5 tips on how to hit the ground running in your new designer role
Congratulations on landing a new design job! Starting a new designer role can be both exciting and challenging. The initial days on the job set the stage for your journey of continuous learning — both professionally and personally. In this blog, I’ll go through some tips that helped me hit the ground running in my new designer role at Rubrik.
1. Research the company and prepare to ask questions
You’ve done the research during the interview process to land a new job. Now that you’re hired, you want to learn about the company in new ways. Start by familiarizing yourself with the company’s design philosophy and key initiatives. This will help you connect the work you’ll be doing with the company. As a new team member (and even as an experienced one!), you have carte blanche to ask questions! Rubrik fosters an open style of communication and welcomes fresh insights from new perspectives. Engagement is a good way to both develop product and industry expertise (especially if some of the more complex technical aspects of the products are new to you), while also building rapport with your team…
2. Build strong relationships
…which leads me to the next point! Design is rarely a solitary work, it thrives on collaboration. You need to work closely with cross-functional teams, including developers, marketers, and product managers. Building strong relationships is the key to your success. Strong relationships start with building a culture that celebrates the well-rounded team player who can both pinch hit and pitch — no bullies allowed, even if they are all-stars.
Start your new design job by getting to know your team members and stakeholders. Actively seek opportunities to introduce yourself and engage in conversation. Review the org charts to get a sense of the names and roles of key leaders, and proactively reach out to schedule one-on-one conversations. During those meetings, introduce yourself as a new member of the team, ask for 20 minutes on their calendars, learn about their experiences, and tell them that you’re looking forward to working with them. These connections can provide valuable insights, mentorship, and a support system as you settle into your new designer role.
3. Learn, stay humble, and adapt quickly
To thrive at Rubrik, it’s essential to have a growth mindset — there are always new developments at Rubrik, whether it is new design components, novel product launches, new industry terminologies, or even working on different project teams. Approach each task thoughtfully, even those that might seem mundane. It’s an opportunity for you to get up to speed, familiarize yourself with the design system, and understand the design process and product landscape. I also found that adapting quickly to these constructs by staying agile but anchoring myself on broader guiding principles and mission statements helped make this possible. For example — one project team was laser-focused on user research and had a well-developed process to capture the feedback. However, on your next project, you’re working on a very novel feature with no user base, going truly from 0 to 1. Anchoring to a core tenant and mission statement will let you adapt quickly to the new situation.
4. Take the initiative and showcase your creativity
Great managers work with you to sketch out a goal and a path to complete it. Great teammates take that scope and make it their own. Whether it’s taking the initiative to carve out some time to work on something that’s been plaguing the team to stepping up or helping a fellow designer out, this type of ownership mindset can create new learning opportunities for you across the board, especially in the early innings of your career.
One dilemma I often encountered as a new designer is what I call the “design paradox”. At face value on any given design project, you can typically prioritize two of the following three elements: creativity, feasible execution, or standardization. A feature design that’s creative and executable on a tight roadmap? Great, but it probably won’t fit in the design system. How about something that is standardized and executable? Maybe it’s not creative. Despite this conundrum, I think there are many pockets of opportunities for new designers to find the best way to embed their creativity into their work. Revisiting the initial problem statement while consistently prioritizing the user needs can provide a sturdy guideline to solve the paradox. Combining it with a little self-initiative can help you stay focused and go a long way.
5. Identify the challenges and set goals
You are responsible for your own career pathing — and your manager, team, and network are there to help make it happen. Being intentional and setting goals with clear objectives can serve as your north star in career development. Identify and consider the challenges you’ve already faced in your first three months and come up with a plan to overcome them alongside your manager and team. Plan what you need to learn by the end of the week, a month, and 3 months. Seek active feedback on your work and how you accomplish that work.
Starting a new design job is an adventure filled with possibilities. By immersing yourself in company culture, cultivating relationships, adapting quickly, taking ownership, and setting goals, you set yourself on a path to not just hit the ground running but thrive in your career in the long term.
If you found this article helpful and would like to learn more about life at Rubrik and more, check out our Medium Page!
