[IxDA Discuss] Disillusioned Junior Designers

[Chris McLay]

Hi Jon, Everyone,

I'm not sure if this is specific to interaction design, but the  
"newness" of the field probably makes it worse...


* A junior designer is not likely to be able to instigate change

They are a junior designer for a reason, and while they may be  
talented and well trained, they are unlikely to have the skills to  
communicate / demonstrate / lead change in a team or business  
environment. This type of change is hard work, and young designers  
expect to change the world - when it doesn't change it can be heart  
breaking.


* Graduates expectations are often sky high

In every field this is the case, especially these days. My wife works  
in government and regularly tells stories of new graduate staff who  
complain about having to photocopy reports or do mail outs themselves  
- they have better skills than that! But the reality is that we all  
have to do menial tasks in order to to the chunkier more challenging  
tasks we'd like to do. I hate having to check through hundred of  
photo's, check off hundreds of documents, keep time sheets, write  
reports, but someone has to do it, and most companies can't afford to  
keep photocopy boys or mail girls and everyone has to muck in to get  
the job done.


* Design is hard and "Real Life" is a pain

I'm sure I don't need to explain this here, except to say that I love  
being a designer and I have a great life. All these thing are true,  
and being hard and painful is probably necessary for me to love it so  
much. I think this is a lesson for experience, and won't work in a  
class room. I think it's something that only designers (in the broad  
sense) truly understand.



I'm not sure that any of this can be taught in advance, but it comes  
from experience. Maybe students can be warned - but many don't listen  
anyway. Maybe they can be given coping skills? Staying a part of a  
broader design community always helps, and hopefully many can find  
mentors and friends outside their work environments who can  
understand their pain and help them through the tough times. Focus on  
the bigger picture, this is the first job of many, in the first years  
of a 40+ year career.

Maybe it's just part of learning to be a designer - the client is not  
always right, but you're always working for them.

Good luck,
Chris

-- 
Chris McLay ...// interaction & visual designer

Email chris at eeoh.com.au
Web http://www.eeoh.com.au/chris/