Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Martin Jeremiah Jarmin Photo by Ryan Hafey on Unsplash

I took up Multimedia Arts as my course for college. It was a fun and grueling four years of study. In a span of what seemed like eternity, I was able to get my hands dirty with countless forms of art: writing, photography, filmmaking, TV production, animation, etc. It was difficult to fine tune the telescope because there were just too many stars and galaxies to count but eventually I decided to dedicate my time and effort to motion design.

After walking up to the stage to receive my diploma, I thought that this was it. I was ready. But guess what, I was wrong. I was sooooo wrong. Nothing could have prepared me for the real world. It’s gritty and full of complications. But I’m not trying to scare you okay, just clearing things out before you continue reading this entry.

I’m here today to share to you some pointers that serve as learnings for me after college. Let’s start shall we?

1. What you learned from school isn’t necessarily the best way to go with on certain situations.

In school, we were taught to find solutions to problems through a methodological way. You first have to do this, before doing this. It doesn’t always work. You have to think of the unconventional and conduct multiple experiments until you get the right mix and result.

It’s difficult at first because we got so used to following a system. We only see things in black and white. Try to add some color to your life. There’s nothing wrong in trying out something new.

This may sound adventurous to some but there will come a time that you’ll have to break the rules to get what you want and fulfill what the job needs.

2. You’ll deal with a lot of complicated people.

The minute you walk inside those glass doors you’ll find yourself in awe at the amount of diversity present in the thick rainforest. To the right is a creature who’s very meticulous and by the books. To him/her, late is late even though there’s a justifiable reason behind it.

To the left, is a species that’s so common you vomit by simply laying your eyes on them. They’re the ones who think highly of themselves as if they were the bosses. They are very difficult to work with. A disgrace to the kingdom if I may say.

To the back, is the type that will completely ignore you even though you’re just sitting right beside him/her. You could never know what he/she is thinking about. Is he/she a snob or simply a shy creature who’s very weary to new critters?

In front, is a type of creature who’s very friendly and will ask you to eat with his/her herd on your baptism. This is the type that I like, very open and warm. This species makes you feel at home even though it’s just your first day.

Above are just a few of the characters that you’ll encounter in your workplace. Very exciting ain’t it?

3. “Okay” is never fine.

In a world like today where anyone can pretty much do what you can do, you have to find a way to stand out. It’s difficult. It’s tiring. But it’s necessary if you want to progress in this factory where only the good ones are kept and the bad ones thrown out.

You’ll be pushed and grilled to the boiling point. But eventually you’ll get used to the high standards and trust me, you’ll crave for it if you feel like you’re working on a mediocre project.

4. You can never avoid burnouts.

I’m sorry but the above statement is true. I’ve experienced it firsthand. You’ll shed a tear or even bring in a tsunami because the amount of work far exceeds your loading capacity.

We all have different ways of dealing with stress. Mine is playing FIFA (12, yes I’m way behind I KNOW. Largely due to the fact that I don’t have either a PS or Xbox.) and watching series online and movies. Yours might be through going to the gym or playing a sport. The important thing is we all have our ways in lifting ourselves from the dark abyss. We are humans after all.

5. Stay inspired.

To those who are in the same line of work as me, this is probably one of the hardest things to do as a creative. I often go to websites like Behance, Dribbble, and Vimeo to keep my fire burning (Somewhat?). Although there were of course bad days wherein my brain cells weren’t functioning at all no matter how hard I tried. It sucks.

Again, how we deal with this kind of situation depends on us. We handle things differently and I think that’s good. We won’t have to force ourselves into doing this and that because we were told to.

6. Get some proper sleep.

This last item. THIS LAST ITEM! Please please get some sleep! I myself am guilty of staying up late due to either work or some other things that are deemed “fun” to me. Sleeping late affects how our minds work during the day. We feel empty inside and tired even though we already drank our morning coffee.

I’m just starting to fix my body clock and I have to tell you, it’s hard! I already got used to sleeping late and waking up early in the morning but I was well aware that I had to change this if I want to live longer. So hopefully you’ll do the same thing too. Everyone please, get some sleep!

Summary

You go to school to learn and afterwards apply those learnings to your real life. Though sometimes you have to think outside the box to come up with a solution to a problem.

Be prepared to deal with different types of people. Have patience to some of them.

Don’t be satisfied with mediocre work. Aim higher and work harder.

Burnouts will happen. #Realityhits

Stay inspired. Keep that fire burning!

And lastly, sleep!

Now that you’ve reached the end of this entry, I hope that you’ve taken into account some of the pointers that are listed above. Nothing could have prepared me for life after college, all the responsibilities and pressure involved. But I hope that what I have written could somehow help you in one way or another. I guess it’s time to close this book. That’s all for now folks!

The Reel Life: Lessons after college was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Reel Life: Lessons after college

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