Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Reed Knecht

So, go the distance

College.

University.

Uni if you’re European.

Call it what you want.

Going to college is one of those things that we’re told we “should” do from day one. Society said it, everyone nodded their heads in blank agreement, and the world has been that way ever since.

From that point on, the only way you could be accepted for most jobs was by getting a bachelor’s degree — maybe an associate’s if you were lucky. So now, almost everyone goes to college, because getting a good job is a thing.

Students go into an unnecessary amount of debt for it before they can ever really start their lives, and not enough is ever really gained back from it. Don’t even get me started on the useless frivolity of general education classes.

Opinion: our education system cannot and will not truly teach you what you need to succeed in your job, let alone in life.

You simply have to have the boldness to educate yourself.

During my first year as a design student, I was like most of my peers. Much of my time was spent lackadaisically taking classes, not sure of what I really wanted to accomplish in my future career.

During the beginning of my second-year, I had a sort of wake-up call. My career goals were beginning to form, and the things I wanted to do within the next five years were incredibly out of my league. The skills I was gaining from school and even my internship weren’t enough to get me where I wanted to go.

In desperation, I started contacting strangers on LinkedIn for career advice, signing up for Hackathons/StartupWeekends, reading design blogs, going the extra step in school assignments, and trying to find additional side-projects to complete.

Don’t get me wrong. Design school and college are fine. But, it’s what you do with the time your attending them that matters. By now, I’ve heard over and over again from design professionals that if I’m just doing projects for school, I’m not doing enough.

Tips:

Sign up for sites like Lynda or Skillshare (which is one I’m currently going though, and it’s fantastic!). Explore various classes and create your own side projects based off of them. This can help to pin down specific niches that you might be best at such as lettering or UX/UI design.
Spend a lot of time thinking of what your dream design position/job would be. Research the skills that professionals in that particular area are best at and focus on those in your spare time. If possible, reach out to those professionals. Ask what design skills they recommend perfecting and how exactly they were able to achieve the qualifications for their position.
Watch Youtube videos, read blogs, buy books, etc. Go places you’ve never been and explore the world around you. It’s just as important to consume as much creative content as you put out.

The bottom line is that your portfolio isn’t going to grow itself, and if you’re frustrated with the type, amount, or quality of assignments assigned at school, then you have to give yourself that work.

It takes a little bit of skill and a lot of hard work to accomplish your career goals. So, instead of relying on a defective education system, do your own work, go the distance, and pursue your dreams.

<a href="https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href">https://medium.com/media/b85dfbb5286d8a25cf2e754b9462cf45/href</a>

College Will Never Be Enough was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

College Will Never Be Enough

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