Reblogged from elushika:
I got my very first work experience when I was in high school. I was volunteering at the Audubon zoo in New Orleans. It was during the summer seasons, where I was doing a bit of filing in the membership office, photographing special events and talking to guests about my designated animal aka my partner in crime, a baby rainbow boa.
I was working throughout all my college years. After graduating in 2009, I got a full-time job as a design and UX lead in a small non-profit. I moved myself up to a product design firm, where I got to learn interactivity with physical products. I have design experience around 8 years and I am confident to say, that I know a thing or two about design.
Now I am a graduate student at School of Visual Arts, Interaction Design program and it’s that time where companies have posted their summer internship opportunities. Recruiters will receive at least 500 applications for one position.
So why should I go back to the beginning of my timeline and be an intern again?
Answer: This program is helping me to be a better designer and teaches me to adapt to new emerging design fields. As of right now, I do not know what type of designer I am, but I am not a digital designer anymore. I want to do more hardware and experience design work, where I get to play with Arduino sometimes. What does that make me, a product designer? An interaction designer? It is sought of starting from scratch, but from a whole new level of design. I am lucky to be back to the beginning because mistakes and experiments are highly encouraged.
