Career Decision
Out of context: Reply #64
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- whitewolf0
Just wanted to update this thread. 2 years ago (in January) I posted a story about trying to decide to quite my entry level design job at a local small shop I hated and move to Africa to document a friend's non profit.
Well I went to Sudan, lived there for 3 months, got some awesome footage, came home and had a rough time freelancing. I traveled a bunch, stayed in Vancouver for a while, but was pretty worried about getting a real job.
As of September i've been full time at CP+B in Boulder for about 3 months now. 2 years ago, I had never heard of CP+B, hell I the only big Ad Agency i knew about was RGA as i had friends there.
I'm definitely not and Ad person, but i feel like i'm in a real good spot. Crazy to think how things have worked out since 2 years ago.
If you get an opportunity to go on an adventure and are worried about your job/ future. TAKE IT. I did this in the heigh of the recession, and things seemed to work out fine.
original post:
Jan 19, 2009
"So hypothetically I know this kid who is an entry-level designer.
This guy interviewed for a graphic design position that included: photo studio work, print, illustration/logo, some web comps etc. He got the job offer and accepted. Three weeks into the job, he was given a web project. He was to take a pre-designed comp and develop/build the website. Keep in mind that in the interview process this kid explicitly expressed that all he had was a basic knowledge of web technology (flash animation, html, xhtml, basic css, tables etc) This person tackled the project the best that they knew how and upon completion was question of their ability.
A meeting was then held with the CEO and creative director: Bottom line, we need someone who can do web, and only web, either get up to par or get out. So, this person then consulted many a tutorial and fellow web personnel in the company. Now this person is up to par with company demands. They can build with css, div tags etc.
It has been three months since the meeting and this person has yet to see another non-web job. This person is thankful for the crash course and learning a bit of web development, but is creatively stifled.
So...
Should this person:
A) Stick with this company for one year, learning as much as they can and reaching the 1 year agency experience mark for the resume. Then apply elsewhere for a more fitting position.
or
B) Leave at the 8 month mark, and cash in on the opportunity to live in Southern Sudan/ Northern Uganda and work with a dear friend's humanitarian non-profit. Basically riding around in land rovers helping build schools and medical centers for refugees. This would be a total of 3 months and then this person would return to the states and start the job hunt over again.
So, is getting a full year under their belt at a place that they do not trust help them more? Or should this person cut the agency experience short by pursing a passion and going on the ultimate adventure?
Fire away.
"