Are You Employable?
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- ninjasavant0
i was about 5.5 years ago. been ridin the wave ever since.
- monNom0
I feel sorry for new grads. There's a lot of chicken/egg stuff in there.
- Geith0
Hogwash. It's all about talent, building a strong portfolio of work (even if it's school work) and making connections. Everything else is candy, unless you're a complete dolt, in which case, you can look forward to a lifetime of freelancing from your basement.
- SoulFly0
Have anyone watched "helvetica"... some of the most successful designers in New York... I don't think vocabulary or played a major role for them... hahahahahah
(for those who didn't see it... you needed subtitles to understand what they were saying)
- mistermik0
more self appointed shitcakes.
- hammerofdawn0
Hilman Curtis is at the top and he seems like a shy person
- who he?robotron3k
- he can be on top of me anytime!flashbender
- kidding. Totally hetero. I love women!flashbender
- mimeartist0
work hard, don't back stab people, try and learn as much as possible, learn from your mistakes, try and enjoy yourself.
- Llyod0
I can't believe the trolls stayed away from this. this is perfect bait
- hammerofdawn0
A former creative director at JCREW was also a shy guy
- jamble0
The article does verge on the pointing out the obvious but sometimes that's what's needed.
I guess the big problem with college/university degrees is that while they can teach you some foundation stuff, the industry changes so quickly it's difficult for any curriculum to keep pace with it and people can rightly feel they're well behind the curve if they're not doing their own work.
I always thought it should be a more hands on type of course where students spend all their time working direct for real life clients and simply having lecturers there to monitor QA and pass on advice. Christ knows how they'd stop companies ripping off students and paying peanuts for their work but at least it would give a more reallistic view of how the industry works and how to manage projects.
- blaw0
In my opinion, you could change the title to be "How To Be A Successful Designer".
In fact, if you take out the design profession specific notes and replace them with that specific to a lot of other industries, it works out the same. Much of that falls under the broad category of "you spend a lot of your life at work; feel free to give a shit about it."
- zarkonite0
He forgot to mention to always be on the lookout for hard evidence for blackmail later.
- roundabout0
If you expect all them skills from a junior web designer fresh out of collage, you are living in a bloody dream world.
- mg330
Some of the comments in here are pretty funny. I'd be interested to know how many of you that are putting down what he wrote actually went to college. Not saying it's required, not saying there's nothing wrong with not going, but I think these days it's really easy for people to be on a high horse about not having a degree by using that good ol' blanket statement "it's all about talent, screw the rest of the variables."
Some places may work like that - I imagine that small shops are more of a free-for-all - but what about large, well established firms, ad agencies, etc.?
I read pretty much the whole thing, and I think it's more of a commentary on what schools don't teach people than what's ultimately required as a bare-minimum for you to be employable in this industry and be very good at it.
When I graduated in 2001 I was quite afraid of what I was not taught. I complained about it. Faculty actually loved hearing from students about how they could improve the program, how they could inject more real world scenarios and situations into courses. I don't think any university can perfectly prepare you for the real working world no matter what you do.
But I sure as hell think you have a leg up on some 18 year old that's great at Adobe software and building web sites for himself or on a small freelance level.
- depends how good at photoshop they are i guess... ilearnt more in the first month of work than 3 years at collegemimeartist
- sure, you learned "more," but would you have learned "everything" you learned in college and "more?"mg33
- It is true that much of what he talked about relates directly to what you don't learn in college. I think a degree is always helpful, no matter how good you are.SigDesign
- dskz0
It's all politics.
- Whatever happened to sleeping your way to the middle?rocknonstop
- hektor9110
I think everything comes down the level of passion you have for what you do. If you are extremely passionate for what you do, good things will come!
- rocknonstop0
This is a great list of qualifications for a Creative Director. Unfortunately I know very few CD's that could check off all the boxes on this list.
For someone coming out of school "Good Attitude" would be at the top of my list. After all I can teach someone to design, but I can't teach someone to not be a jerk. There's a lot to be said for someone you like being around all day vs. someone you can't stand being around all day.
- wordsinyourmouth0
in reality a lot of this list is about being professional and applies to a lot of careers. i disagree with a few of the interaction specific knowledge... but I thrive as a flash & motion designer