Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Emily Frances J

Did I miss out by not going to design school?

Photo credit: Faustin Tuyambaze, Unsplash

I was at a job interview for a graphic design role recently, and I got asked a question that threw me. It was about something I’ve thought a lot about, but never actually talked about out loud.

The question was:

‘What do you think you missed out on by not going to university?’

Now, I talk a lot about why I chose not to go to university, but I rarely talk about why part of me feels like I missed out. At the interview, I stumbled a bit over the answer to the question but chatting about it actually made me think about things from a different perspective.

So, without further ado, here’s a some of the things I feel I missed out on by not going to university:

Creative freedom

Talking to people who studied design at university, they seem to have done a number of creative projects that they had complete control over as part of their studies. They spent three years exploring their creativity, working out their style and doing self initiated projects.

Working at an advertising agency straight after school meant that I learned to design for a particular set of clients straight away. Luckily, I got to work on a varied client base and did have the opportunity to do self initiated projects, but I didn’t get the same kind of freedom I might have at university to work on what I want.

Saying that, I always did personal projects outside of school, so I made sure I carried on once I started working. This meant that I was exploring my creative style, just in a different way to those at university.

Meeting the right people

A lot of people meet lifelong friends at university, and also meet many people that will go into the same industry as them. If I’d had gone to university I would have met a completely different set of people, and in turn probably have got a wider range of industry contacts.

This was actually one of the things I was most anxious about when I left school. After all, It’s no secret that sometimes getting opportunities is all about ‘who you know’ and not ‘what you know’. I needn’t have worried really — I’ve met a lot of amazing people since I started my career!

Proof that I can do my job

I learnt how to be a designer on the job — I started as an apprentice, then spent two years working as a junior before being promoted to mid-weight in October 2015. Although I was relatively happy in my job then, I started looking around for other opportunities. I found myself in a kind of limbo — I had too much experience to apply for graduate and junior design roles, but the people I was competing against for mid-weight roles had the same years of experience as me plus a degree. I applied for jobs with varying success but rejections often left me wondering if I was unsuccessful because I didn’t have a degree.

I considered going to university, thinking it may help me prove I was a good designer, which led me to ask the question:

Does a degree actually prove you can do your job?

Of course, the answer is no. But with many jobs listing a degree as a requirement, how do you prove otherwise?

I don’t worry about this so much anymore — I’m almost five years into my career now. People hire me because they know I can do the job, and I can prove that through my work history and portfolio.

And last, but not least… Parties!

So everyone knows that a big part of university is the parties. When I decided to not go to uni I was a little worried that it would be all work and no play. Little did I know back then that sometimes advertising agencies are just one massive party…

In conclusion

In life, there will always be decisions to make that involve you missing out on something — it could be choosing career paths, choosing between two events happening at the same time, or just choosing what to eat at a restaurant. The fear of missing out can be annoying, but you’ve got to trust the decisions you make. There are times when I worry that I missed out by not going to university, but all in all I’m pretty happy with the decisions I’ve made in my career so far.

Did you feel like you missed out on anything because you did / didn’t go to university? Leave me a comment!

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Emily is a freelance graphic designer working in London, UK. Her portfolio can be found on emilyfrancesj.com or you can see what else she’s up to on http://ift.tt/2poB6N3

University and the Fear of Missing Out was originally published in Prototyping: From UX to Front End on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

University and the Fear of Missing Out

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