Interactive Hug

If you’re truly ambitious you’re life revolves around your work, so finding the right squad to join forces with is vital to personal happiness. I’ve pulled it off twice and it’s a simple formula that revolves around relationships.

Find a company that matches your goals and personal level of development, that way you can evolve and grow together.

I’ve been working as an interactive designer at the small, highly creative design firm Elastic People for the past 2 years. I passed working for bigger names like Critical Mass and Fantasy-Interactive to come here, I’ve grown and developed so much as a designer and person and now I’m stepping into another ideal situation, one that matches where I’m currently at. Looking back on my reasons for joining Elastic, thinking about where I am now and where I’m heading, it’s clear I made the right choice and the situation I’m moving into came about through the same decision making process.

• Time it right.

Make sure the size of the company matches your level of development as a designer. If you’re just starting out, make it a smaller company where you can express yourself as an individual both in your work and in your attitude. At a smaller company you’re more likely to take on extra duties that will round out your skill-set and prime you for the future.

• Align your goals.

Ask yourself this, If I make “X” company’s goals my own, will I achieve my personal goals through them? It’s gotta be a “yes” if you’re going to truly dedicate yourself.

• Recognize how you contribute and move in that direction.

Identify the way that you actively participate in the growth of your company and focus on that as your target goal that all other goals branch out from.

Example. By consistently creating high quality websites that gain exposure, you’re raising awareness of your company’s abilities, which attracts more clients and makes landing bigger clients easier. So by doing your job well your helping your company grow, making you a key player, inspiring you to kick more ass and inevitably get rewarded. You end up with a beautiful circle that’s constantly feeding itself. Through this logic my number 1 goal is to win awards, through that I achieve both my personal goal of effecting the industry and my professional goal of contributing to the growth of my company.

• Develop your skills.

We work in a medium that’s constantly evolving, if you’re focused solely on producing, your skills won’t adapt, which is vital to your growth as a designer/developer.

Example. If you think the ability to create, manipulate and render 3d images would allow you to extend your Flash websites, then what are you waiting for, learn 3D in your spare time, after work, between projects, whenever? You need to find a situation that fosters that type of growth. If someone’s standing behind you with their arms folded tapping their foot 24-7… get out.

• Become an expert at everything that you rely on.

You want to become a franchise-player, not a role-player, right? Learn to carry a project from concept to completion. One day you won’t have the burden of doing it all yourself but because you’re able to, you’ve proven that not only are you a hard-worker and multi-tasker, you can be relied on to lead all aspects of an on-line initiative.

• Surround yourself with people you want to be more like.

Slightly older, slightly smarter, people that see your potential and want to help you to achieve it. High quality people you can learn from both directly and simply through exposure.

• Leave your home-base for your job.

Go where the work takes you, be it far away from your comfort zone. If you move to a certain region for a job, you’re literally there to work, that’s your purpose, everything else becomes secondary - which is the attitude you need in order to become truly successful. You’ll also gain life experience, which makes you smarter and more balanced.

• Your direct superiors should be your friends.

The ideal relationship is with people that are genuine and you can trust, that way you can mix your personal lives because there’s no question that each of you will hold up the business side of your relationship.