What I Learned from Product Design Interviews

Over the summer, I started a new role as a product designer at MailChimp. This came at the end of months of research, interviewing, and anxiety, so it was a relief when the work finally paid off. Along the way, I learned a number of things that I felt college hadn’t prepared me for, so I started taking notes. The internet has a lot to say about preparing your portfolio but little when it comes to all the other factors that affect your ability to get hired. I often thought about how much I wish someone had written these tips down, so I want to share what I learned while interviewing to help others who are going through the same process.

Before I dive in, let me provide a little context: Prior to joining MailChimp, I graduated from the University of South Carolina and worked at a small agency nearby. The majority of companies I interviewed with were established startups in bigger cities like San Francisco and Atlanta, and I was worried that my background might not be impressive enough. If this sounds like you, don’t worry about it too much—there’s plenty of room for designers who didn’t graduate from a name-brand college.

With that being said, here are some things I learned along the way.

This may sound like common sense, but there are better times of the year to apply than others. Since fiscal years often coincide with calendar years, there’s usually more money in company budgets for new hires in January than December. This translates to you having more options if you start conversations earlier in the year than later. Obviously, being able to wait for the perfect time is a luxury not everyone has—but if you’re entertaining the idea of moving to a new role within the next year, you can start planning now.

In an industry where jeans and t-shirts are the official dress code, I assumed we would’ve dispensed with the formality of cover letters. It may be because it’s a staple of job applications, or because it’s a default field in HR software, but the cover letter is alive and well at most tech companies in 2017. It’ll probably also be your least favorite part of the initial job application; it’s hard not to feel a little fake when you’re trying to grab a hiring manager’s attention in three punchy paragraphs or less. My only advice for this situation is to think about point #1 some more and consider if there’s really not someone you can reach out to first. It’ll save you some work, and you’ll hopefully be able to form a more authentic relationship along the way.

Hiring is expensive, and bringing on someone who isn’t a good fit is even more so. Naturally, design teams have to exercise their due diligence to hire the best candidates. I was still surprised to learn that getting my portfolio ready was only half the battle—and so I was caught off guard by the portfolio presentation. Maybe I missed this day in college, but I thought I would be able to walk an interviewer through a few pieces on my portfolio site and be good to go. It turns out this isn’t the case; you’ll quickly find that your project overviews don’t give nearly enough depth when you’re spending 45 minutes stepping someone through your design rationale.

Finding a quiet place with a strong internet connection was surprisingly hard where I lived. My home internet wasn’t reliable enough for me to trust it with not dropping video calls, and doing remote interviews for a new job at the office seemed like a pretty bad idea, fiber internet be damned.

If this sounds like a minor inconvenience, I mention it so you’ll be better prepared than I was when an interview comes up on short notice. You don’t want to have to scramble to find a private office last minute when you’re trying to remember the names of the people you’ll be talking to. (Pro tip: See if your local library has private rooms you can book. It beats going to a noisy coffee shop.)

If your social feeds look anything like mine, you probably see designers announcing their new jobs on a pretty regular basis. Something you almost never see, though, is people talking about how they just got another canned rejection email. No one wants to talk about it; it’s not in line with the neatly manicured image we present of ourselves as successful people who don’t have setbacks. When you’re in the middle of interviewing, this can be frustrating and feel pretty isolating.

Now, I was usually asked at some point in the interview process what my familiarity with code was, but my basic knowledge never seemed to influence conversations either way. I’ve found that big tech companies tend to favor people who specialize over someone who can do a little bit of everything, but your findings may vary if you’re applying to smaller shops.

If there’s a TL;DR version of my experiences, it’s this:

But most of all, keep pushing through the challenges. This stuff is hard work, so take heart—lots of others have been in the same boat. :)

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