Finding one’s professional identity as a Strategic Product Designer
We live in some challenging times, and enough has been spoken about the atrocious effects of the pandemic across the globe. Students particularly have been gravely impacted. Some worried over the lack of clarity over their career paths, and some paranoid by the humongous study loans. While having discussions with fellow students from the Strategic Product Design (SPD) masters at TU Delft-Netherlands, it was noticed students missed out on interacting with other students and industry professions. Such interactions in the past have helped students learn about the industry functioning, build career roadmaps, and engage in healthy discussions.
To help the community in my own little way, I decided to start a series of articles that would cover topics such as finding a job, role of strategic designers, impact of design, designing for sustainability, etc. These articles would be based on conversations with industry experts and professionals. For the first conversation, I had a virtual sit down with Emma van der Veen — a fellow SPD student who graduation in 2015. In this interview, Emma talks about her experience and journey of traversing her career path from SPD to her current positions as a Product manager at Philips.
How did your time at TU Delft contribute to build your professional career?
I started my bachelor’s in industrial design in 2008. As a student, I was part of many committees & study associations, and worked as a student assistant. It was a constant endeavor to balance my studies and the extracurricular activities. However, it was this combination that enabled me to discover my interest in strategic product design, and my passion associated with it. The two elements that initially most appealed to me were: first, the front end of coming up with new innovations and product offering, and secondly, bringing products to market. From that point in time, I was never in doubt of what I wanted to do in my professional career. Another element that contributed to broadening my horizon was the exchange program. I had been to The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, for International Design and Business management. It was a scintillating experience both professionally and personally. Till date I use a lot of my learnings in my daily professional life. For example, I learnt the importance of working with people from different backgrounds and nationality. Sensitizing me to understand their point of view during collaborations.
Heading into graduation, I was clear that I wanted to work with a company that was not very familiar with design. That would give me more freedom to express myself through the tools and skills I developed at IO. I got in touch with Amsterdam Smart City (AMS). It is a network organization between government, universities, and private companies. AMS began to work towards making Amsterdam a smart city. In the beginning, it was a difficult journey. Conventionally, designers are considered to be people who draw or make pretty stuff. For an SPD student, it is a misconception that quickly translates into a dilemma of defining one’s professional identity. You will be constantly confronted with a though, Am I a designer? Am I a marketer? Or Am I a product developer?
At times, it is a journey one will unlock as he/she traverses it. Surround yourself with people who will challenge you to discovering your identity.
To prove my effectiveness, I had to contribute to the overall strategy/ vision of AMS. After my initial research, I realized the need of designing an online platform for the company. I convinced AMS to invest in developing the platform. My work paid off; at the end of my graduation, AMS offered me a full-time role.
Couple of months into AMS, I realized it would be difficult for me to unlock my full potential here. I wanted to be challenged and make a bigger impact through my work. However, having said that, do not ignore such opportunities because it does not fit to the ideal role. Sometimes it can take time to follow your passion or your dream job. But hang in there. This eagerness got me to apply for a trainee program at Philips.
Some tips to remember, always call the recruiter when you are applying for a vacancy. If you can come up with some interesting questions, it will leave an imprint/ impression in the mind of the recruiter.
Cut back to Philips, I was interested in joining the marketing track, but my conversation with the recruiter made me realize that I fit the requirements of both the marketing as well as the engineering tack. I ended up applying to both, and I got hired in the engineering track as a Function Developer. A function developer is responsible to understand the requirements that the product needs to meet and develop features from ground up. I could use my SPD skills, as we can think both on a strategic level and work on a tactical level. This role opened newer avenues, and I got the opportunity to be a consumer marketing manager. This role let me explore avenues such as product innovation, creating a market entry strategy, value proposition creations, etc. Roles more in line with my professional inclinations.
What are your future plans?
I would like to focus on innovation and continue with it for a couple of years. But moving forward, I want to get good at the non-innovation stuff. One could get trapped if one restricts himself/ herself to focus solely on innovation. It is equally important to understand how to make innovations tangible or how do we realize innovations. You may have to do less fun stuff that is not in line with SPD but it will definitely help you learn a lot more. You should be curious to learn more stuff as it will give you the edge over your colleagues from B-schools. You could learn more about how products are brought to market. If you aspire to be a high-level executive who is responsible for a brand or a business, it is necessary to understand how one can grow the business and sustain it. You will have to learn to sustain innovation and be able to look at P&L and make plans for execution. In other words, one needs to get more tactical.
How do you convince recruiters about your skills as an SPD student?
A job is defined by the vacancy. Nevertheless, do not take a vacancy to be set in stone. One should see how he/she can bring in her/his passion for design and strategy aligned with the role. Being in marketing, I can do strategy design every day. Secondly, a SPD graduate is equipped to have discussions both at a strategy level and at a tactical level. In organizations you will have people who are good at tactical execution or people who are good at the strategy roles. One should not underestimate the power of communicating with both. You should not hesitate to show recruiters this side of you. One example I usually use to help people understand my role is, “When you assign the task of building a desk, a traditional designer will look at it and say what is needed to make the desk sturdy, what is the most appropriate material that should be used. However, a strategic designer will look at it from the lens — do you need a table to start with, what is the purpose of the desk, how will the organization make money out of it.” This usually helps laying the groundwork to help recruiters differentiate between the two.
How should a SPD student position himself/herself?
Your strength lies in not knowing all the details about a technology, but the much-needed curiosity to lean the essentials and the ability to gather a team that have the knowledge to execute. Our strengths lie in collaborating, identify the problem, & developing suitable solutions. However, if one’s passion lies in a particular field such as AI, AR or VR, etc., then one must position himself/herself as a T shaped individual highlighting such area expertise.
How should students navigate in the job market amidst the current scenario?
I can imagine students are worried about the current happening. But one has many tools at their disposal to reach out to the right people in the business world today. One can use LinkedIn to build his/her brand as a person. One must look to become a thought leader in the field he/she wants to build their career in. It is essential to have an opinion about the current status quo, gaining attention. One can learn how to build his/her brand.
Secondly, the need to build one’s network. You could reach out to alumni to learn more about the company you are interested in. This is an essential activity that one must undertake. I was always interested to work at a design consultancy, however this changed completely after my discussion with an alumnus. So, one will be surprised by what he/she learns by these interactions.
Last, if you get an opportunity and it is not the ideal job that ticks all the boxes, one should give it a change. Not compromising on the long-term goal. There are many ways to reach your long-term goal and sometimes the path is different than you anticipated. However, knowing what your long-term goal is will help you make the right choices in your career.
What would your advice be to fellow SPD students?
Identify things that make you unique. Things such as the skills you bring to the table and the value it can add to an organization. Combining your educational and professional experiences is a rich source to help define your strengths. Secondly, search for your passion, and things that make you happy.
Navigating through one’s professional journey can be challenging amidst the possibilities available for the SPD students. Nevertheless, the course provides numerous opportunities and much needed tools to identify and hone one’s
Photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash