STORYTIME - LAVALEARN
Turning Passion Into A Career
My journey from dabbling in Adobe to becoming a Product Designer at Facebook and Tesla.
Design → Designer
Thinking back, I really don’t remember the point when I felt that I had transitioned from “doing design” to “being a designer” because the line is so blurred. I started learning design my freshman year of college with a class in Adobe where I learned the basics of Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.
I actually designed my first few app screens as part of an unpaid project with friends that I created in Photoshop - which I definitely look back and laugh at. Although silly looking back, this was the first time I felt like design was more than making things look pretty, but also about making functional user interfaces that a person would be able to understand and interact with.
The balance of research, strategy, and creativity was immediately attractive to me, and I was eager to find ways to grow my expertise and learn more about the industry.
Fun project that I worked on to make an app for a plant hotel
Starting A Design Career
I think that I have been very fortunate though to be able to learn software quickly, which has led to my intensive “fake it til you make it” attitude. I wanted to gain more experience in design, and after this brief project experience I started to reach out to LA founders on LinkedIn who might be looking for designers to kickstart their ideas.
I landed my first interview through a cold outreach on LinkedIn and shared some of the so-called “app designs” I worked on in my previous role. I was proud of them for sure, but I knew that there was so much I had to learn.
My interviewer asked a series of questions and at the end, he asked “so do you know how to use Sketch?” and my smart-ass said precisely “yes, but my license expired so would you be able to get one for me?”
I had never opened sketch before. If I’m being completely honest, I hadn’t even heard of it… but as I said, fake it til you make it! I was fortunate enough to get the job and the license, and learned Sketch all weekend so I was prepared to start working on Monday :)
Understanding Your Work’s Value
Knowing how to put a number on your work is one of the hardest things. It’s a balance of understanding what people are willing to pay for your designs, and how much more you can ask for above that number they give you ;). The best thing to do in these situations is be open and honest. If someone asks you what you expect to be compensated, you can say “I actually haven’t been in a role similar to this one before, what did you have in mind?” Often, they will respond with some number they had in their head, since every manager already has that budget allocated. Then always tell them that you will think about it and get back to them. No one expects an answer right on the spot.
However, in terms of figuring our your number, I would recommend asking someone you trust how much they would charge for the role you are proposed. After you get your first position, then you can raise your expectations for each opportunity you get. Saying things such as “I was actually making x in my previous role, would you be able to match that?” and other casual things that get the other party thinking about how to get you the compensation you deserve. You only get it if you ask!