Career growth and life strategy

Three cool things I discovered this week, Kokedama, Geisha Coffee, and Flux keyboard. First, I found a shop in Williamsburg with mini bonsai wrapped in moss called Kokedama. I'm obsessed with the simplicity but not confident in keeping it alive. Second, I was introduced to Geisha, a fancy coffee bean from Gori Gesha Forest, Ethiopia watching the show Billions. I don't know if it's good, but it sure was expensive. Lastly, an adaptive display keyboard called Flux. It's not in production yet, but it caught my eye.

Since 2020, I've been on a personal development path as a mentor, clocking over 150 hours. One popular career question is, "Can you review my portfolio?

"I have less than [3] yr experience; all jobs require [3-5] years. How can I get experience for job when I need a job for experience?"

The intent on the question is:

1. Can you identify the design value so that companies will compensate me fairly?
2. The job posting requiring [x] years of experience wants a "trusted designer that delivers end-to-end. Candidate can navigate ambiguous, complex problems with high judgment and achieves business outcomes for customers."

Most designers believe value comes from critiquing "fit and finish", which focus on visuals and completion of work. These issues are actionable callouts to increase quality, but it's short lived.

Depending on your sample size of feedback providers, be careful of the feedback loop trap. The more people you ask for feedback, the more you get. The more you fix, the more you over-index on extremely narrow goals, ultimately reaches steep diminishing returns.

"80% consequences comes from 20% causes, the law of vital few." - Pareto principle.