Whenever I work with a new designer, I think of myself back then, and I see how patient my mentors must have been with me. It took me more than eight years of working 50 to 100-hour weeks before I started to feel like I knew what I was doing, and the imposter syndrome started to fade (It’s still not gone). But that’s what I felt it would take to break into the industry. I did the math, and I was making less than $4/hr. I worked so many hours that they had to “pay me a salary,” basically capping my hours at 40 per week. Wade Olsen and that whole crew took a chance on hiring me. Luckily their Junior designer was leaving around that time, and a position opened up for me. I was persistent, though, and kept doing more work for free. It was frustrating for both of us, I’m sure. Despite feeling that I had a knack for design, I sucked. I must have done twenty versions of that thing, trying to get it close to the quality of work they expected. He eventually relented and gave me a custom slide deck template they were doing for a client. I begged Adam Smith to give me a project. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any openings though. He’d started a creative marketing agency, and I desperately wanted to work with him there. So, I quit my job without having anything lined up and leaped.Įarlier in 2007, I met Clay Olsen □. I realized that if I didn’t quit my job as an Apple Repair Tech and make the leap, it would never happen. I got my first actual design job in 2008.
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