#work experience
Everytime I see “minimumofthree to five years experience” or similar on a job description I get a new grey hair.
Right? Like, where do they think these experienced people come from? Do they just materialize out of the ether? Everybody has to start somewhere, y’know….
A couple of tutors at my College asked me if I could write an article for the college newsletter about my work experience; so I thought i’d post it on here with a couple of the photos I took. I visited the Cats Protection, which me and the other photographer were very excited about. And the other picture is of two dogs who help people about at home, like bringing them the remote and things, they were the cutest :)
Photojournalism has been something I’ve been interested in for a long time, the one thing I love to do is go out and take pictures. So when I found out, by approaching one of the County Press photographers last year at the Island Games, that they take people on for work experience, I was very eager to get something lined up for after I finish exams.I wanted specifically to learn more about the job, and how the photographers got to where they are now. About half way during my AS year, I got the email address of the Editorial Assistant, and (after a while of negotiating dates), finally had the work experience organised. I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know whether the atmosphere was casual, or more formal. But everyone was very friendly and laid back. There are 3 main photographers, and t the start of the day, they are given a list of all the jobs, which can grow into 10-15 jobs as the day goes on. My time there was basically spent following them all around the island, photographing all kinds of things from sailing trips, to houses, cars, a new skate park, and someone who had been nominated in the Queens Honours list. I really enjoyed my time there, and I learnt a lot, but I was especially quick to learn that you have to enjoy driving, because the job involves a hefty amount! The photographers have days where they can be rushed off their feet, or quite laid back, and can take their time on things, which both appeal to me, and they are all very passionate about what they do. I think it was a great experience, and something that has definitely motivated me to pursue this line of work.
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So at around 7:40ish i was standing outside my workplace(obviously very dark) waiting for my parents to pick me up and there was this man there holding a baby (young dad, probably in 20s and Im assuming he was waiting for his wife or fam that were still inside and after a minute he started talking to me (im assuming he assumed I worked there cuz of my clothes and I had my purse)
Like how they love going to the store cuz you can find everything there and whatnot and he mentioned the baby a few times so ofc I said the baby is adorable (cuz he was adorable) and he says the baby is 7 months (still normal convo)
AND THEN he goes “I like it (parenthood) …feels like it/he gives me something to live for ya know?”
And I smiled and nodded cuz aww thats adorable but I was thinking WHY IS THIS STRANGER TELLING ME HIS DEEP THOUGHTS AT NIGHT IN THE DARK OUTSIDE
just finished my work experience in a hospital and it kinda feels weird that i dun have to go to work anymore…i miss the people i work with
The job description “Industrial Design” should be retired. Automation and 3D printing technologies have outclassed this profession that once required creativity and physical labor. Today all is needed is an individual capable to use -within a certain skill set- 3D software; the rest is done by the engineer and the machine. Soon the engineer will be removed too and the machines will do the rest.
This profession had a great life the entire 20th century because there was the need to create a whole new reality of products that did not exist. Industrial designers of the past placed together art and crafting so the development and production process could exist in a small, yet more controllable environment. Alessi, Kartell, Braun, were all characterized by important authors at a time productivity wasn’t global like it is nowadays.
Industrial Design has become an anachronistic job title in today’s global economy (Ettore Sottsass design for Knoll).
Today companies think in large scale and in order to be able to continue so they integrated different profiles in their conceptual process: stylists, intellectuals, writers, artists, professors, CEOs, have all contributed to this change. Even if you might think IKEA as a brand fostering just industrial designer, you are wrong.
The field of design has spawned other path choices creative people begun to follow and improve. Yesterday graphic designers were painting and cutting papers, today they are designing websites; those who didn’t make the jump perished and found out the hard way the world had no use for them.
Plenty of job ads wanting industrial designers are actually requests for candidates with extremely good software rendering skills first. Why? Companies requiring this profile are manufacturers of parts and components like window/door frames, electrical components, or some other hazy unspecified custom production line. Some others dare to ask for an engineering degree so they can place the candidate to occupy two positions for one salary. And btw, they all offer a fast-paced environment…
The only fast-paced thing is the delivery of your CAD files to your boss yesterday.
Nowadays the field of design has outgrown ID and placed it in the backseat. If industrial designers are required to develop silk screens and cabinet doors, I’m afraid these companies have been looking for the wrong candidates. What they need is an AutoCAD operator graduated from any college that offering technical training, or a technician specialized to operate a set of software/machines. Creativity is not required and is quasi-absent from these job ads.
However at the source of this snag there has been a change in academia where university courses begun introducing other elements inside ID programs. Environmental and health issues are part of the equation and suddenly the traditional development path of the industrial designer faces other inputs requiring other sets of skills, some of which the majority might not posses, so here’s the need for other type of designers to help the process.
After 4 years of university and thousands in student loans, you can finally apply all your creativity in this aluminium frame…
In a short period of time from the beginning of the year 2000, ID lost relevance in the market founding itself replaced by others in the design field. Articles denouncing the peril of this happening were already emerging more than ten years ago, putting in the same basket similar careers at risk of disappearing like Chief Design Officer for example. Why? Because industrial design cannot exist in a vacuum, and the binary helix of form-function has departed from its mold.
Products of today have become so multilayered they demand other expertise to evolve, expertise the industrial designer must acquire to become hybrid and shed away it’s ‘industrial’ prefix in order to survive. Innovation is not anymore the traditional 6-face dice but a multi-faceted one that resembles more a dodecahedron than anything else.
Check out my blog post on the highs and lows of applying for a fashion placement year!
http://fashionisourreligion-x.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/keep-calm-and-carry-on-applying-for.html
