Thoughts About Internship Search

I’ve been wanting to write a post about this for a while now, but the thought of trying to synthesize the past month into words is more than intimidating. At last, here I am, writing about my experience with internship finding, and while I still have a long way to go, I’d like to share some insights that I’ve gathered throughout the process. This past month was in simplest terms crazy. The amount of knowledge and experience that I have acquired throughout this process is undeniably invaluable. To provide a little bit of a context, my internship search primarily started with Confluence, which is an annual job fair devoted to creative careers (design, architecture, art…etc.) at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, Confluence is often very HCI/interaction design oriented, so I lucked out on that, since a good portion of my work is interaction design. But here are just some insights that I’ve garnered throughout my experience. Most are common sense, but the significance of each will ultimately contribute to the success of your internship finding. 

1. Start Early, Document Regularly. Don’t expect yourself to have a well put together portfolio 3 days before job fairs or internship search season. If they are school projects, remember to spend the time to document them well enough throughout the process so that you won’t have to re-do all the documentation. 

2. Prepare yourself. Don’t expect internship opportunities if you haven’t prepared yourself for it. Work on that portfolio. Practice the pitch. Tell the story. Make it compelling. Simpler said than done, I spent countless hours making my portfolio this year, and I think at the least what my portfolio was able to show is the passion I have for what I do, and how I define myself as a designer.

3. Make the story known. Kind of an extension from the first point, make each portfolio piece a compelling story. Describing features is never as compelling as telling a story. Probably one of the biggest take aways this year, and one of things that I really need to improve on. 

4. Say Hello. And by that, I mean really just get yourself out there. Introduce yourself to people. My internship this summer in fact sprouted from a completely unintentional introduction. I introduced myself to visitors in my studio not knowing who I’m talking to, and who knew it would actually lead to my summer internship. While this may not be applicable in every instance, the take away is that opportunities are everywhere, so don’t exclude yourself from any possibilities. 

5. Be confident. Ideally we’d all want our portfolio piece to be the best, but truthfully speaking, that’s hard to do. Do your best to produce the best work you can, but once you’re out there talking about your work, be confident, and even if your work is not 100% perfect, emphasize the points that are strongest about each project. Sometimes the confidence in your presentation can make people overlook the weaknesses. That said, DO NOT take this as a suggestion to create mediocre work. Always aim for the best. 

6. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. If you happen to have more than one offer, which I’m really grateful for this year :), take the time to really think through each opportunity. Aside from compensation, which is nonetheless important, remember to think about what you’ll really enjoy doing. I happen to have more than one offer this year, respectively from Google, LinkedIn, and Ness Computing. All were enticing in their own ways, and while the obvious choice might have been Google or LinkedIn, I’ve ultimately decided to choose Ness Computing. Of course, I’d be lying if I said that the compensation was not enticing, but what contributed to my decision mostly was the type of work I’ll be doing as well as the environment I’ll be working in. 

7. Take a break. You deserve it after all. Knowing that you’ve worked hard for the opportunities, give your self some time to also relax and reflect. I mostly added this because this was seriously lacking, and I just wished that I had more time to myself to really make a better transition back to regular schoolwork. 

8. No Opportunities? No Problem. Summer isn’t all about internships. I know plenty of people who make their summers productive by doing things they love and starting their own projects. Take the time to learn something new. This especially applies to freshmen and sophomores. Knowing that this is probably going to be your last real summers, find something that you’re interested in doing and take the time to do it. Opportunities are what you make of it, and you never know what kinds of valuable experiences can result.

Perhaps these insights aren’t so insightful or revolutionary after all. But at the least they will serve as reminders for me as I move into my senior year. I hope this will also be of help to young designers out there who are just like me a month ago, freaking out about internships. 

It’s been a while.

It’s been a while since I’ve really posted anything on my blog. And so before I dive into my regular text dump, I think I will ease this one in with no more than a few pictures, and let them speak for themselves. I’ve been actively updating my website, and I’m just about done. This will mark my fourth redesign of my website (or fourth that’s actually published on web for longer than a day), and as I look back on my past websites, I can not help it but to notice how different of a designer I’ve become. Perhaps it’s hard to say whether this change is for the good or bad, but I certainly wasn’t the same person I was when I stepped into that 8:30am studio freshmen year. 

Jacksonchu.com 1.0 - notice the white box… that was when flash was still popular, unfortunately I can’t seem to find the flash file anymore…

Jacksonchu.com 2.0 - mostly for fun to showcase my high school artwork

Jacksonchu.com 3.0 - this is the longest lasting site out of all of them, unfortunately it has retired as of January 23, 2012

Jacksonchu.com 4.0 - My newest website with a slightly different personal branding as well.

Junior year is definitely the year of reflection. I’ve learned so much about myself over last semester and I aim to do the same this semester.

New Blog

So I decided to separate my writings about life, and other creative writing from my design blog. I managed to come up with a creative name that would distinguish itself from my design blog, “Rectilinear Forms”. Today, I’d like to present to you - “Beyond Rectilinear Forms.”

Design Booooooks

A list that I will keep building as I find more books I want to buy…

1. Sketching: the Basics

2. I Draw Cars

3. Old School Viscom

With a new school year comes new resolutions

1. Make new friends: This will be harder than I think. Mission one for now is get to know my new roommate.

2. Project Nudge: If it all works out (cough cough Yims, Jules, Tones), this might have a large impact on my future vocational plans.

3. Be a decent VP: This’ll be hard. For sure. But I think I’ll manage somehow, and then retire as a proud TSA member going into my last year of college.

4. Be the person I am, AND trust my own instincts: I have quite a bit of issues with this, especially when it comes to design, but I’m ready to change. 

5. Cherish those people around me: whether you are an enemy or a friend, I will appreciate your presence and the fact that you are playing a role in my life. 

6. Be brave when opportunity arises: in terms of, um… I’ll fill that in later on.

I think that’s it. Ambitious year, but I know it will not disappoint.