How to Grow as a Designer or Developer

Being a designer or a developer and working with clients on the internet or off it is not something everybody can do. Sure, all of the newbies think everybody can design a website, but only after becoming one of us do you know what these jobs really mean.

You start realizing not everything is as easy as the others think, and in the beginning you try to gain as much knowledge as you can in order to “survive” in the field. However, this does not always lead to success and there are some other methods I could recommend if you wish to pursue a career as a designer or developer and don’t know where to take it from where you stand right now.

Avoid complacency

Avoiding getting complacent is a huge and important step in your career as a designer or developer, because generally complacency does not bring anything good to the table. If we become satisfied with our work, it is entirely OK, but if this starts to make you not want to learn anymore, then it is obviously not good. I am not saying you have to learn all the time, but it is always good to build up on your knowledge level with even more skills.

Complacency prevents you from learning more, which is not good for your long-term career. If you only think of the present, then having a good grip on the skills you need right now will bring you success, but if you plan to take this on a new level in the future, you need continuous improvement. This is a domain where the followers of today are the experts of tomorrow, but the job is even more difficult if you already are the expert – besides your current work you will also need to improve your skills.

Time management

This is another big one; being able to manage your time properly will always bring you success. It is said that most of the lottery winners are broken within 5 to 10 years after they had won a huge prize – this is because they are really bad at managing their finances. It’s the same with the time. If you do not manage it properly you will end up spending it doing something that isn’t helpful for your career. You should always have a plan, work with schedules, notes and deadlines and do not be afraid to put a bit pressure on yourself from time to time.

But before having a schedule, you need to start out with small steps. Cut out everything you feel you don’t need. I’m not saying not to sleep, but if you feel you oversleep often, then just find a way to cut that out of your life. Do the same with all the totally useless practices in your life and voilà, there’s already more time for you to spend thinking of your career.

Have a target

“You can’t go anywhere if you don’t know where you’re heading to” or “You can’t score if there’s not a goal” – you’ve probably heard both of these before. It is important for you to have a goal in your career and to know where you want to go. Don’t just wander around hoping to get somewhere, because in the end you will never know what you career could have been.

Image by shutterstock

Keep it challenging

You need to keep your work challenging, otherwise you will not find it interesting enough to stick around. You think you might want to learn a new programming language? So go for it, who knows how it will turn out? You want to know more about typography, although you have no knowledge of this whatsoever? Then read some books on the topic. It is important to experiment, get out of your comfort zone and try out everything that’s possible. In few years you might do something totally different than what you thought you wanted to do.

Study examples

This goes mainly for designers, but developers can learn something from here as well. If there is a specific artist you like, or a specific kind of approach, study it in depth, because it will make you an expert in it. Google for books, download them, search for tutorials, whatever it is you enjoy doing – study it even more than before and make sure you show how good you are through your own projects.

Image by shutterstock

Never run behind

Keeping up with the new technologies and information in your field is important as well. It is also good to have a network of people you can always contact in need of something, but with the IT world changing so fast nowadays, not even a network can help you all the time. Therefore, it is really important to keep up with everything happening in design and web development. Read blogs, articles and news about it and always stay informed.

Ask for feedback

This is another crucial one, because asking what the others think about your work is a great way of improving your skills. Sometimes when you design a website yourself, you start to miss out on the small details, but somebody who sees the project for the first time can point out clear mistakes and give you some suggestions. If you find the right persons to ask, you can be sure that your products will be even better in the future thanks to this process of seeking feedback. Never take feedback badly and always try to see the best in it.

Collaborate

I was talking about the network above – it is important to have it. It is even more important to use it. You work on a huge project which you can’t handle all by yourself? Ask for help from one of your contacts. This way you make sure the work he does is good, because you know him, and it might also help you get a similar assignment from him at some point in the future. Always keep your contacts within short reach and use them whenever you can.

Image by shutterstock

Be there for the others

Being active in the Community means a lot for a designer or developer, because you always need to get help from the others. Therefore, it is a good idea to give as much help as you can to the others so that whenever you need it yourself, the others will give it to you. Be active on forums or blogs and make sure people notice your good behavior – it might even land you some jobs.

Being a designer or a developer is intriguing and it does not always turn out the way we want it. The truth is that not everyone can do it (unlike the general opinion), but the ones who make it through can be considered hard-workers and intelligent. If you want to be one of them, the tips I’ve just shared with you will definitely help you throughout your career.