WILL BE POSSIBLE.”
Right? Better be. That’s my plan.
