Hi!
I decided to pursue industrial design coming from an engineering background, fully committing to it as of early this year. But before getting to that, a little bit about where I’ve been:
Apart from being passionate about art and design from a very young age, I saw myself drawing, designing and putting things together as I grew older. I was told mechanical engineering had enough design in it to fulfil my passion, but later found that wasn’t the case.
So I graduated as a mechanical engineer (BEng) a few years ago, then I got a PGCert in renewable energy engineering before spending a year working as a project engineer in the oil and gas industry. That career path ended and have been unemployed since then (been doing temp jobs here and there to support family etc. while actively job hunting).
I did apply to many design jobs after graduating but failed to show any examples of my work as I didn’t know how important a portfolio is back then. Despite having had many successful design projects at university (also won a prestigious design award and excelled over my colleagues) it was all academic, I didn’t do any personal projects and I wasn’t lucky enough to have an internship in between studying, so basically no real work experience, which a lot of employers tend to disregard.
I never felt fulfilled, design was still in my DNA. Unfortunately I wasn’t introduced to industrial design until after I graduated. I researched, asked and observed how industrial designers do their work and I could related to it far more than anything I done in the past. So now, especially after being unemployed, I have dedicated all my time to pursue this career path.
In the past months I have purchased a few industrial design books, and opened an Instagram account (@zeyaddesign) to document my learning and connect with other designers. I wanted to educate myself about the industry and their processes.
So here I am, unemployed with a childhood dream and a passion for design that I can’t get rid of.
My question to all of you who were lucky enough to get there:
How did you do it? How did you get your foot in the door? and what do you think I can do to get my foot in the door???
Thanks!
Ze