Missing Piece

It's been about 9 months since I've graduated and I'm still stuck in the same rut that I've always been. Not that working at Studio Movie Grill is bad (that's a terrible lie). It's just that I don't feel like I'm making any progress towards my career goal. I don't want to be stuck as a waitress forever, but that's what I have to do right now in order to have money in the bank.

To make things a little bit worse, I decided to sever my time at the internship I was at. Interning at the company I was at seemed like a waste of time because 1) I wasn't making any money, and 2) the projects were so simple that my skills seemed wasted. What do I mean by simple projects? I mean doing projects like making brochures using a company-made template, making videos using other company's content and then slapping on a logo at the end, and imitating other company's materials and slapping the company logo on that. Not only is there no challenge in that, but it's also immoral. On top of that, I was working independently and not really learning anything new from anyone.

It's just frustrating to think that I might not be good enough to do any better than I am now. I'm looking at my portfolio at this point and wondering what I'm doing wrong. Am I missing something that employers are looking for or am I just not able to compete with everyone else in this industry? I'm thinking its the latter. Maybe I'm not as good as I think I am. And this is where my self-esteem falls further because graphic design is the only thing I know, and if I'm not good enough to do that then I'm good for nothing. That's depressing.

Selling Yourself Short: Placing a Value on Freelance Work

Using crowdSPRING as a guide for freelance design pricing...

So I'm definitely in a pickle right now. Recently, I've managed to pick up a potential client and I'm trying to figure out the pricing for my services (no, not those kinds of services). For me, putting a price on my skills has always been a challenge. Up until this point, I've always sold myself "cheap" designing t-shirts and posters for free. Of course, that's because my projects were almost always for my youth group. I had two clients before that wasn't related to my youth group. One had requested a poster design for a youth rally, and in return for my help I received a $25 Target gift card and a tin of brownies. The other project was a logo design for my cousin's tax and bookkeeping services firm. For that, I earned $50 in cash.

The difference between this new project and my projects before is that this is going to be an established company. What it is is a Western themed bar and grill in Houston. Any logo that I create will ultimately be copyrighted and be associated with the company for(almost)ever. Since the person that asked me to do this job is a religious brother, I'm a bit reluctant to charge too much. My friend says to ignore that fact and treat it as only a business thing, that I shouldn't sell myself short. So what is a good price for a logo?

On top of the logo design, he asked me to help market and advertise the grand opening of the restaurant which is set to open early next year. I mainly consider myself a graphic designer so I feel uncomfortable even trying to set up advertising strategies. But then again, I got a marketing minor for a reason. Ugh. This is going to be wayyy outside of my comfort zone. Time to put my business classes to use.

Hard Work Wasted

Alright. So I recently quit my job at Studio Movie Grill. Even though I've only been there for 2 months, I think that was more than enough. It's the most rigorous job I've ever had. I mean, seriously. You're scheduled to come in a certain time and then you stay until the manager feels like they don't need you anymore. Most days, I end up working 10 hours. On top of that, your pay is based on tip. Some days you end up averaging below minimum wage. With the running back and forth between the kitchen and several different theaters and dealing difficult people, minimum wage is not enough to make me stay. I'm even tired of going home at like 2 or 3 in the morning. Plus, there are some people who complain at work and make things more difficult by not showing up when they need to. I know that my managers felt like I was a great employee and praised me often for my hard work but I'm tired. It sucks having to let them down. I've had a few people try and convince me to stay by telling me that promotions are coming soon and stuff, but I can't wait for that. I'd be dead by then. I will miss the friends that I made at work, though. I'm actually gonna miss my managers, too. I actually know people outside of thieu nhi. Shocking.

But yeah. Regardless of how hard my job was, I would've had to leave eventually after graduation. After college, a part time job as a server is not going to cut it. My favorite manager Barrett made an offer for me to come back and work seasonally if I wanted to. We'll have to see about that. 

Dreading Graduation: Trying to Find a Graphic Designer Job in Dallas

I have about a month left until graduation and December 8th is becoming more of a date that I dread rather than something that I'm looking forward to. I only turned in my order for graduation announcements 2 days ago and it takes about 2-4 weeks to be finished so I don't know if those will finish on time. My cap and gown haven't come in yet so I can't do photos with those til later. My parents keep bugging me about what I want to do to celebrate my graduation. "Do you want a party?" At this point, I don't know. I'm not much of a party person. Gahhh. On top of all that, I still haven't heard back from Reynolds and Reynolds. I think they dropped me as an option. Now it's back to job searching. Dohhh. Or I can just stick with Studio Movie Grill until forever and ever. YEAH RIGHT. I'm getting a degree for a reason and it's not to work as a server forever. I guess whenever I have time I can go back to applying for more jobs. Hopefully I can find a place close to home so that I don't have to worry about paying for housing and leaving my friends and family behind. But I keep falling behind on homework and stuff because of work and thieu nhi. Grrr. I need better time management skills. I hate stressing about these things.

ACTUALLY, what if I tried to apply as a graphic designer for Studio Movie Grill? I could design the menus and promotions and stuff... Maybe being a server could serve as a start towards that road. Dohhh. I wished that the Richards Group would contact me back. That design internship from Disney based in Dallas isn't available anymore either. Fossil and the Dallas Mavericks rejected me, too. Could someone just plop a graphic design job opportunity in Dallas in front of me? That would be awesome.

Anywho, that photo was from my graduation photoshoot with Tien. Click the link below to check out the less flattering photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hungrytien/archives/date-taken/2012/11/01/

IF you are indeed interested in potentially hiring me for a graphic design job, click the link below to check out my portfolio:
http://www.ae221.co.nr/

Don't Be Afraid to Aim High

So here's my official rejection email from the marketing team for the Dallas Mavericks. My buddy Leon was surprised that I even applied because he said he wouldn't even have the confidence to try. It's not about confidence. It's about going after what you want. 

Long ago, back as a senior in high school, my advertising design teacher talked about when her son was going job hunting for a graphic design position. He applied starting at the most prestigious ad agency in Dallas and landed the job. When you aim high, you have a chance of actually starting out with a great job without having to climb from the bottom. Plus, it's not like your chances of getting hired somewhere decreases just because you were rejected somewhere else. I'm taking the tactic of applying at the most prestigious places first and moving down to the least prestigious. Rejected by the Mavs? Fine. Let's see if the Richards Group will take me. If not, there's still Reynolds and Reynolds. Worst case scenario is that I'd be stuck making brochure templates for printing shops. Let's hope I never have to apply for a job at that level. 

That being said, I will accept my rejection with a smile. Why? I've managed to impress a senior designer AND he gave me good tips. His advice actually does make sense, though. I use too much sans-serif fonts in my design and don't branch out into other typefaces. Adding logos to my portfolio is going to be tricky, but I can try. I'm not sure about going to portfolio school, though. I don't even know any portfolio schools nor am I really sure what is the definition of a portfolio school. I tried Googling it and all I got was stuff like the Art Institute and I cannot afford that. What to do...

Welcome to the Real World, Alyssa!

So I haven't really written a post in a while, and if you follow me on Twitter, you know why. Anyways, this is a just a little update about me getting thrown into the real world after living in my ivory tower so long. Recently, I've started a job at the new Studio Movie Grill that opened on Spring Valley. Honestly, I kinda hate it. I work as a server so my pay is really unstable since most of my pay depends on tips. Base pay is only $2.13 an hour, which is average for a waiter job. Everything else is tips, tips, tips. It's like the first week that this location has opened so the managers kind of overstaffed just cuz most of us are new and might need help. The bad thing is that the more people that we have in our little team, the more times we have to split our tip pool. Saturday I walked away with an okay amount of money for 10+ hours of work. Sunday was okay. Monday I only walked away with $10 for the 6 hours I was there. They put me in a 6-man team for a 2-man job. Bleh.

Another thing I hate about working at SMG is the fact that we don't have a definite end time for our shifts. They give us a start time and they'll keep us as they need us. Saturday I started at 10am and got stuck at work til 8pm. Sucked balls.

At least the people I work with are pretty cool (for the most part). I just hope that everyone I work with is reliable. Sunday I had a team member barely do anything. Every time I saw him, he was in the kitchen taking a drink break. And he walked away with an even share of the tip pool even though he didn't do scrap. Seriously? Ugh.

On to life after college. So you know how I went to a job fair back in September with Hien? Well, I got a call back from the Reynolds and Reynolds place. Went through an interview on Skype and got to the second step of the interview process. If I get this job, I'll be set the moment I graduate from college. The thing is, I know nothing about what to ask for for a yearly salary. It says on most of the websites I've been to that the average starting salary of a graphic designer is around $30,000 a year. Landing a job at Reynolds and Reynolds means that I would have to pack up and move to Houston. Can I live on $30,000 a year alone in Houston? Maybe. My parents were making a huge deal out of it saying that I should've tried to push for more and whatever. Ugh. I don't know what to do.

In the meantime, while that second step is going through, I'm still trying to find a job closer to home. I applied for an internship at the Richards Group and got rejected. Now I applied for a full-time position as a designer. If I can land this, then I can drop Reynolds and Reynolds and live at home and stay close to the people I know. I also applied for a graphic design internship for the Dallas Mavs. If I can land either of those jobs, I'll be fine.

So the moral of the story is, start applying for jobs before you graduate so that you'll have something lined up as soon as you get your diploma. That way, you won't have to bum around for a few months after graduation waiting for a job offer. The second moral is that waiter jobs are hard. Don't do it.

Plano Balloon Festival 2012

So today me and Tien went to the Plano Balloon Festival near Quad C. First time ever. I mean, it was pretty neat even though I was rather cranky at the beginning. It was really hot and we couldn't stay long cuz Tien was called in for work. The whole thing was kind of like a mini state fair. There were food booths, rides, a concert stage, toys, face painting, and games. The only thing different was that instead of Big Tex there were hot air balloons. Just like the state fair, the food is pretty expensive. A cup of lemonade at Conway's cost $5 and it wasn't even that good. I feel like we got juiced. Parking was $5 when you parked at the Plano Centre and then you had to walk a mile (literally) to get the festival grounds. I wished they had some sort of bus transportation like they had at the Red Bull Soapbox thing. Oh well. Would I go again next year? Maybe. Maybe not. It'll depend on my mood and probably the weather. It'd be nicer if it was a bit cooler outside.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Plano Balloon festival so if you want to check it out, you still have time to! The hot air balloons launch at 7:00am and 6:00pm.

For more info along with a complete event schedule, click the link below:
http://www.planoballoonfest.org/

Watching the balloons launch was pretty neat. Very colorful. Everything was a lot more impressive in person, but I tried to capture the moment nonetheless.

You can see the rest of the photos by clicking the link below:
https://plus.google.com/photos/112994609708042405063/albums/5791241346667748129

UTD Job Fairs are Pointless for Me

So in the light of my very recent rejection from the Disney College Program, I decided to hit up the UTD Career Fair with my good buddy Hien. Turned out to be a huge waste of time for me. Not that I'm surprised by that fact or anything.

Now, this isn't the first time that I've been to a career fair on campus. The last time I went, it was a lot less crowded. But huge crowds aren't the problem. The problem for me walking into any of these career fairs is the lack of variety in jobs or internships. What do I expect? UTD is a school focused on business and engineering and computer science. Of course there's mostly going to be job listings for program designers and business managers. Being a graphic designer, it's hard to find a niche in any of these job fairs. For artists, we have to rely on building connections elsewhere like on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn. Meanwhile, business and computer science majors can just walk into these career fairs and boom! Opportunities everywhere!

My time spent at this job fair wasn't completely wasted. I did hand out a couple of copies of my resume (a couple being only 2). I handed one to the lady from Michaels (like the craft store) for a summer internship next year. Not exactly what I was aiming for, but if I have no job by the time summer rolls around again, I'll take it. The second resume went to a company called Reynolds and Reynolds. What they do is that they provide marketing and business solutions for automotive retailers. Luckily for me, they did have a graphic design internship even though it wasn't listed on the job fair's program. The only thing about this internship is that if I get accepted I'd have to relocate to Houston. That's not too bad, but I wouldn't have anywhere to stay.

So in essence, UTD needs to learn how to expand and accommodate these job fairs to not just business and computer science majors. That is all.

Another "Shocking" List of Worst College Majors for Your Career

Read the full article here.

     Honestly, I'm not shocked by anything that showed up on this list. Any kind of art degree is going to be considered "bad." I guess the world isn't so interested in developing a fine culture anymore. It's all about business, science, and technology. Just human advancement through the discovery of things in the world, not the discovery of the mind's potential.
     The high unemployment rate for art majors isn't completely shocking either. I would expect as much in such a highly competitive field. And on top of that, some people go and get an art degree despite the fact that he or she might not actually be built to become a good artist. Not that I'm hating on everyone who wants to be an artist. I'm just saying that you should definitely explore more into fields that you might be more well-suited for. I guess that's why UNT has such a competitive communication design program. 300+ students could be lined up to try and get into the program and at the end of 4 years, only about 50 kids would end up with a communication design degree because their portfolios got accepted. This kind of competition scared me so much that I transferred to UTD. A cowardly move? Maybe. I didn't want to waste 2 years of my college career studying art only to be rejected. I guess I should clump myself in with the other people who might end up being ill-fit for the art world.
     Actually, I don't regret my decision to transfer to UTD. Why? Because it's much easier to get a minor at UTD than it is at UNT. My major may be graphic design, but I made sure to have a backup plan in case I can't immediately find a job as a designer. My backup comes in the form of a marketing minor. Business is a pretty stable industry right now compared to art. If becoming an artist fails, at least I have enough knowledge to take my skills to the business world. If I do end up as a designer, my marketing knowledge will actually benefit me as well, especially if I'm going to be doing ad design.
     I guess what I'm trying to say is that you art majors shouldn't give up hope just yet! You can still be an artist. Just make sure you have a backup so that you don't end up in the unemployment numbers.