May 14, 2005

Master of Design

This is my last entry for this blog, as today I am no longer a master's candidate, I am a Master of Design. This isn't a boast; it's my degree: M.Des. And today I will walk across a stage and be handed my diploma and my graduate studies will officially end. I hope you'll move over to my other blog and follow my adventures at Adaptive Path and beyond.

Last night, a group of us went out together with our families for a pre-celebration, and tonight, on this rainy Saturday in Pittsburgh, I'll do it again with just my family, my friend Jeff Howard, and my advisor Shelley Evenson. I'm sure we'll raise a glass and toast CMU.

What Dick Buchanan said on the first day of school is ringing in my ears: "We will teach you to do design so well that we will, at the end of two years, call you a master of it." And so it has come to pass. I hope you've enjoyed reading this blog, especially those of you who have been following it since the beginning. I'm glad to have done it--almost as glad as I am to finish it.

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May 12, 2005

Graduation Gifts

Being the designerd that I am, I treated myself to two graduation gifts today: professional memberships in AIGA and IDSA. I was especially pleased with the IDSA membership, since now (or at least, after Saturday when I graduate from a design school), I will be finally eligible to join.

And hey, if you've enjoyed this blog and want to buy me a graduation gift, well, here's my Amazon Wish List.

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April 17, 2005

Job

My job search really began in earnest, although I was only half-aware of it at the time, last August at a backyard barbecue in Somerville, MA during DIS when Chad Thornton introduced me to Peter Merholtz, who offhandedly asked me when I was graduating. After another meeting with Peter in January, a long talk with CEO Janice Fraser at the IA Summit in March, and finally a day of interviews two weeks ago with most of the rest of the team, I was offered and accepted a job as a senior interaction designer at Adaptive Path. I start about a month after I graduate.

Although AP is a great company with some amazing opportunities and an impressive set of benefits and perks, I did agonize over the decision. I met with some very impressive companies and was even offered a job at some of them. But in the end, you have make your best guess based on the offers you get and hope it works out.

In some ways, it's easier to design strategies for companies than for your own life. It's tough to figure out where you want to go, and how to get there. You need, well, an adaptive path to find your way.

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April 14, 2005

T-Minus One Month

Only one month left. So much left to do, so many loose ends to wrap up. Things are starting to fall into place for after I graduate, but that puzzle isn't fully resolved yet by any means. The clock ticks and days get marked off on the calendar, one by one.

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April 03, 2005

Frequent Fliers

My classmates and I are scattered across the country these days, with job interviews and a handful of people presenting at CHI. The list of companies that people are talking to is impressive, a partial Who's Who of Interaction Design: Adaptive Path, Agnew Moyer Smith, Apple, Cooper, Google, IDEO, Microsoft, Motorola, Razorfish, Samsung, Sapient, Smart Design, and Yahoo. I wish us all luck.

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February 27, 2005

First Picked

Elizabeth has accepted a job as a designer at Google. She's the first one of us to accept an offer. Congrats to her!

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February 26, 2005

Stress

In the last week, I

Anyway, this is what I've been dealing with. In this last semester, the schoolwork has gotten lighter, but the stress is still high.

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February 23, 2005

Career Dazed

The past two days have been the annual ritual known as Career Days, during which the School of Design is like a crazed bear half-shot full of tranquilizers, lurching around madly pawing at itself. I exaggerate, but only a little. For graduating students, it's a time of dressing up and subjecting yourself to a speed-dating style of job interviews in 20-minute blocks. Studios are cleaned, portfolios put together, interview clothes bought.

This year, like last, a reasonably impressive spread of companies came by with jobs to offer: Apple, Microsoft, GE, Google, Motorola, Sapient, Razorfish, and Siegel + Gale to name a few. A number of the interviewers were CMU alumni returning to rescue more of us and give us hope.

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