Congratulations, you have secured yourself the role of a lifetime, being a designer in a new company. Now what?
It's your first day, you are eager and looking forward to it. It's a brand new day with a brand new company, and an entirely new team members to work with. How exciting!
No matter how many years of experience you got, beginner or advanced, these guides might help you out on how to be prepared on your new job!
Let's get to it, shall we?
1. Stay Enthusiastic
The pattern I usually see is when a new designer come in, they are enthusiastic and as the time progresses on, they lost that enthusiasm and sometimes became cynical. Sometimes the senior designers can become critical towards the new designer and said "Just you wait!", cursing the new designer that they will also eventually lose the enthusiasm as well. If you are an experienced designer who have gone through the ups and downs of your past companies, you might feel like you don't need to be enthusiastic when entering another company.
However, I think you should still be enthusiastic, because you are the new breath of fresh air. You are the chance that this company that you newly joined might improve. If everyone else is not being enthusiastic, then you should be! Relive the spirit of what once was there and be the light of your new company.
2. Be Honest
Sometimes, new designers have the ego or the need to show people that they are the best hire and that they are well-equipped with all the knowledge in the world so they would lie and say "I get it", when they don't.
It's okay to not understand anything in your new company. It's okay to not understand whatever they are talking about. It's also okay to not understand some common terms. As a newcomer, it's really a whole lot better that you be honest and let anyone else know that you don't understand what's being talked about, or did not get the context at all, or not sure how to do certain things. It's not really a sign of weakness (at least to me), it's a sign of honesty and that you really prefer to help out than showing off how good you are.
3. Ask Questions
As a new designer, you must ask questions until you completely understand the product/project your team is working on. Otherwise, you might trouble others in the long run. Do not underestimate the cluelessness as it can really bring you down.
If you are afraid to ask as it might trouble others, think about this: it is way better to trouble anyone right now at the expected time (since you just recently joined), than trouble them after 1-2 years of working in the company and makes everyone realises that you have not understand a thing since the first day!
So yes, I do think that some people might find you annoying for keep asking questions on your first month of joining the company. But know that your intention is not to purposely bother them. Instead, your intention is good and it is to truly help them, by fully understanding the product/project.
4. Know The Right Time To Be Critical
It is easy as an outsider to have some opinions and critics about the product/project the new company is working on. However, I shall refrain you from doing that, especially when not being asked. The reason? You don't know the limitation the company is facing on a daily basis. Maybe they had the same opinion as yours in the early days, but something happened along the way that made them change the design to be something you don't fancy. To stay on the safe side, I prefer to understand company's history and culture first. Then, i would offered a better solution now that I understand fully on the company's history and culture. Which brings us to the last guide!
5. Learn The History
Learn the history as much as you can to understand why certain things are designed that way. What happened in the past? What drove them to make such decision? As the saying goes, "to not learn history is letting it repeat itself" (or something along that line). In this context, to completely ignore the company's history, you are bound to repeat the same mistakes they had in the past.
Unless you are one of the founding members of the company, understand why the company did the way they did. There could be a technical, financial, or time limitation. There could also be research-backed decision, that you were not a part of. Additionally, there might be a cultural differences. Again, back to the point no. 3: ask questions. Why are these made this way? What drove them to make such decision? What solutions have you tried? The key is to understand the workflow in the new company.
BONUS GUIDE: Always Be Open To Learn
Wow, you have reached the last point! As a gift, you deserve a bonus tip!
As a designer, I encourage you to think that you do not know everything.
You might be equipped with the best design knowledge and some experiences (for those experienced designers). But ultimately, it is all just a theory that you still need to test. There is still a probability that what you interpreted as good design is not actually accepted by the users. Especially towards experienced designers, it is easy to think that you are the expert and know everything.
However, I think none of us do. Things change, people change, times change. What used to be taught in school might even not be relevant anymore. So always be open to learn, no matter your level of expertise.
So these are the guides for you to join the new company. Whichever company you are joining to, congratulations to you! Remember, you must have that X factor that made the recruiter decided on you instead of hundreds other applicants. I hope these guides prepare you and I wish you well on your new role.
Leni Tjahjadi
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