Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and some censored bars

With my favorite girl scout cookies and a tall glass of milk nearby, I grabbed a spot on the couch and read the next few chapters in Careers By Design.

...only problem was Roz kept stealing my Thin Mints...

I fear that because I was distracted by Roz, The Cookie Monster, Goldfarb, this post may not be as long as others have been.

At first glance...well, no, it was two glances...I pulled a double take when I read I started chapter 15. The main title of Moving On: When To Leave A Job didn't really bother me, but the first subtitle of How To Quit caught me off guard. I mean, how often do you really find this in a book? For me at least, this was a new experience. And at one point someone leaned over my shoulder and saw only the title of How To Quit.....I wonder if they think I'm a smoker now. Oh boy.

Ok..enough rambling...it's time for meaningful content (insert echo here).

It's going to happen. We'll want professional development or design maturity or something new and exciting. It's GOING to happen. Did I say that already? Well, fine, it's GOING to happen.

So how do we do it? How do we quit? Be kind, and don't think that once you have left a place you have closed that chapter of your life and it's finished. You just shouldn't burn bridges, because at some point or another, it'll probably come back to bite you in the ass, plain and simple. Oh I just said on Blogger....I'm so totally .

...please tell me you're laughing...

Saying goodbye is about as important as saying hello. Say thank you...be cool, calm, collective...and oh yeah...be nice. Because hey, even if you don't like your employer, experienced and seasoned employers acknowledge the natural process of moving on.

Good point about employers making counter offers when and if you try to leave...Consider: If your value to the firm is that much greater, why did it take this action for you to get an increase?

If you're laid off, be honest. If you're fired for some reason like...you suck at what you do...well, then you'll want some level of disgression when you apply for a new job. I'm just kidding...you don't suck...it's a hypothetical you, so don't worry. Just have a logical reason for why you were dismissed and it's all good, brotha.

Now, it's said that two weeks is acceptable....one if you've been with the company less than a year. But I've been with a couple of jobs--both design and non-design related...where two weeks just flies by. Finish your current obligations before moving on...I agree with Roz. Or, if something has to be worked out, do what you have to do...but don't leave your old company flat on their , because there again, we don't want to burn bridges.

Get your work when you leave a job. It's good practice (even though you should have your old stuff already) and is probably expected of your...well...soon to be ex-employer.

Strangely enough, it's a very good idea to ask for a letter of reference upon departure. Umm...really? Wouldn't that piss you off if you were the employer? Oh hey, you're leaving my company but I'll give you a recommendation, telling them how LOYAL you are. I know it's expected that you'll move on for professional growth, but it seems so awkward to ask your soon to be ex-employer for a letter of recommendation...unless you were laid off. For, if you were laid off, this might make the employer feel better about easing your transition, am I right? Less guilt...or something like that.

I'm skipping the vacations section of this chapter. So there!

heh...I'm just moving on to In Search of Education...not that I have much to say about it...I mean, I never have a lot to say, now do I? HA!

Education...is...subjective. I wish I had read this chapter before finding a college. I sometimes feel like little Quinnipiac University, under the watch of a frickin' SLEEPING giant, in old school Hamden, CT, is going to be a turn off for potential employers. But we're ranked...what? 14th in the nation for private universities? Is that good enough? Probably not, because that's the entire school, not our design department. Plus our department is small.

A distinguishing characteristic of all graphic design based programs is the fundamental concentration on problem-solving. Well, sorry, but our Mac lab doesn't really lend itself to problem solving. Too many problems with vague or no answers at all.

Roz's suggestions:
1.) A minimum four year curriculum, 2.) placing the utmost emphasis on the faculty associated with an institution, and 3.) a program that integrates aspects of art history, liberal arts, and business or marketing with a strong concentration on graphic design.

Ok...number one.... Number two...we've got Pattie Belle Hastings...and Stephen Klema....and the chair of our dept. Mr Jon Blake...otherwise I haven't been impressed. Sorry...but half a .

As far as number three goes...I'll give it a , even though I wonder about the business part. The art history segment is separate from our program, which makes me glad I took it.....but business/marketing? I'm not so sure we see that...or at least...not as much as we should.

Onto Baron's seemingly boring book...

It's tough to find the right balance between quality and file size. It's true.
Then you get problems of resizing, among other things. Use PDF's, it'll save your .

She talks about the use of TIF files instead of JPGS...which I completely disagree with unless we're talking about files for print. TIF files are fine for print, but the compression of JPG should be used for the web...or, hey, if you can get away with it, use GIFS. I've actually used a combination of both in my portfolio site, depending solely on load times.

Optimizing causes color reduction, image bluring, and can basically make your beautiful work look like crap. So just be careful and use your designers eye to create a good balance between the yin and the yang. Or, if you're not understanding that, just make it look good while keeping your file size to a minimum.

Perhaps you should ask yourself if a slower load time is worth it.

Damn it, Cynthia took a Tagalong. She doesn't deserve one...I'm going to go get it back.

Catch you on the flip side.