This week we had Brit Zerbo talk to us about burnout and how to avoid it as a creative. She brought up great points about taking care of yourself and taking time to recenter. That being said, we’re gonna talk about hard skills and soft skills.
I would say that my top hard skills would include my previous experience in tech, writing and photography. I guess if I decide to go the UX/UI route, having a knowledge of how logical and physical systems interact with each other would provide a huge advantage in knowing what is possible in design and engineering spaces. I assume that as a designer, being able to communicate with developer nerds would benefit me. Writing in any job is extremely important for effective communication. I also believe that coming from a photography background would be an in demand hard skill to have in a pinch if there’s issues sourcing a photographer for a project or having an eye for proportions and composition forms.
As for soft skills, I would say I excel in leadership positions, problem solving, and creativity. I’ve held many positions where decisive leadership was required whether I thought I was ready or not. Additionally, problem solving comes naturally as I use intuition to guide me through most things. I probably wouldn’t have joined the program had I not seen myself as creative.
Skills I would like to improve on while here in Seattle Central would be a mastery in Adobe products, UX, time management, and stress management. I think one of the biggest reasons I joined the program was to learn how to translate my ideas and thoughts into a digital medium. Without a way to effectively use Adobe programs, I’d probably be dead in the water. I also want to improve my knowledge in areas such as UX/UI and web design. I think these are very in demand skills that would make me competitive when job searching. As for soft skills I want to improve, time management and stress management might go hand in hand. These are skills I’ve always struggled with but as soon as I can manage my time management, I think I could regulate my stress.