I recently had an extraordinary opportunity.
As a graduation requirement for the Art Institute of Philadelphia (within the Graphic Design Department), all undergraduates have to fulfill a 10 week internship study. A minimum of 90 hrs of service is expected from every student. It is entirely up to the individual where they decide to volunteer, and I suppose that MOST of the time it is dependent on the interests and / or strengths of the student that influence their decision. Oddly enough, it was my weaknesses that helped to make mine.
I applied to several print based design firms in the greater Philadelphia area, but unfortunately I didn’t hear back from any of them. Maybe it was the time frame during which I was submitting my applications… Maybe it was because of the current state of the economy… Maybe I simply chose the exact firms who truly didn’t need any volunteer help… Whatever the reason, I wasn’t excepted, and I was running out of time. I needed to have something firmly in place by the first week of the Fall quarter (which happened to be by Oct. 2nd), and here it was nearly the end of Sept.
I had spoken to one of my professors a couple weeks prior to all of this, and he had asked if I were willing to travel to NY for my internship. Apparently a former student of his had founded an interactive design studio in Manhattan, and he still had solid connections with him. My first thought was that NY is really far away for everyday travel from Philadelphia. A commute like that could easily test me to my limits. Not to mention that my skills among the interactive realm WERE the least of my developed design strengths. I felt that to accept a position in a market like NY without a strong web foundation (especially within an interactive design firm) might be a bit more than I could handle. A scary proposition for sure, but what was I to do. It was either face my weaknesses / fears, travel to NY, and learn the way of the web… Or risk failing to graduate on time due to not completing my internship criteria. I found myself at a crossroad.
Just before the end of Sept., I met with Joey Kilrain (Co-Founder of Gigapixel Creative Inc.) in Manhattan NY. I showed him my portfolio and expressed my interest in interning with his firm. He asked me some questions, I asked him some in return, and after about half an hour of casual conversation, I was completing a practical exam…a measuring stick of my abilities if you will. I finished up, and before I left the studio was informed that I was accepted, and should report back the 1st week of Oct. at 9:30 sharp for work. I was elated!
Before I joined on with Joey, I relied heavily on the design palette in Adobe Dreamweaver to help me script any HTML coding for web design. I learned very quickly that this is unacceptable. It makes for sloppy source pages, and invites glitches on the site. Joey taught me how to read and write HTML (no small feat…for either of us). He showed me how to recognize tags, organize files, save for the web, and utilize external style sheets. All of which were very much like a foreign language to me. We dove into PHP, mobile web-sites, rich e-mail construction, and even a little HTML5. I referred to him as “A Wizard” while I was there. Not only because of the amount of applicable knowledge he has regarding interactive design and construction, but because of how he balanced his time. I still don’t know how he does it. Joey spent a large part of his day (T-Th) instructing me on HTML and CSS…but also building web-sites for multiple clients. He took part-time classes for carpentry in the evenings and kept up with his fine artwork too. He is a successful painter / sculptor / illustrator, all while also being a business owner, coder, teacher, student, mechanic, designer, and Lord only knows what else. On top of all that, he found time to help me on my job hunt…researching prospective employers and setting me up with rich leads within the design world. In fact, he willingly went out of his way on more than one occasion to to do these types of things for me. Acts of kindness like that are few and far between.
While I was with Gigapixel, I attended several different networking events related to The Hatchery (another business that Joey has Co-Founded). They place start-up business owners in front of a panel of venture capitalists in order to pitch their product / services. They then receive constructive criticism on how to improve their presentations before going in front of potential investors. These events gave me valuable experience talking to professionals in other fields, and taught me how to market myself in social settings. I learned how start-ups get their beginnings, how much planning / effort go into setting up these functions, and exactly what it is that investors are looking for in any kind of business proposal. None of which is attainable from in the classroom. So I watched, listened, and tried to soak up as much of my surroundings as possible. These experiences are ones that I will forever build upon.
An interesting thing happened to me during this whole experience… You see, I went to the big city to land an internship, to gain some real world experience before graduation, and to fulfill a criteria for my degree. However, what I am only now beginning to realize, is that I received considerably more than that. I left Manhattan with professional contacts and advanced software knowledge… but more importantly, a few close friends.
Thank you Joey, Yao, David, Chris, and Sabastian for a joyous adventure, an incredible opportunity, and for making me feel so welcome among your teams.
Thank you Cawley for allowing me to stay with you during the course of this whole experience. Without your generosity, this may not have been physically possible.
Thank you Alexis for your support throughout those 9 weeks, your patience with my travel saved me a lot of heartache.
Thank you Mom for your financial and emotional support. I can’t begin to tell you how much of an advantage your efforts afforded me throughout my entire academic career.