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Designers & age
over 5 years ago from Joao Carvalho, UX Designer
Joao Carvalho, over 5 years ago Can you elaborate a bit more the part of changing career when companies don't want older people? I do agree with you about old people but I'm interested to know how do you fix a career change when you reach a specific age.
Ken Em, over 5 years ago I will let you know when I figure it out! :D It's definitely a challenge when you are older to move into another field. It's essentially starting over and it doesn't happen quickly. I'm moving into land conservation which is something I'm passionate about. I've spent the last year volunteering and networking, getting to know people, and learning as much as I can about the field (pardon the pun). It's only now that some opportunities are starting to present themselves as a result of this outreach. It's definitely a slow process that comes with a lot of risk.
Kevan Lin, over 5 years ago
@Ken M - You've mentioned a few things that are deterrents and negative aspects of our industry. In the last 30 years of being a designer, what has motivated you to continue on in this field? Has it been the work? the people? the process?
I'm curious to know your motivation, as I'm sure others are as well, so that I might be able to make that decision on whether or not to continue in this career. Everything that sparkled in the past looks dull now in comparison.
Thanks!
Ken Em, over 5 years ago Admittedly, I got complacent in my last full-time position and that kept me there longer than it should have. It wasn't until I left that job and moved to another state that I realized, hey, doing this other thing might be better for me.
As far as what motivated me in the past, it was trying to deliver a clear, simple message to the user. I come from a news background, so it was important that we presented stories to readers quickly and clearly. In this particular industry, you need to work with lots of other players, so it was often a challenge to reach that goal. But when it worked, it was very satisfying.
Nemanja Nenadic, over 5 years ago
I'm 30 years old (doing this since my early 20s) and I'm sick of AR's, VR's, UIs, UXes, Prototyping and other buzzwords. How you should code this/design this articles and such... WordPress ninjas, Development rock stars... So it's probably more a point of view than an "age issue".
But I still love finding new ways to do stuff, learning new frameworks and tools that help be get s**t done.
One thing I'm noticing is, even tough I'm Web Designer, lately, I enjoy development part of my work more than design parts.
Maybe that's where I'm headed, maybe it's just temporary...
Ken Em, over 5 years ago Yeah, the buzzwords are a bit much. When did "ideation" and "let me show you my works" become a thing?
Interested Curious, over 5 years ago The interesting part of this is that it's a combination of things but a lot has to do with the model of workforce not adapting to how rapidly tech is cycling and how much the workplace, work force retention and workplace learning is changing. I feel like it's a complex discussion that effects a huge amount of industries especially to ones as focal to business creation as the types of design.
Also the closer entwined you get with marketing the more floodgates for using as many acronyms as humanly possible in a single sentence becomes a thing sadly.
Liam Wheaton, over 5 years ago
TIL new technologies are buzzwords lmao
It's not about new technologies as much as overusing them. UI, UX, prototyping etc. is nothing new and we're overwhelmed by self proclaimed gurus and their medium/twitter/facebook/blog posts.
We're in an age where people talk more about their work then they actually work.
Interested Curious, over 5 years ago Oh thats definitely always been the case, I just feel like it might be easier to share it and that people are being taught that its the only way to get hired.
Fellow designers tend to be jaded, while the onlookers from outside may feel like "hey he's got a blog and some followers, this guy knows his stuff"
Bruce Vang, over 5 years ago I like the information sharing that we have. There's a high demand/low supply of information on new technology and tools. I don't need to learn from a PHD. If it's taught by a certified school, it's already old.
Adetunji Paul, over 5 years ago
We are also in an age where it's nearly impossible for young designers to get noticed for work opportunities without being reputable online. Which as they're trying to tell us is by living two lives, one online and the other in the real. It's something like a wall I've come up against many times but it's driven by the clientside habits. When i get recommended for work, my clients Google me first, and those first 3 results are the difference between hired and pass on most days. It's just the way life is now.
Interested Curious, over 5 years ago This is super interesting (i've got to stop starting posts this way haha). I'm imagining those who are super passionate about design, especially visual and such want to become the "them" at the later points in their career. and it's understandable that everyone doesn't want that and instead may want to apply their design learning to solving other world or life problems they feel they can impact.
I've been a designer for 30 years, and I'm pretty much done with the industry at age 51. My priorities and interests have changed, especially in the last decade. I'm still interested in design and probably always will be, but I've just grown so tired of the bullshit in this field. Too many egos and the profession at large is just not respected or valued by many. We are also dinosaurs when it comes to hiring. Companies don't want older, experienced designers. They want younger, fresh out of school people they don't have to pay a lot of money to. At this point in my life, I'd rather put my energies into a career change that will make me happier.