On making the jump from Student to Professional

I first realised that I was a fully fledged Graphic Designer on my future sister-in-law's hen night. We were at a bar in Manchester just over two years ago and someone asked me what I did for a living. this was the first time that the sentence "I'm a Graphic Designer" had left my mouth. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, and truth be told I felt like a phoney for saying it. I spent a lot of time within those first few weeks of starting my job trying out those words and figuring out what they meant. Mostly, they seemed to mean that people assumed I know what I was doing at any given time, which was worrying because I mostly felt that I was winging it.

I'm not sure at what point graduates turn into designers. I think it fluctuates for everyone. For me, I'm pretty sure that it didn't happen until some point around the one year mark after graduation. Definitely for that first year of working I was still learning and growing. I'm still learning, I learn every day, but the first year especially stands out as a time when I was constantly being exposed to things that uni just couldn't have prepared me for. 

I count my first year of work as a fourth year of education. My degree didn't include a year of work like some do, so I was absolutely learning on the job. 

The jump from student to professional happened very gradually for me. There wasn't really a eureka moment, it's been a process of learning and doing. I think the only difference between myself now and myself two years ago is that I'm better at coping with stress (but I think some would disagree with me there!) and that I feel more prepared to handle what comes my way. I'm not sure that this makes me a 'real designer' or whether I'm still a bit of a pretender. I'm enjoying the process though. 

Svea xo