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Why Facebook, Medium, and UENO don’t ask for your design degree.
And how do they find great designers, if it’s not about the degrees?
In the last years I’ve been writing or reviewing many job listings for designers (just to be clear, here I refer to Product Designers. UX / UI sort of designers. How ever you want to call it, you know whom I mean). A lot of companies still love to require a design degree. Somehow its still a thing. My question here is always: Are you sure that someone with a degree is your best candidate?
Or, are you limiting yourself and might be missing out on some great candidates?
Ok ok, hold your horses. All you seasoned designers, thinking now: “How dare you, Stan? I’ve learned my design craft from the true masters. There is no way someone can learn this craft without studying it for many years!”
I hear you. And look, I’m not against degrees at all. I honestly believe a university degree is rather helpful to become better in your craft. Regardless of the craft. I also believe that its helpful to study design to be a good designer. As we all know, we learn a lot more soft skills in college besides the actual subject. That’s really good!
But, a design degree is probably not required to be a great designer.
And this article is just about that: Do you require a degree in your job listing, when hiring a designer?
Now, let’s look beyond parer and focus on results for a moment. Here is the job ad of BASIC, one of the best design agencies, working with companies like Beats, Fender, PlayStation and Nike. They are seriously awesome!
No word about a design degree. Rather “real passion for our craft: design, creativity, technology”.
Let’s move on and look on UENO, another top-notch agency, creating amazing work for brands as Lonely Planet, Google and Medium:
Pretty cool, right? I loooove how this job ad is written! Still, no word about degrees.
Next, how about Medium? Right now, I’m writing this exact post on Medium and I truly love the UX of writing it. And you’re reading this on Medium, I guess you enjoy their product too.
What does Medium look for, when hiring a designer?
Super short and to the point. No degree / paper required.
Another example: Facebook. Here is a job ad for a Product Design position in London:
Again, no degree required. Rather: “Communication skills” and “Ability to execute on visual and interaction details”.
Last example: Work & Co. I’ve started following this agency from their lovely design work for Virgin America (sooooooo good!) and they are named Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Design. That means, they probably know a little more how to create great products and whom to hire.
Nope, its not there. Nada. In fact, their “About” page is taking it deeper: “Many of us are self-taught engineers and designers. We value craft and skill above all, and learn from each other.”
What can we learn here? These companies are creating incredibly successful products, hiring the best of the best talent.
And they don’t require you to have a design degree.
Speaking from personal experience, I have seen plenty of designers with great academic credentials and without good design performance. I have also seen designers without academic education, doing incredible design. Not that many, but some. Many folks transition from other fields into design (Computer Science, Marketing, Advertising, Psychology or even some completely random fields).
Honestly, it’s not just about designers.
Do you want a salesman with a degree or someone who actually sells like Leonardo DiCaprio in the “Wolf of Wall Street”? Would you rather hire a software engineer with an engineering degree, or someone who can build great technology? Do you want a marketing lead with a marketing degree or someone who has attracted 100.000s of customers in a previous job?
Maybe you want both. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I don’t see it right.
If you ask me, I’d always hire for greatness and potential and not for whats written on paper. With designers, I always look on the portfolio, before even looking at the resume. If there is no portfolio at all, thats almost always a pass, regardless of the degree. If the portfolio is not good, it tells me a lot more than just a title. If the portfolio is great – then I am always interested to see more!
What does it actually say about your company, if you do require a degree in your job description? It probably says that you care about status instead of performance, talent and results. Or maybe it says that you strongly believe in the academic system (oh, thats another story). If thats the case, then don’t change anything and keep it as it is. It’s your company and you know how to run it better than I do.
But if not that kind of employer, then maybe its worth talking about passion, dedication, teamwork, communication and “love for your craft” and leave out that “degree is required”. And let them show you, how potential candidates achieve that skills, be it through the lens of previous projects or maybe something completely new and creative.
What do you think? If you like, share your personal experience regarding degrees in job ads in the comments.
PS: Julie Zhuo, VP Design at Facebook, didn’t study Design in university. She studied Computer Science. And Haraldur Thorleifsson, the CEO of UENO, didn’t study Design either. He studied Finance and Philosophy, before becoming a very famous designer on Dribbble.
