What I wish someone told me about career changes

Breaking into ID from an adjacent career like engineering or architecture is an non intuitive path to navigate. In your eyes, you see your world in one way and all your potential employers are actively not looking at your world. You might think, easy enough to solve, they’re just busy so I’ll show them my world and everything will click into place.

Maybe you can prove you’ve solved complex problems. You’ve already spent years learning to iterate past failure, and your previous work of designing a whole house ought to demonstrate that. What about four years in college building interpersonal skills, then expanding on them in a previous career. We can’t not take those into account. These skills will strengthen your new career output, and there has to be a way for others to recognize that.

Well, I’ve finally realized how, and I feel a little silly for missing something so simple: prove it in their world. Make a product that you failed at 100 times before feeling satisfied. They will see the difference. Network your way into the radars of the people making hiring decisions and be personable. Communicating indirectly that previous skills should transfer reads as potential. In the competitive field of ID, potential simply isn’t enough. In reality, employers see your world and think you didn’t try hard enough.

Hanging on to the fumes of your previous career in the messy narrative that is your story causes this miscommunication. Once you commit to communicating problem-solving ability through intentional, relevant design decisions, the effort shines through.

Immersing yourself in ID and presenting yourself simply as a strong designer is the most effective way to communicate years of effort, learnings, and growth gained from your previous career. Omitting that experience doesn’t throw it away, it lets it speak for itself without clouding the narrative.