Panicking...

Panic is the word. I’m also in the same situation. More or less. I just came back from China, where I worked and did research for my master thesis.

I worked all the time during the graduation in design offices too (about 3,5 years) and still… it seems that the experience I had before the masters was for nothing. Should I have studied two years less have tried to get full-time job sooner?!?

I consider my portfolio pretty decent too. But I can’t stop reworking it, researching, looking for jobs, sending it… the frustration builds up and it’s tough. I was the designer nerd at the university. And now… It’s difficult not to doubt your skills when you get the negatives from the companies.

what frustrates me the most is that I saw some colleagues getting jobs. Most of them didn’t get it by normal applications, but by indication. Normally from professors. Sometimes people with weaker portfolios - at this point you cannot help it but compare yourself to the others. At one hand I feel like “ok, it’s not about me or my skills, it’s just how the game goes”… At the other, it’s like “I’m lost then, if I have to wait for the good will of an ex-professor or something”.

I don’t know. It sucks big time!

I think I do a good job of hiding these “insecurities” when communicating with potential employers, but honestly at this point it’s just getting embarrassing. Maybe I’m too proud. Having to constantly explain to people why I don’t have a full time job yet even though I did well in school can start to wear you down. I know working on my skills and portfolio is probably the best play, but between working part time to pay bills and sending applications it can be hard to find the time. Not looking for sympathy and it’s nice to know others went/are going through this, I just don’t want to still be living at home 6 months from now with a college degree that I worked really hard for!

but and if it takes 6 months?! I mean, if it is what it takes!

honestly I suck on pretty much all part time jobs I made, and that are not ID related.

it’s been torturing!

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I remember when I was at Pensole run by D’wayne Edwards in Las Vegas, a classmate had just graduated and wasn’t finding any work. He told his story for a few days and D’wayne listened for a bit and then one day gave him a reality check… and the reality is that NO ONE is going to feel bad for you, it will never get you a job. It’s brutal, but it’s true. D’wayne has one of the roughest life stories I’ve heard, and he had two options.

  1. He could sit in his neighborhood complaining about why he couldn’t become a footwear designer because life wasn’t fair, or how others had it better than him because he couldn’t afford design school and had to work a day job at Mcdonalds.
  2. He could use every minute available channeling his energy towards being a footwear designer.

If you REALLY don’t want to be living at home, then take control of your own path, don’t allow yourself to be the victim.

On a side note there’s plenty of resources here to post your work and get feedback. Every bit of criticism is helpful one way or another.

It is never my intention to “play the victim”, that is not who I am, I was just looking for advice and seeing if this was something out of the ordinary. This has just been some frustration based venting really

As I could understand this is only another hard working phase, that will take its time… but this time with less money, and paying more taxes since you’re not a student anymore.

I don’t think you’re (we’re) playing the victim by talking about a confusing phase and asking for advice.

At least in my case, it’s really confusing habe been had a succesful academic career (always with design jobs) and then have to struggle like everyone else after being done with school. And that’s the point here, you’re not the only one.

But a degree is not a ticket for the ID job market. It’s more like a permit. And getting there…

But in the bottom line Aaron said something true. The only way is getting out there, researching about the kind of work you want to do, and working to show properly that you have what it takes to be there. Nobody said it was easy, did they? :slight_smile:

It might take a while. It’s not that you’re bad, it’s that you’re not putting the right portfolio in front of the right people and part of it is just circumstance/luck. Your portfolio needs to show what you can bring to a company. This can be hard as a student as you may not know which area you want to work in and you might not have the body of work to effectively show what you could do once you get the job. This also shows you that someone with a few years of experience that can hit the ground running is much more valuable to a company than someone fresh out of school.

Also, keep in mind that there are not that many job openings for junior ID but, not all that many students come out of school. It’s a bit like selling a sports car, there aren’t a whole lot on the market but not a whole lot of people looking to buy one, so it might take a while to sell when compared to something like a Civic.

Keep your chin up. Keep applying. Review your portfolio, does it show what value you can bring to the companies that you want to be hired by? Keep working on it, start projects to fill gaps in your skill, keep learning new skills, meet people - meetup.com can be a great place to find events and meet people, it can give you a different perspective, possibly a gig. Also, consider smaller companies if you aren’t already. While it might seem glamorous to work for the big names, it can be easier to get your foot in the door at a smaller place. Not to mention, you’ll get experience and responsibility more quickly and in a broader area.

As someone who just got employed after looking for a while, it was tough at times. Try to keep some discipline in the way you spend your time. Having a part time job is actually a good thing - just for the social aspect of it. I’d really suggest starting a new project, something that excites you and puts a fire under your feet.

Finally, post your portfolio on the portfolio feedback section of the forum.

I hope you take the outpouring of responses here as affirmation that most of us go through this at one time or another. Design is not like accounting, it is not 1+1=2. So the needs of hiring managers are greatly varied. It takes time to find the right fit. As someone who has hired a lot of designers I can say it can be just as frustrating on our side, reviewing dozens, sometimes hundreds of portfolios, taking time to interview the candidates who’s work I think is the best fit for what our team needs, and then figuring out who is the right personality mix for the team now and in the next few years… all the while the work is piling up! But these decisions have to be made with care because the team will have this person for 2-5 years on average.

The entire thing is a dance. Some dances are fast, and some are slow.

When I was in your shoes I was definitely falling into despair. A few years ago I wrote an article about it for core77’s main blog. You can read through all of the grey details here. It was painful and humbling. It is easy to say now, but I’m glad I had the experience. In a way I needed it. (It still sucked though)

Louis and Michael,

thank you for the nice words. :slight_smile:

'merica loves blaming the victim.

Thinking you can control every circumstance to not become a victim is foolish. You forgot the second and the most important part of the equation - dumbass luck. Without it, all the hard work in the world can get you nowhere.

My point wasn’t to call op the victim, or blame him for his situation. I was merely trying to caution that the easy road and most often traveled is to roll over and say that life is unfair (which we all know to be true anyways).

Iab, you are right. Luck has a lot to do with it. I believe the saying goes “in the right place at the right time”. Assuming this maxim is correct, be in as many places at as many times as possible. Physically and digitally. Go to IDSA events, start some of there aren’t any nearby. Ask local designers to go to coffee (everybody loves free coffee) and get their advice. Take a trip to SF or some other big city and set up as many meetings as you can. Post your work here and as many other places as possible. Things like that. Years ago I posted two concept projects for mobile phones on my coroflot. Those projects led to me working at frog. You just never know who is going to see what. Make sure you are out there.

Hang in there!

In the summer of 2010, I was in almost the same position (21 years old with a 2 month-old son and a failed relationship). It wasn’t until about 7 or 8 months of sending out resumes and portfolios (and I was STILL working part time at a pizza shop) that I realized I needed to treat my situation more like a design challenge. The constraints were pretty clear - money, time, and level of comfort. I sold everything and moved to NYC with a some clothes, a sketchbook, and a suit. A few uncomfortable months later, I had landed the first gig at a job fair. That was all I needed - I figured any design job couldn’t be as hard as designing your own (and your kid’s) future. So far, so good.

But those “uncomfortable months” were easily the worst months of my life. If I could give any advice besides “keep at it,” I would suggest to
A) Don’t stagnate! Keep learning/ designing/ networking. TONS of free and cheap resources online. Learn something to stand out as an ID candidate (Javascript? Experimental photography? Basic UI/UX principles?)
B) Follow your passions. Cheesy I know, but easy to forget about in this scary period.
I wouldn’t have stood a chance without the help (and couches) of friends and the mini projects I gave myself - usually design competitions. Following my passions led to me explore with a more optimistic view, and allowed me to network outside of the design world, which really led to a more lasting impression than my name on a business card.

Good luck!

Correct.

90% of “luck” is just showing up.
Do the work.
Get the work out there.
Show up.
Be prepared to act when lightning strikes.

My cliche quota is filled for the month.

For me this factor, you may call it luck or “being in the right place at the right time”, eases the panic.

Accepting that there is this side that I cannot really control kind of makes me free to concentrate on what I can control: work on portfolio and networking.

Here’s a visual designer from Google explaining how he got the job he did. A lot of good points that go with what IAB and Michael have said about luck and putting yourself out there.

It took me almost a year and a half to find my first full time job. I recommend that you give yourself design projects as though they were a freelance job. Keep your skills sharp. You will get out what you put in.

BTW: I think the only people from my class working as designers today are myself (I would consider myself top 4 in my class), someone that finished at the head of the class and a guy that barely graduated. :slight_smile:

Have you posted your work on here?

I posted already my portfolio here… got some feedback and now I am working on it. Soon I will post it here again.