“Things I wish I knew at the start of my career”
Treat your career like a game
- Learn the hard way
- Don’t take it too seriously
- Learn from each stage
- You win some you lose some
Don’t be a control freak
Ignore or work with what you cannot control
- Can you control it?
- Can you do something about it?
- Can you continue despite it?
Levelling up
The game has multiple levels and each level will require new skills- always learning new skills in your career.
More opportunities than ever- have the “highest score” in the game to gain the most opportunities – projects etc
Design is 20% design and 80% discussing your designs and telling people why yours are the best.
“Cheat Codes”- you do you
“Everything is a remix”-kirby Ferguson talk (watch!!)
Constantly inspire yourself
“Ample” inspiration blog (look up)
Research how people get their inspiration and get inspiration from them
Creative Outlets and Passion Projects
It is crucial to find a creative outlet or project that you are passionate about outside your 9-5 job so you don’t get bored and uninspired. EG have a physical creative project or passion so you don’t have to stare at screens all day
Instil, Belfast
Instil is an engineering company with a 2 man design team. They are known to do collabs with major software companies EG Microsoft etc. They focus on consultancy-based work which means they get to work on lots of different things, spend longer on projects than agency-based companies
Placement
The UX placement of 2022 is a split time between marketing and design experience (project and product design) offers you a rare experience getting skills in different fields you wouldn’t get in other companies. This is very beneficial as it is educating on the marketing aspect of design instead of just UX. They are a small, close team which I like the thought of as it means you get to know everyone really well as well as having the opportunity to get great insight in all aspects of the company which you may not get the chance to do in a larger company.