Jk because this is actually a week late.
Welcome, or welcome back! Apologies if this latest Substack post gets to y’all later than expected. I already finished my first week of work this past Friday on January 14 and it has been a breath of fresh air!
I’ll just get right into it.
What were some things I learned in my first week as a Product Designer?
My start-up brain is still intact and I’m trying to get used to working in big corporate again. I spent the past year working at a start-up. During my time there, I had gotten accustomed to pushing out pixel-perfect mock-ups and meeting multiple deadlines under a fast and high-paced environment. Now moving on to Corus, it didn’t click to me at all that is not how my team at Global News operates. While my first week onboarding was noticeably shorter, I thought it meant I had to get right into work. But, I received constant reminders from my team to take it easy. I’m not only learning the product, but also the team, and what is crucial to my role, our stakeholders - as Global News is a consumer-facing product.
Did I mention things move slow? I had a 1:1 chat with one of the other designers in my UX team regarding this. If you ever get in this situation where you may feel like you have nothing to do, take advantage of the time you have before you get thrown into work, work, and work.
Before joining Corus, I had a 3-week break to completely rest and recharge. Starting again as a Product Designer, my skills have gotten rusty, as I haven’t done any design-related work in almost a month. Aside from learning what Global News is and how users interact with the site, I also spend my downtime touching up on old skills, as well as learning new ones. From my previous post that I’ve mentioned I’ve gotten into accessibility, I’ve been attending a few online workshops and talks regarding stakeholder presentation. I wanted to learn this valuable skill because I was told this is something I’ll heavily be doing in my role.True onboarding doesn’t take just one week. Depending on your company, it can take up to a full year to learn the product you’re working on! I’m still processing this myself, but if I find I start to get comfortable or stagnant in my role, my personal hacks are to never stop asking questions and to always keep talking to my colleagues. And not just team and product onboarding, tailor your onboarding so that you can get to know other facets of the company. My manager gave me company-specific resources last week to aid in my personal and professional development, and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) I could join so I can get to know colleagues in different departments.
I have been told there are so many exciting projects I will have the chance to work on and I’m honoured my team has instilled trust with my design chops and expertise.
To end off the week, I mentored and judged two hackathons during the weekend - nwHacks and Hackville 2022!
What were some things I learned while mentoring and judging a hackathon?
Don’t explain too much about the design process. This includes things like wireframes or what UX research methods you conducted. In presenting to the judges, talk more about literally, the actual, working prototype you made. Describe and walk through the features you and your team built, and how does it address the problem statement.
Seeking help is more accessible. This could be due to shifting platforms online. When I was helping out at nwHacks, the mentors were even encouraged to help hackers outside of their scheduled timeslots, and aid in tickets that may not be a perfect match with their expertise. (eg. if a hacker asked for help with HTML/CSS, while I am mainly a Figma pal). I find that flagging down a mentor or one of the hackathon coordinators is easier and simpler. I recall one hackathon I attended in 2017 where you could only seek help via msging a mentor on Slack, and they physically had to find you on campus just to help you.
Attend the networking booths and workshops! There are tons of ways to get to know employers, especially ones that are hiring for internships & co-ops. I find that attending an employer’s booth is a perfect way get to know who they are as a company, and in return, who you are as a hacker, student, and potential employee. They see that you’re here to build something amazing and innovative. In my experience from attending regular conferences and networking events, you’re just a number, and because of this, employers don’t get the chance to know you personally.
I said I wanted to write once a week, but for now, I’ll play it by ear (or eye) and keep y’all updated once every couple of weeks. If I find that sudden, exciting things will be happening throughout the year, perhaps you’ll see me writing more often.
Take care, and cheers,