Most pressing Design career questions Answered - Special Episode 50

Welcome guys. Welcome, welcome. This is a very special episode, which is 50th episode. Thank you so much for a very good response from all the audience across the globe and particularly Spotify has given me like I've been streamed in more than what you call top streamed in three countries and totally have reached totally around nine countries. So thank you so much for this overwhelming reach and response. Totally. It's been around 400 plus minutes have been recorded. I hope you guys are enjoying this. So this particular podcast is not going to have any kind of topic or anything which I'll be teaching. So this is just a casual podcast and I'll be answering some of the pressing questions, what a design community really asks. And I've talked to more than 12,500 students, guys. Okay, so I've got some of the common questions which really process design students and this particular podcast is going to address all these things. Okay, with that, take a lot of notes. Let's dive into this specific special episode, guys. Welcome guys. Welcome, welcome. So this is a very special episode as I told you, right? So I will be answering some of the big questions, what a design community normally faces. Okay, so the very first question, what design community faces is I don't have a degree. Jagdish. How can I get a job in design? Let me answer guys. You don't need a degree to become a designer. You need a skill nobody cares for. Really a design degree in gone. It may seem like that superficial when it comes to recruitment. You need to share your design college degree. This, that, it's okay, fine, it's all certificate based, okay? But if you know how to talk to people, if you know how you can get a an interview arranged for you, there is no need of a design degree at all. You need to show your intention that you're going to solve a problem for that company and you have the right skill. Who cares if you have design degree or not, right? Like let's say if you're recruiting a person for your home, for your cleaning, your garden, as long as he's exhibiting that skill, you don't really care what degree he has, what degree he doesn't have, even if he has PhD degree. And what if he doesn't know about gardening skills? Will you recruit him? It's all about how you turn the tide to make sure you can solve the problem through your skills. So find a creative way. How you can show that through your resume, through your portfolio, through your communication, through your email, through your pitching, in your what you call in your LinkedIn messages, whatever to do that. Then you can able to code this. Okay, let me tell you guys, only 6,000 to 8,000 designers really passed out of India in a formal design colleges. Very, very, very few strength over the vacancy of close to 20,000 plus. You know in next five years the vacancy is going to be totally 1 lakh for designers alone in India. I'm saying so imagine how much of vacancies is there to the people who are passing out of the institute. So don't do. Do you really get the point? Like everybody is going to have only degree and they'll be selected. No, it's not even in my studio where I'm working, more than 50% of the designers are not having the proper degrees. Like they have come from a different background. They got inspired into this field and then they later shifted and then they learned through some program from coaching, some self education. Right? So this is the exact answer for you guys. Okay, so the second question, what students normally ask is I don't have time to learn. Can I tell you something guys? It's excuse which you are lying for yourself and then you are cheating yourself. I am having my program at the early morning, 5:30 to 7. Can you imagine? And students are waking up. You know the attendance percentage of my class, it is 91 percentage. 85 percentage to 91 percentage is the average which I am facing. So it's not about that. If you want you can wake up early and you can start reading on your own. You can do projects, you can have a good program. You can, you can join program like this as well, right? If you have time constraint right after 7 o' clock you can go for your office. I have weekend calls which is like a Saturday or Sundays. Have a full day class and help students. So it's not about time, it's about your mind, it's about your priority. If you're able to remove that resistance, you will get plenty of time to learn. Okay, so the third question is, hey, design really have scope in India. How should I really know it? Let me tell you guys, design is definitely a huge boom in India particularly. We have turned ourselves into a service economy, into a creative economy. There are a lot of creators, there are a lot of designers, there are a lot of freelancers. Never before five years to the trend currently now. Okay? So the thing is we are actually largely a service based economy before 10, 15 years. Okay. We used to have a lot of IT industries, we used to do a lot of consultings. But right now the situation is different. We are all becoming more creative. We are all serving the design needs. We are all serving the creative needs of India as well as global economy. So the rise of designers and creative freelancer is becoming more. An average freelancer earns from Rupees 5000 to 50,000 per hour. Also in India. I'm saying average and it's not like that before. Okay? So the scope has increased. So the job vacancies have increased. I've already showed you statistics also. So definitely the scope is there. If you see any product, if you see any kind of a problem which is getting solved, you can see the design behind it. Either it will be a physical product or it will be a digital product, right? See, 15 years ago, people used to go and stand in the bank to do the payment, right? They spend half an hour or two hours to make a transaction in the bank and then they come back. Right? Now we can do it in less than 10 seconds. That is the power of having design, right? It's interface design, it's experience design. How a complex coding can be simplified for a person who don't even know how to operate. Mobile can make the transaction in less than 10 seconds. That is the power of designer. That is the power of having the interface designed for that. So design scope is very huge and it's going to become even more higher in the future. Okay. And the fourth important question, what students normally ask me is when they applying for a job, they are asking, can you relocate to our city? The best way to answer this question is you have to ask again what you exactly mean, Mr. HR. They will clarify that again. Okay? We are looking for some candidate in the Bangalore who can work one or two days per week. Maybe they can work in a hybrid mode and they can stay in our location less than 30 km. Right? So when a question is being asked by HR or somebody, you need to ask again and clarify yourself or what exactly they mean. Don't just try to answer it. Don't just be in a hurry. Normally I tell my students when they go for interview, you need to listen, observe, take time and then respond. Don't react. Okay? So when they ask a question like can you relocate? You need to ask. Okay, okay. If that is the case, show that interest and enthusiasm that you can relocate. People like when you are able to come to their place and work most probably, right? And people like when you're accepting for their terms and conditions, yeah, you can negotiate over that. That's secondary. But you can also show your interest. Hey, yeah, I'm 100% okay with that I'm able to come to Delhi, I'm able to come to Bombay, no problem. But give me some time, give me some relocation allowance, give me some kind of benefits like I have to match the cost of living. That can be a secondary point. But primarily show your interest when they ask for relocation. Okay? So read about your job description and have a clarity before you apply for that. Because if they are looking for somebody to stay in Bangalore or Mumbai or Delhi, definitely you need to say yes. If you're saying no, I would suggest don't apply for that interview at all. It's a waste of time. Go and find a place which is comfortable for you. Okay? Yes. So the fifth question is what is your expectation in salary? One of the prominent questions what recruiters ask, right? People normally keep mouth shut or they answer something like that randomly, right? When a question is asked like that, you need to ask again the same strategy. What you mean exactly your expectation, hr, they'll say, okay Jagdish, I'm asking you how much is your CTC, what you're expecting because already you are getting 6 LPA. How much is your expectation? What you're saying? See now the question becomes more clearer, right? And they can also tell you like we are looking for something like 6 to 10 LPA only. What is your expectation? Tell me now you got the range also. So when you ask a question like can you what you mean exactly, People will be able to clarify it more better. Then what happens is you will get a clarity in the question. A lot of people don't understand this. You can apply the strategy for all the questions, guys. Then you will be able to have a lot of clarity in that. Okay? And when you're able to answer like let's say what is your expectation? You should have done your research properly before going and answering that. You should have an average pay scale, you should have a region based pay scale. If you have a designation based pay scale, you should have a experience based pay scale. And then you need to have the four numbers with you ready. Once your numbers are ready then you can answer that. If you don't have ask them a time like hey, can you just wait for 10 minutes, I'll give you a call back. Let me take some little time. So buy time. When you don't know some answer, don't just react there. Okay? So pause a moment, ask them politely and then you can reply them. Okay? That's a great way to answer this particular question. And then you can tell your figures and then you can show your Intention of the salary. Normally speaking, when an interview is completed, it is good to have the salary negotiation later. Not in the initial stages. Initially you can ask what is the range and everything. But negotiation can be done later and this expectation can be told like so can you have the interview and have this conversation? I would be happy to first take an interview and get to know if that person is again still asking. Then you can tell this thing. Okay, this is the question, this is the answer. So the next question which is when it comes to specific UX research role, what do employers and team leads expect from people when they shortlist and interview them for a UX design research position? Let me tell you guys, when they take for UX research position, they expect how is your ability to collect data information and infer some insights out of it? Okay. Whether it's a team lead or an employer or anybody, they expect this as supposed to. This is an expectation from you. Because if they wanted a research specific role, you should be able to demonstrate your project. Also through some research project you can do some dummy projects, you can do some real projects also, no problem. So you have to show the skills of primary research, secondary research, qualitative analysis. How did you analyze that? You have to show like you did for a field visit and then you collected some photographs, videos, you talk to people, interview, survey, like this kind of expectations will be there and you can show that in your portfolio as well. Okay, okay, this is the other question. So the sixth question what I what I can ask. Seventh question, what I can answer is what is the meaning and importance of a portfolio for companies who are looking for UX designers? First of all, portfolio itself is definitely not a very, very big deal. You need to showcase your project. Okay, so normally there's a word which is fancily made in design terminology which is called portfolio. Don't. Don't get too much worried about it and don't get feel stuck Also okay, When it comes to UX design role, at any role, you have to have the projects showcased in some method. That's what they mean. Portfolio simple, you can show in your LinkedIn page also about that project. That's not the point. You can show a website also. You can show your PDF file also. So portfolio could be anything. But when you are able to come for a UX design role, what they mean exactly. Portfolio showcasing of your work. Remember guys, portfolio is your reflection of of your personality and your behavior. If you're able to showcase through that, that's what people are really looking for. It's as simple as that. Okay, so the eighth question is how many case studies are enough for a what you call 5 to 10 years old experienced visual designer or a web designer who gets transformed into a UX designer position? First of all, this itself is a myth. You don't need any projects or you if you have 20 projects also, how does it matter unless until if you're not able to show your skill set, if you're not able to convince me that I can solve the problem of your company, nobody's going to hire you. Make sure you demonstrate that. Guys having 20 project, 10 project, 5 project, there is no count or specific like that. You can have one good project showcasing this, you can have three good projects showcasing this different variety of elements. That's totally fine. If you don't have projects. Also just showcase some case studies where you experience this in your visual design, in your web design, maybe a similar interference with designers you had. You can code that also as a example and a skill set so that people can trust you and believe you. Right? It's as simple as that. So the ninth question is how many years of experience is really needed for a UX design role? Absolutely no experience required. If you have experience, it's advantage. That's it. Because everybody starts up as a fresher, right? Do you think nobody in the world is going to give any opportunity for fresher? It's all completely. It shows that the student is having that scarcity mindset when. When a question is asked like that. There are huge vacancy for UX researchers being a fresher, right? So it's definitely needed, definitely not required of any kind of an experience. If you have experience, it's good. Okay, so the 10th question is if I become a UX designer from a web visual designer, if I'm just a second guys, if I'm. If I become a UX designer from a visual web designer, how will my past experience be helpful in UX design job or role? Do people really notice your past design relevant experience when they are going to hire you as a UX design guy? Yes, the answer is definitely. They'll see your existing work and if you wanted to become that designer, how your past experience is helpful is you need to choose some project which you did, which is more of interface related, which is more of experience related, which is more of solving a problem, try to take out that and showcase that. Then people will definitely be able to see that, see the way in which you showcase your portfolio matters, right? So when you're able to showcase that in your portfolio as A first project. People will notice that that's it. You're going to be asked questions based on that. Definitely it is. Yes. Okay, so the 11th question is how do people really impress? How to impress people in interview as a UX candidate? This is absolutely. What do you call? First of all, you don't need to. You don't have to impress anybody if you are in that mindset. You need to change first. If you're looking to impress somebody, probably design field is not for you. Design is all about showcasing your authenticity and originality and honesty, right? So you don't have to really try to impress anyone. You have to show as it is why you wanted to be a designer. Why are you really interested in taking up this role? Why are you interested in joining this company? If you're able to showcase that, you will be more than enough to select guys. You don't need any skills to impress anybody. That's a wrong way to actually approach it. And mostly it will be backfired. Mostly you'll have emotional ups and downs when you're able to go in that method. The twelfth question what students ask is how to find out the right UX design research profile job. First of all, you need to write about yourself. You need to write about your strength, weakness, your particular struggles and your basically your tools, your knowledge in communication, your knowledge in different different skill set in design and then go and find exactly which is matching for you. It's all about matchmaking, guys, right? When it comes to marriage, people do all this astrological nine matchmaking and then they go for a marriage, right? Similarly, you need to make a matchmaking. I take a specific class for my students which is two to three hours of how they can do a matchmaking real time for an industry before applying a job. Because when you do a matchmaking, what happens is 99% you will get selected guys. Only one percentage rejection will come. So it is really good. First you write down your skills and then you find an industry accordingly. Then you will find the right UX design profile jobs. You can use LinkedIn, you can use indeed you can use Monsters Glassdoor. There are lots of job portals you can go and approach for design interviews, guys. Okay, so the next question what students ask is if a designer solves some unique problem with design thinking methods and prepares a detailed case study. Is that the case? Only that I will have to that one case I'll be enough to impress interviews or a UX designer must have at least four to five case studies. It is completely again a myth. It's like I need to have two, three case studies to impress somebody or I need to have demonstrated my unique design thinking methodology. There is a word before the word terminology design thinking appeared. You know, design thinking word actually came from Tim Brown from Change by Design. Okay. He's a person who is working in design studio in Ido. Okay. David Kelly and Tim Brown. So these guys have actually formed this world. So design was also there before this guys framed this terminology 20, 30 years before. Right? So absolutely. This question is like you need to. You are constraining yourself in a framework. Don't do that. Think on your own what is really design means for you. Use your methodology and framework to showcase solving that problem. One good case study is enough guys to showcase and get the things done. You don't need four or five case studies. That's not really true. Okay, so the next question is, how can I look different from a crowd in the UX field? Simple, straightforward. One answer. You need to show your authenticity, originality and honesty. Automatically you'll be standing out of the crowd. Everybody is unique, right? Nobody's same. Our fingerprint is unique, our eye retina is unique. So everybody is really, really, really, really unique. So if you're able to show that, that itself will make you stand out because you don't need any g boomba techniques and all here. Okay, so the next question is, do I need to show UX principles for all the design decisions? No, it's not required. You need to think from your customer perspective. Are you really solving the problem? Then you are done with the solution. You don't need to go from a theory, principle, formula, method and then totally you will forget the user when you go by this way in your process. Like let's say if you're solving the problem of a customer, if your methodology says okay, you have used certain UX loss, which is like standards and consistency to solve this problem, then you can code that always come from the customer and then go back. When any UX law forms it don't go by, I will memorize some UX10 loss. Then I will go and solve this problem. Then I will code that it's. It's all about your getting your. You're impressing somebody. That's what you're trying to do. That's not the correct mindset, right? So ask the question whether customer problem is solved or not. Then automatically you will find the principle which is related to it. If it is not having any principle, leave it. That's okay. No problem. There is no mandatory Indian penal Code, law, rule, something like you need to have some UX principles applied, right? These kind of people are rigid mindset people. Most probably they will not be coming into design creative field at all. Even if they come, they will not be able to succeed for a longer time because of stagnation, because of rigidness, because of not fluid flowing, because of not having a proper guidance and mentorship or maybe a peer support or something like awareness is not there for that candidate. That's what this, when I understand this question, that's what I can understand the mindset of a people. If you talk to me for 10 to 15 minutes being a designer, I can exactly tell you where you're stuck in your field, guys. Because I've talked to more than what do you call 12,500 students. So lot of patterns I've observed in students, lot of patterns I've seen like how people really react, how people really come out of the problem, what are the major thing what people face. So mindset is 80 percentage, skill set is 20 percentage. As you need to understand this. Okay, so next question what people do is people ask is how do people notice that you have real interest and passion for UX design? It shows up when you talk to an interviewer. It shows up when you showcase your portfolio. That one cover page will show how much interested you are. That one introduction of first one minute will showcase how much interested you are. See guys, interest and enthusiasm will get you a good job, will get you anything done. It's not the skills. What you have skills comes little later, right? Even without skills, also with your mindset you can get a job 100%. It's possible. A lot of people don't agree with this, but it's 100% possible. And I've seen hundreds of people doing this myself. I did cracked interviews using this even though my skill set was slow. Later I went for that and then I've joined and I've learned and then I picked up the skill. Even some of the HR 20, 25 years hrs has told me skills can be learned, mindset cannot be learned. It is difficult to teach a person attitude rather than teaching a skill. Some of the prominent hrs have told this means you need to understand this. Okay? So if you're able to showcase that high interest level and enthusiasm, people will find out guys, you're passionate or not. You don't need to put any kind of a makeup for you. You just have to be honest, genuine, real and you have to show your interest. And hey, I've come for this design field to really change the way in which we interact with applications. That's the reason I've been in this design field. I have come to this design field, the way in which the product design field is moving. I can solve lot many problems. More than anybody who is solving any politician, any doctor, any environmentalist, any engineer who is solving a problem. I myself as a designer can solve the problem. Look, my portfolio is showcasing already I solved two problems which no product is there in the market. When you are able to pitch this kind of a sentences, people will definitely hire you. People will give you chance of interview. At least people will give you some design tasks to analyze your skill, right? So this is very important. The first one minute. The next question is how can I present UX psychology principles knowledge in a UX case study? You don't need to present any psychology principles, guys. That's not the point. I already addressed this particular question also. Right? So come from your user. But the other other question what students ask is should I remove my old visual design projects from existing behance profile or portfolio or combine them into a group project with the names like old project, past UI design project, my fast visual design project. Definitely you can put categories of project but you don't have to put old, new and all. There is nothing called old new indesign. It's about. Let's say if you have a visual design project, you can put that. If you have any particular communication related project, you can put that. If you have any poster related project, you can segregate. That way you don't have to remove anything guys, as it is what you have, you can group it and showcase it neatly so that people will get to know what is your whole journey when you're doing this, when you're learning this. Okay, so the other question, what normally students ask is Jagdish. I don't know how to connect in LinkedIn with different people. It's a very good question. Normally students ask, right? See guys, it's actually called cold calling when you're able to talk to a fresher. Remember these three strategies. First is you need to set the introduction and the context of why you're talking to that person. Second is you need to build that trust with that person. Okay? You have to show some credibility that you are from so and so. You are a student, you are a design job seeker, you are working in some design organization. If you are somebody, you tell them honestly what is your trust and credibility and establish that. Then ask them a question and make them to Take some action. Okay, so three things, guys. First is introduction and setting the context why you're talking to that person. Don't tell that hi guy, good morning and all. That's not the point. Start with the subject and specifically address them if you are focusing on LinkedIn, Facebook or any other platform. Because when you're doing networking, it's a very important skill. I've separately recorded a podcast in networking where I've gone deep. You can go through that. But here I'll tell you main three elements. First of all, introduction and context. Second is building the trust and credibility with that person. Then they feel very comfortable talking to you. Then you have to actually make them take action. Hey. Hi, I'm Jagdish. So and so I'm actually coming from a design background. I've studied in Design Institute. Right now I'm looking for some good designers who can give you some feedback from a portfolio. Right. See now you built the trust, you introduced yourself and then you can ask them, can we have a short call, Brother, at today 5:00 clock for just five minutes to showcase my portfolio. I would be really happy if you give me some feedback because I can see that your profile is really good. Your experienced designer. I am really happy. Like I get a very privileged review from you. Can we have it 5 o'? Clock? If you are able to tell the time, day and a specific thing, then some action is coming. Don't just open, keep the communication open. Bro, can you give me my portfolio review? He will say yes and then you will also leave the communication. He will also. You will also be expecting that guy will reply no. Make sure you put an action point and close that. Like let's say if a HR is saying, okay, we'll get back to you. You can ask exactly when you are going to get back to me. Hr, is it tomorrow morning or evening or is it through email or phone call? When can I expect? Okay, so when you're able to close this with an action point, then you will have a clarity in moving power. A lot of people don't do this because it's a cold calling kind of an activity. People are very strange to talk to different, different people. Right? So that's the habit which we don't develop at all. So we need to develop this of connecting with different people in LinkedIn. Okay. So the other question what people ask is can I really get a product design role when I'm coming from a software background? Absolutely possible. Guys. See as long as you're able to showcase the passionate how you can become a designer and you can solve the problem and how your skill set can help that company. They don't care you come from agriculture background or software background. I'll tell you guys, I'm from a mechanical background. There is no absolute correlation between what I'm doing now and the engineering studies. What I did, of course that helped me a lot in terms of building products, building experience, building product development, solutions. But right now design is something very different when it comes to industrial design, product design and UI UX design. Okay? The way in which engineering design, which I've learned in mechanical design is something very different. So it doesn't require any kind of a background. It all needs is your interest and your involvement and your skill set of how you can solve the problem for industry through your skill set. I've repeated more than five times the statement in this podcast so you can understand how important it is. People absolutely forget this. They only focus on superficial things. They don't get the core. Every recruiter is looking for somebody who can solve the problem and improve their business through their skill set. Right? If you're able to showcase through your portfolio and resume, that's it. No, nothing is resistant for you to get application or get selected in the interview. Getting 50, 60,000 is nothing, guys. In design, even getting 1 lakh is very normal. So that's what I've designed my students also for a 49 day journey where they can go and reach 1 lakh in just less than three months. Two months they'll get trained and one month they'll focus on this job and portfolio and projecting themselves and preparing and they'll be able to get in less than three months. So the point is, nothing is impossible if you know the right methods and the mindset to move forward in this. Okay, so more than 20 questions I've answered, guys, there are a lot many questions I still have to be answered. More than 155 questions I have to answer. But to be very honest, I wanted to make this podcast very short. I was already 27th minute. If you are listening to it, definitely you're damn serious and you are serious about your education. If you wanted to make this as an action point, please connect with me and watch my program how it can help you excel into your career. If you're thinking about designer, if you wanted to become a designer, or if you're a software background where you want to come to design, if you're a different background, you want to come to design, hit that email and I will interact with you and if you are qualified, definitely I'll be able to take for my mentorship program to help you. Okay. I hope this podcast would have given you clarity in some of the misclarifications and misconceptions. Thank you so much guys. And thank you for the Support for this 50th episode and special episode. See you. Take care. Bye bye. And if you feel this podcast useful, give me a best star rating, guys. Okay? Take care. All the best, Sam.