This past June, I passed my ten-year mark as a user-experience designer. It was kind of a sobering moment for me, as before 2014, I’d never even heard of the profession, and of course, had had no desire to pursue it.
Before that point, I’d been a professional game designer for a little over a year or so, which wasn’t exactly the most distinguished of tenures, but I was incredibly proud to wear that title on my sleeve. (I remember, during the overnight Game Jam of ’13, my boss mentioned when he noticed that I quite liked saying that “I’m a game designer,” when introducing myself. At the time, it was still incredibly new to me, and though I was a little sheepish, he was completely right. It was awesome.)
But, employment going as it goes, that time at Wahoo Studios just wasn’t as long as I might have hoped – I was laid off in April ’14, and was suddenly adrift with a little severance and employment to keep me afloat for a bit.
During that time, I remember interviewing for all kinds of game positions, hoping I’d land something. I did get several interviews, but I quickly found myself in a pretty desperate situation, and that desperation really tended to bleed out into the interviews. I had the hardest time sharing my story, convincing these game companies that I was worth hiring, and looking back, I think it was down to two reasons:
- I wanted it way too much. I didn’t want to be seen as a failure, and I really, really wanted that title back. A bit too much.
- I didn’t know how to tell the story of myself well enough.
I remember distinctly and interview that a friend had gotten me with EA Sports in Florida at the time, and I remember bombing it so badly because I couldn’t articulate exactly the kinds of design that I was good at. I distinctly remember getting lost in explaining how I did a lot of work on code tweaks and parameters, which is true, but that was not the whole story, and certainly not the kind of thing that brings confidence to a potential employer.
In the decade since moving into a different design field, I’ve spent a lot of time exploring what it is to tell stories, and how to utilize storytelling to draw people into your way of thinking.
It’s an art that I’d forgotten was as important as it is, especially because it’s really the only thing that actually matters when it comes to interacting with other people. Telling stories, and listening well to others’ stories. That’s really all it comes down to.
So this past week, I was pleased to sit down with some of my coworkers and do a little creative exercises on flexing those muscles. It made for some fun, silly, and enlightening discussions. Excited to do it again some time.