CV and Cover Letter

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To identify my strengths and weaknesses in order to plan my professional development, I have done a self analysis in the week 1 and spotted some of my strengths and weaknesses by doing a Big 5 and a 16 personalities test. Additionally, I have listed down my strenghts and weaknesses based on my personal knowledge and my past experience.

Here are my weaknesses I have spotted based on the facts above.

  • Being Impatient
  • Being Lazy
  • Being Slow
  • Overthinking
  • Looking for shortcuts rather than finding a proper way
  • Documentation
  • Writing and research
  • Lack of skills in some areas such as drawing, animation (motion graphic) and 3d modelling and design
  • Test anxiety

As for my strengths, I have listed down the following points which are mostly based on my self knowledge and my past expeirence.

  • UX design / web design
  • Coding skills (HTML5/CSS, JS and PHP)
  • Looking for shortcuts
  • Playing games
  • Time management
  • Passion for learning
  • Always looking for solutions
  • Positive thinking
  • Knowledge / expertise in gaming, sports (football) and IT - other than just in design
  • Multitasking

So to plan my professional and self development, I need to first fix my weaknesses and transform them into strengths. I need to be more patient and make my self more physically active so I can overcome my laziness - so a regular home exercise will help make me more active and perhaps to be more patient. More reading, doing more researches and writing will also make me a better writer. As for improving my skills, I will also need to do more drawing and learn more about animation design and 3d-modelling.


Identifying my possible future pathways

To choose a career pathway, it is important to reflect on my interests, skills and career goals as I make certain life choices such as what I want to study and which job is right for me (Lindsay, 2020). Digital design is something that I like, I have skills for it which I built and gained in the past years through working experience. I believe this is the career path I want to have and it is right for me. Design is a part of what makes us human, and in a modern industrial economy it has evolved with the changes in technology and production. The role of the designer is one that is currently experiencing a lot of demand and focus (Vizard, 2017). Beign a designer means, I need to get adapted to the use of technology and update my knowledge everyday. This will require me to know the basics of technology and IT. I'm interesed in technology and IT and have studied IT and design for my first diploma. My other diploma was in creative new media which I studied because I had a passion for design and new media technology.

As for my working experience in the industry, I have worked as a designer specifically as a UX designer and developer. The job got involved me with digital design, designing for online platforms/traditional media and designing user interfaces for websites, mobile apps and games based on user experiences.

A Digital designer is a creative who combines their Graphic Design skills with imagination, vision and technological savvy to produce a large range of visual media, from websites, to advertising, digital imaging, animation, 2D and 3D modelling, and graphics (Collins 2020). This combination of skills and the requirement of ability for design thinking that this pathway seeks is very interesting to me. For going for such a pathway, I need to build skills in myself, have a constant plan for my self-development and be able to think critically.

My preferred employment mode for my pathway is a full time job at a design agency or a design studio, however I would be open to any freelance design jobs on my free time.

References

  • Lindsay, 2020, Choosing a Career Path in 9 Steps, Indeed [online] available from <https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/choosing-a-career-path> [18 August 2020]

  • Linn Vizard, 2017, Technology and the Evolution of the Designer’s Role, Adobe [online] available from <https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2017/01/24/technology-and-the-evolution-of-the-designers-role.html> [19 August 2020]

  • Amanda Collins, 2020, 10 reasons to start a career in digital design, In the Loop [online] available from <https://schahxp.blogspot.com/2020/08/cv-and-cover-letter-draft-1.html> [19 August 2020]


Self-branding

A selfbranding should focus on what your key message is and stick to it. It should also tell a story about you. The most effective personal branding strategy these days is to build a true narrative - single character monologues are boring in Tinseltown, and even more boring for your personal brand.” No one wants to hear you shout about your brand into the social media void, so create a story around your brand that your audience can engage with (Chan 2018).

Regarding my career pathway which is based on my strengths/weaknesses, interests and skills) my selfbranding needs to focus on my key message and tells an effective story about my career path/journey. These are the key messages and story my brand should focus on:

  • Finding solutions (by putting pieces of thinking together)
  • Designing & development (by building big blocks from small ones)
  • Putting depth and perspective into ideas (Making it more functional in more than one dimension)

To achieve above points, my logo could be made by blocks which represent the pieces of ideas and thoughts that are put together to make an image. This could also represent the idea and design and development (construction). These blocks could be in a form of digital, so they show that I'm a digital designer and the solution and designs I'm able to create are made digitally. The block can be also looking like lego or tetris blocks to associate my story to gaming and game design which is involved with my career path as well.

References

  • Goldie Chan, 2018, 10 Golden Rules Of Personal Branding, Forbes [online] available from <https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/choosing-a-career-path> [20 August 2020]

  • Linn Vizard, 2017, Technology and the Evolution of the Designer’s Role, Adobe [online] available from <https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2018/11/08/10-golden-rules-personal-branding/#78ccc99858a7> [19 August 2020]

  • Amanda Collins, 2020, 10 reasons to start a career in digital design, In the Loop [online] available from <https://schahxp.blogspot.com/2020/08/cv-and-cover-letter-draft-1.html> [19 August 2020]


Logo - First Sketches

Here are some first designs for personal logo, from the first draft to the current design. These are the points I'm trying to reach by this design based on my main concept and stroy:

  • Using digital blocks / Tetris/Lego blocks to represent digital development and fun
  • Make it simple and clear
  • Show my ID (name)

Improvement

Here is the progress from the draft above to make make more related to the points I want to reach - Make it more blocky (Tetris blocks - design, development, creation and putting ideas together).


Logo Design - Progress 2

After considering the feedback received from the progress 1, the logo changed to blocks to represent the concept from the rationale which is related to building from scratch and creating new things by pieces of ideas. The sketches below are developed based on the concept and the comments.


Here is another variation where instead of blocks, I used 3-dimensional cubes - similar to blocks concept, to make it more relevant to digital form of blocks.




Logo Design - Progress 3 (Final)

In order to make my logo look more 3-dimensional and be looking block based, I have sketched out some design using my - working on the word "S" making it look 3-dimensional:



more design variations:




And finally, here is the finalized and confirmed one.




CV

First draft of my CV, based on my current CV, which contains:

  • Brief introduction to myself (personal and contact information)
  • Career history
  • Educational background
  • My skills in design, coding and management
  • Link to my portfolio

Due to my career history list my CV will be in two pages:

Applied the changes based on the comments on my first draft. These comments were suggesting the following improvements:

  • Intro / About paragraph - Make it descriptive regarding my career path
  • Career history - Adding details about my involvements for experiences

CV - Modification

Here is the modified personal description - mentioning my abilities to design for print media, social media and UX projects.

And the added details for each job experience:


CV - Latest

Here is the latest CV content changes placed on the actual CV design.





Cover Letter

When writing a cover letter, specific information needs to be included: a contact section, a salutation, an introduction to the hiring manager, information on why you are qualified for the job and a closing. The goal of your cover letter is to make a case for getting selected for a job interview, so it's important to include all required information along with a compelling argument for why you would be a strong candidate for the position (DOYLE 2020). Considering these points, here is a cover letter I prepared for an actual UX design position.

Latest Revision - Week 13

Finalizing the CV and Cover Letter - here are the latest revisions:

References

  • ALISON DOYLE, 2020, What to Include in a Cover Letter for a Job, The Balanced Career [online] available from <https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-to-include-in-a-cover-letter-for-a-job-2060315> [25 September 2020]


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