The value of experience
Out of context: Reply #35
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- tommyo0
I didn't go to school, just kind of picked it up, fell in love and kept at it. I'd say around year 4 or 5 I started feeling much more take-on-the-world-confident. I'm sure this is consistent across the board but one thing I really really loved about the early days is the 'Oh shit I leveled up!' feeling. That's really the best way I can describe it, like one day you wake up and all of a sudden you've gained some sort of new enlightenment. Those days seem to get a little farther and farther apart as the years go on. But those 'oh shit I leveled up!' start adding up and I guess that's experience eh?
One thing I'll say that I really liked about being self-taught is that I never quite knew where the boundaries were. I never learned where my responsibilities began or ended - so I ended up trying to learn everything: identity, process, print, typography, web, AS programming, illustration. Which to be honest, is kind of maddening, but also liberating knowing that you can figure anything out.
Where Corvo2 said, '1. some lack of confidence in your own work (validation)' I think this is close to being correct, at least for me. But taking this a bit further I think it's more of a fear of being 'found out.' Eventually it goes away, but for me I felt like I was constantly scared that I didn't know something I should.
I always hated the whole 'it's who you know' logic. Just comes across like it's something you're not really responsible for, like it falls from the sky for no rhyme or reason. If you bust your ass, you have some semblance of talent and you're fair, you'll know the right people.