[IxDA Discuss] Career: Deep vs Broad Experience

[jackbellis.com]

Phil,
Good question. And why is "experienced" in quotes... sort of like "not that
there's anything wrong with that"?    :)
As someone who's gotten paychecks from lots of employers I feel especially
qualified on this:

If we word and read our rants very precisely, I hope there would be wide
agreement that broad experience undeniably makes the better designer. But
you didn't ask that, did you?

"Career advancement" won't come from employers (unless Dave hires you at
whoever it was that Motorola bought). It will come from you going both broad
and deep and being  forceful and strategic at business.

"Job security" has no source of which to inquire because it is as quaint as
a steam locomotive. Do not read into this a negative connotation. The best
work nowadays is often at volatile sites.

The correct combination of terms, that I will be coaching my kids for, would
now be "career security."

The America job market is optimized for short-term returns. This means most
hiring situations are fixated on "deep." If you are in an "employers'
market" you are most likely to get a job by going deep on whatever is
advertised. (Advertisements show employers at their worst, when they have
done no planning. Expect to go to a place that has problems because they
haven't mastered their environment and culture enough to plan.) If, on the
other hand, you are in an "employees' market" put as much energy as you can
into going broad.

www.jackbellis.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Chung" <gradlife79 at yahoo.com>
To: <discuss at ixda.org>
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 12:59 AM
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Career: Deep vs Broad Experience


> A question for the more "experienced" folks on the list:
>
> In terms of career advancement and job security, is it better for an
interaction designer to develop deep or broad experience, in terms of
product domains? For example, would you recommend spending twenty years
working on one type of product (e.g., websites) or twenty years spread
across mobile, games, web, software, voice, hardware, etc.?
>
> Obviously, this depends largely on what your personal interests are,
career goals, etc., but I am just curious what insights experience in this
field (e.g., surviving the dot com bubble) has given to those who are
further along in their careers than I am.
>
> Thanks,
> Phil
>
>
>
>
>
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