Fall 2022 and portfolio updates

Working on my UX portfolio, reflections on next steps after Scott Kubie's Content Career Accelerator program

Fall 2022 and portfolio updates
Screenshot from the updated Coda portfolio, Oct 2022

It's been a while since I last wrote. I've been busy with the DIA apprentice program and World IA Association. There just hasn't been enough time to think about what I've been doing and where I am heading. At least I was aware of it and felt that I needed a push.

Content Career Accelerator

So I joined Scott Kubie's Content Career Accelerator (CCA) this past Fall. It is a 6-week workshop series in a small group. The timing was good. I was able to make to almost all of the workshops. Even if I didn't, Scott has awesome recaps and video recording posted shortly after each workshop and summarizes the discussions with screenshots from the Miro board of the week.

The Content Career Accelerator
A focused, expert-guided program to help you take the next step in your UX content career.

Personal Statements

Part of the CCA program offering included a 90-min one-on-one with Scott where he has a structured conversation and Miro board to talk and run through all the things. I admit that my situation is a bit strange since I'm not really looking for a full-time position and I am trying to figure out my personal statement.

Personal statement brings me back to college application days.

Remember the year 2000? That year, we were still sending in personal statements and college applications through the postal mail. Anyway, it was a nice throwback...

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#to-do: Figure out my personal statement

Anyone have personal statement models that have worked for them? It's a formulaic statement to help you determine your personal values, not that essay format used for job searching or college applications.

Backcasting

We talked about where I was and where I saw myself in 2 years. Delegation came up. Public speaking is on the list of career boosting activities. Funny, that was the second time someone mentioned this to me that day.

Imagining what that future looks like was fun. I couldn't even imagine what I might be doing in two years or whether I would be exploring anything different. I've been moving one day at a time for so long now...

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#to-do: Daydream about what success looks like after the 2-year journey

Group Critique

The last workshop was a group critique. I had my 10-12 minutes of fame sharing my Coda portfolio in a group setting and came away with lots of feedback and notes.

Feedback on overall impressions

  • Impression: I see a professional who is really thoughtful, intelligent and thorough
  • You have a wealth of experience; this means there's a lot of info, which can make it  a bit harder to form a gestalt/elevator pitch-level picture  of you
  • I like the overall nerdy style. :)
  • I like pages you've included–really comprehensive overview of who you are and the things that are important to you (writing/speaking/communities)–all great things!
  • Clearly frames yourself as an IA type person, to an extreme ... which can be great for IA and some product roles, might be a little heady for some more general UX or content kind of roles

Things to work on

  • Working within the limitations of the Coda platform's visual design: navigation, layout, card layout, table
  • Being more specific on how to direct people's focus because there's so much information
  • Labels – Work vs Resume, using plain language to describe the project instead of using a client name or its acronyms

And so I spent the last 3 hours working on my portfolio, cleaning up things, making titles consistent.

Before and After changes for the portfolio landing page
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#to-do: Figure out how to incorporate the portfolio with this blog. 

That's it for now...

Ha, not going to share my portfolio here just yet. It needs some buildup for a grand sharing. Muahaha, having too much fun. Later!