“Hard skills will get you the interview, and Soft skills will get you the job.”
Although is very early in the program to permanently say what my hard skills are, there has been enough time to pinpoint the areas that I’m developing faster than others. My soft skills are UI/UX design, Ideation, and bilingual abilities.
First, my bilingual abilities are the one I have worked on for the past 20 years, to exemplify this is the multiple occasions I have served as a translator in and out of a professional field. Secondly, I have been able to apply Ideation to various assignments. A case in point is when we worked on the poster in the first quarter where the goal was to create a poster for a specific client -in this case, Full Tilts Ice Cream – by research, development, and applying the company Northstar. Lastly, UI/UX design (to my surprise) is a skill I have been able to develop and apply to create designs that are both interesting and functional. In fact, we are working on our very own website for this quarter’s final project.
On the other hand, with my soft skills, I had the chance to apply and develop truthout my professional life. My Soft skills are organization, collaboration, and willingness to learn. First, I apply my organizational skills through the program to meet the milestone. Although has been one occasion that I missed a deadline, overall it has been essential to meet all the requirements during the program. Secondly, Collaboration is a skill I developed during my culinary career but became more essential during the program. An example of this is the many team projects during these 2 quarters. Of course, not all the collaborations have been smooth, but we have been able to collaborate. Lastly, my willingness to learn. I believe it is essential in any professional field. I have the desire to develop and improve my skills.
There are many skills I would like to develop during the program. For hard skills, I would like to develop branding and push my creativity to be bold. My hope is to be able to work with brands/companies and understand in-depth what makes the brand/company unique. I want to be able to bring to life their uniqueness through graphic elements, illustration typography color and/or logos. Furthermore, to accomplish branding skills I would like to develop a bold design to be able to bring fresh concepts to brands/companies. Simultaneously, for soft skills, I would like to continue developing presentation skills, persuasion, and decision-making and would also add adobe programs (Ai, Id, and Ps).
For example, Delivering a presentation is what one would like to master. After the first week of the first quarter, I learned the importance of this skill. It is essential to have the ability to present a clear and understandable presentation, so I can communicate design decisions. Last but not least, I would like to master Illustrator, Indesign, and Photoshop since they are essential for any graphic designer.
Nice work….