Yesterday I set out to go deeper into my process. Turns out the answer was simpler than I expected. I was already in the right area, just not exploring enough.
As a new designer, you quickly get stuck in what I call the "VC Loop." If you've ever played NBA 2K, you know. You build your player, but you're only working with limited VC or virtual currency. So no matter how good you are at the game, your abilities are capped. You can either grind for more VC or buy it, but either way you're stuck in the same loop: "I know how to play this game, but my player can't progress without VC."
For me, that mirrors the experience loop in the design industry. You need experience to get a job, but you can't get experience without a job. So the real question becomes: how do you prove your worth to a company and get them to take a chance on you?
I went through a few versions of what felt like was a simple answer: DO MORE WORK. But I quickly realized that's not quite it. It's in the right direction, sure, but it misses the mark. The work alone isn't what gets you hired. It's the process behind the work.
This is still something I'm figuring out since I haven't landed my first role yet. But here's what clicked for me yesterday. I wasn't doing a good job documenting my process. I had the projects. I had the portfolio. I was even integrating AI into my workflow, using it to challenge my decisions, ask questions, and build high level working prototypes. So what was missing?
I had been doing the work for a year and a half without actually showing the work. I use AI constantly in my process. I have real conversations with it, push back on it, use it to write code. But "if a tree falls in the woods…"
The breakthrough was almost embarrassingly simple: why am I not documenting these conversations with AI? What better way to show my worth than literally showing my work.
And that's the punchline. From here on out, I'm documenting everything. Anticlimactic, I know. But picture doing all that work, wondering why nobody seems to believe in you, and then realizing it's because they literally cannot see what you're doing.