How engineer become an designer?
My 2 year journey in Report Bee has been wonderful. This is company that changed my life and gave me hope of becoming a UI/UX designer. It can be easily said that Report Bee helped me transform from Engineer to Designer.
College memories…Surely it won’t bore you ;)
I am like the typical college going student who used to study only before the day of the examination. I only wished for minimum pass marks and my only aim was to be a graduate in engineering. The idea of becoming a designer originated in my third year. There was a need for a designer in my department to design posters, banners for its symposium. I had nothing else to do in college as I was not very fond of programming and so I joined the department’s design team. The next one year, I was constantly designing for the various events conducted my department. I went on to become the design head of the department in my final year of engineering. I never knew that I had a knack for design and it would take me to places.
Time to choose the way
After I graduated, I was looking for job opportunities and I did not want to go into programming. I started trying for jobs in the field of design. I had met Jack and Jeevan (Core members of Madrasters, Design community in Chennai) in a workshop conducted by my college as a part of symposium. I was constantly in touch with them and I got to know that Report Bee had openings for designer then. I approached Jack, Design Chief of Report Bee. Jack gave me a list of design tests and I had to do it from my home. It was around May and I had submitted my designs to Jack for evaluation. He was pretty held up with some works and I got reply only after 20 days. I was sitting at home wondering about my results. A month passed and I was seeing all my friends getting jobs. It was exhausting.
“There are no wrong turnings, only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.”
After nearly waiting for one month, I got a call from jack asking me to come to office from July. I was so excited that with no further thoughts, packed my bags and started my journey to Chennai. At the same time, I was very nervous. My first day at Report Bee was nerve-wracking. I was one mong three other designers who had joined on the same day. Unlike me they were had a VISCOM degree and I had an engineering degree. I was intimidated by the likes of them and I wanted to prove myself.
I still remember my first work like it was one of the recent ones. I had to design a question paper for Reynold’s. I completed the design in a day but I had to do a lot of alignment revisions. This went on for 30 days. Those 30 exhausting days induced a fear in me, whether I had chosen the wrong field. It made me compare with my friends. I was different than my friends and I was afraid because of being different. But Jack helped me through all this. He explained to me that I was at the right age to travel a path less travelled, to experiment with my interests. I realised that those 30 days taught me one important thing PERFECTION. From then on, I started designing pixel perfectly. At same time I always gave my designs within deadlines. With every work I did, I started improving.
“Believe in yourself” favorite dialogue from Jack
When I joined in Report Bee, the company was incubated inside a Tech Park. After a few months, we moved to a house turned office. This gave me a complete startup feel. Work while you work and Play while you play was the motto. We stayed at office, cooked in office and had lots of fun working as a team. Challenging tasks were like a treat as I started improving day by day. One year into Report Bee, my works started getting recognition from fellow designers in Chennai. I became the core member of Madrasters Team and started helping to organise events. Some of my recent works for Report Bee are as follows.
Struggling to get the Dribbble Invite
For designer’s, getting invite in Dribbble is a dream. Because Dribbble is a platform to showcase our portfolio but we won’t be able to post it directly. Designers who are in dribbble should give the invite to a person based on his/her portfolio. Only then you will get access right to post your design. I tried nearly 3 months to get an invite and I finally got it from Vivek Ravin, Visual designer in Zeta. Some of my posts went viral.
Trips and fun with Design Team
In two and half years we went on for four trips, 20–25 movies, weekend parties. All the members of our team are travel freaks, so most of the time we are ready to go for a trip.
Going into next phase in my life
Around two and half years Journey with this family. Now, I am going to take the next step in my life. Every good thing has to come to an end. To seek something bigger and better I am planning to switch over to another company. I have no idea what I’m goin to find out there. Hoping for the best to happen. But no matter how far I travel, Report Bee will always be my starting point in life. This decision to step further has been the most difficult I have ever made but it had to be done. Until next time, bidding an official Sayonara to Report Bee.
OOPS!!! How can I forget about my Farewell Fun!!! Here are some clicks of the fun we had on my final day with my REPORT BEE DESIGN FAMILY…
