Yearly Archives: 2013

What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. Really?

I am not strong.
As I wrote in a previous post, I was fired and this is the second time to look for a job after graduating from McMaster University. I created this blog when I was looking for a job last time. If you read early posts, you see how discouraged I was then. I applied for many jobs, but all of them except for one responded. I was really depressed, but it did not kill me. Did it make me stronger? No, I’m depressed again.
I am even desperate; whether I am happy or depressed, what I can do now is to keep looking for a job and apply for any job I can do. Oh well.

Recently I found this internet article, This Is Why Your Resume Was Rejected. This is very, very, very discouraging. But this is the reality. One good thing to know is that I am not alone.

April 8, 2013Permalink

Meeting my “client” and “students”

I am not good at making money.  I am not good at it at all.

Yesterday I went to Toronto to meet my “client” and my “students”.  As I wrote in a previous post, I designed a logo and business card for a friend of mine for free.  I’m not paid, so she is not really my “client”.  As I wrote in another previous post, I go to McMaster to serve as a teaching assistant in a class where I leaned last year. Yesterday’s class was at OCAD in downtown Toronto.  I am an unofficial volunteer TA, and they are not really my “students”.  But these are priceless experience for me. Networking is one of the things I expect, but it is only a tiny part.

Designing a logo and business card was an interesting experience for me.  Firstly, I used some Adobe Illustrator functions that I knew but had not used.  If I choose to do a freelance design job, I need to be familiar with those functions, and it was a good chance to practice it.  Secondly and more importantly, I found my role as a designer. There are many web services to help freelancers to design logo, business card and web site.  Those users choose some design from templates but not everyone know how to choose good ones.  Moreover, those templates do not satisfy everyone’s preference and the users have to compromise in some degree.  My role is to derive the client’s needs and preferences, visualize it with a set of design skills, and realize it with another set of design skills.  I need to practice it some more times before starting a business.

As I wrote in a previous post, I like teaching, and hearing “thank you, Hiro” after teaching is my delight.  It does not matter if I make money by doing it or not.  Am I stupid?  Maybe.  But who cares?

April 3, 2013Permalink

What to call myself

After not having worked for four days, I am officially unemployed from today.  Now what should I call myself?

When I went to a job fair early last month, I brought some “business” cards and called myself “in-between product designer”.  I was employed then, but was “in-between” a design school and a design job, so I called myself “in-between product designer”.  Since I launched my portfolio web site a few years ago, I have described myself as “in between” in the web site for this reason.  My LinkedIn headline is still “In-between Product Designer”, but since I am officially unemployed now, this is no longer a joke. On LinkedIn, you can call yourself as you like.  I’ve found that some people call themselves “Freelance Designer”, but I doubt some of them.  I dare to honestly call myself “in-between” there.

As I mentioned yesterday, one of the options I am thinking now is to do a part-time job and prepare for starting a small business.  Probably I will not do product design at least in early phases of the business.  I will focus on graphic design, web design and presentation design.  This is why the subtitle of my portfolio web site has been “Total Design Solutions by Hiro Shibata”.  Today I made new “business” cards and called myself Total Designer.  I know I will need to explain what it means, but it’s better than writing “Product Design, Web Design, Graphic Design, Presentation Design” to make it messy.

Anyways, I will wait for the former company to ask me to come back to work as they said (which I doubt) for a few more days.  Even if they actually ask me to work for them again, it won’t last long and I will need to look for a new job anyways.  In next few days, let’s sit back and make a plan for coming few months, and then look for a part-time job.

April 1, 2013Permalink

I’m fired. Now what?

It’s tricky.  My “original” contract ends at the end of March which is today.  A couple of weeks ago, they, actually “he”, decided to extend my contract for three weeks and said he would probably extend extension.  I had been quite busy until a couple of weeks ago and did not have time to prepare for job hunting, and my plan was to look for a job during the extension period.  A week ago, a day after I signed a new contract, he suddenly decided to cancel the new contract.  Why?  Because the project is way behind the schedule because of his mismanagement and he decided to send back most of the Japanese workers, which dis-necessitates interpreters.  Technically speaking, I am not “fired”.  He has the right to cancel the contract by notifying a week before, which is clarified on the contract.  From a legal point of view, it is acceptable.  But from a humanitarian point of view, is it?  It could have been avoided, but he chose to cut disposable temporary workers.

He said he would ask me to work for them again two weeks later when they are ready to restart the project.  Do I trust him?  No.  What happens if it takes three weeks, or four weeks… which is easily predicted based on their past management.  I should look for a new job right now, but the problem is many of the others, mostly Canadians, expect me to come back.  He brutally “fired” me, but now, for others, I generously wait.  Am I stupid?  Yes, definitely.  But I don’t want to be like him.  I don’t want to betray other people’s expectation.  OK, I will wait for one week.

Using disposable workers is a “good” business strategy.  Well, he expects me to come back, so I am a “reusable” worker.  Anyways.  But is it, I mean, is using disposable workers sustainable?  The three pillars of sustainable development are environmental responsibility, economic security, and social well-being.  Theoretically, the “good” business strategy misses the last pillar.  However, in fact, sadly, many companies use the strategy and they survive or even prevail, like the Japanese car companies that “fired” thousands of temporary workers to make them homeless a few years ago.  This is the reality.

So, now what?  Even if they ask me to work for them again, I will need to look for a new job later.  Now I am thinking of two options: one is to look for a full-time job, and the other one is to look for a part-time job and prepare for starting a small business.  I am tired of fooling my time and talent because of someone else’s mismanagement.  Fortunately or unfortunately, I have time to think of my future plan.

As I wrote in a previous post, let’s see how the looser will fail.

March 31, 2013Permalink

Free(lance) designer???

Now I’m doing a design job for free for a friend of mine.  She is the other Japanese interpreter in my work place.  Now I work night shifts and she works during the day, and we worked together for a while before I started working night shifts.  She is just like me; she came to Canada to work here, but found it difficult to get hired because she does not have work experience in Canada though she is a talented person, and currently do an “easy” job to acquire job experience in Canada.  She is thinking of working as a freelancer, and I recommended her to make freelancer’s business cards, and suggested that I design it for her for free.

Why free?  I hesitate to charge my friends for my design work, and this is only one of the reasons.  Now I am thinking of working as a freelance designer, and I need to show examples of my design work.  I will add her logo and business card design to my portfolio.  I am also simulating working with clients.  Ideally, in the future, she will give her business card to her clients and mention that her friend, which is me, designed the logo and the business card, which advertises me.  If it works, it’s a good deal for her and me, isn’t it?

Today I met her to show some design ideas and to refine them with her, and she enjoyed it.  She told me that it is fun to see her logo coming along.  It is fun for me to see someone enjoying my design work.  Now I know this is what I want to do. Designers’ role is to realize other people’s idea with design skills.  This is a good simulation.

Whether it is a freelance job or a job for free, designing for people is fun.

March 22, 2013Permalink

Two years since the earthquake and tsunami

It’s been two years since the earthquake and tsunami hit Eastern Japan on March 11, 2011.  I was in Japan then, and still remember everything like yesterday.  My home is far from the epicenters (it was not “epicenter” but there were multiple epicenters), but it was the biggest and also longest earthquake I have ever experienced.  Everything around me changed since then: TV programs on every channel reporting the updated information of the suffered areas all the day without advertisement, lack of food due to damaged infrastructure and panic buying, never-ending aftershocks and earthquake-sick, rolling blackout, messages and donation from all over the world, confusion, hopelessness and the feeling of unity…

Today someone complained to me that tons of tsunami-related garbage from Japan have reached BC coasts.  Who’s fault is it?  Nobody!  No one deliberately sent any garbage from Japan to Canada.  Some people expect the owners of the “debris” to pay for cleaning, but they cannot even afford cleaning up their land.  I want those complainers to understand that thousands of people in the affected areas still live in temporary dwellings since their hometown is still filled with debris.

I wrote I remember everything, but not really.  I quitted a job a day before the earthquake, and scheduled job interviews were cancelled.  In the great confusion, many companies were not ready to hire new employees.  But I dared to think I was lucky; I had a place to live and a warm bed to sleep in while thousands of people lost everything. Now I don’t know what I will be doing three weeks from now; the current contract job will end at the end of this month and I am still looking for a job.  Can I think I am lucky now?  Now I turned off the room light and lit a candle to remember the rolling-blackout nights.

One more reason to light a candle.  R.I.P. all the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.

March 11, 2013Permalink

Job Fair. It’s fair.

Today McMaster University, partnered with Mohowk College, offered a job fair for students and alumni.  Since the current contract job will end at the end of this month, I took a day off to join the job fair.

As I wrote in early posts, I sent my resume to many companies and recruit agencies, and all of them except for the one who offered the current contract job did not reply.  I had no way to know why they did not reply, and got discouraged.  But job fair is fair; everyone can talk to recruiters and see how they react.  I talked to many people.  Some of them politely explained what they do, listened to me and gave me some positive words, while some others automatically received my resume.  I could tell whether I can be a candidate to be considered or I am not qualified and do not interest them.  This is one of the good things about job fair.

Another benefit of job fair for me is that I can measure my verbal communication skill. If I saw the recruiter’s reaction, I could tell how good or bad my communication skill is. It was like preparing for job interviews.

How did it go?  I had some positive impression of a few companies, but for now I dare not to talk about it because I do not want to be disappointed.  I will write about it if I have got any good news from them.  I hope it will happen.

March 6, 2013Permalink

Now, what should I do to save the Earth?

As I wrote in a previous post, I bought a car, often drive to Hamilton, and wonder if it was a smart choice or not.  It saves time, costs more, and obviously bad for the environment.  Owning a car and driving it is fun, but I dare not to count it for now.

China is a tremendously honest country; they focus on economic growth of today and do not care about the environment of tomorrow.  An internet article, Politics of pollution: China’s oil giants take a choke-hold on power, describes it very precisely.  They know how to reduce pollution, but do not do it because it costs and slows down the economic growth.  They do not admitting that compensation will cost a lot more or even impossible.

I still remember that one of my in-class presentations in the Faculty of Environmental Design triggered discussion on ethics of products.  I used an example of Fair Trade products; they are generally more expensive than other products of the equivalent quality, but people choose to buy those products for some reasons, and probably many of them choose it because they feel they are doing the right thing.  The advertisement titled Follow the Flog probably targeted those people like me.

You must do something about it.

This advertisement makes me feel better; I don’t need to launch a movement.  But, dose it, really?

Some companies in more ethically-advanced countries have found that business focusing on sustainability is also profitable.  An internet article, 5 Lessons From The Companies Making Sustainability More Profitable Than Ever, describes how those companies make profits while providing “green” products.  To make a long story short, the users of those products do not have to be environmentally-conscious people but can be cost-reduction-conscious people to be environmentally friendly.

OK, now, what should I do?  Can I keep using my car if I follow the flog and use sustainable products to save money?  Not really.  This discussion continues.

March 1, 2013Permalink

Going back to school (as a TA)

Yesterday, I went to McMaster University to join Design Innovation class of the Engineering Design program as a volunteer TA.  As I wrote in a previous post, I was a TA in Design Thinking course last year.  Like Design Thinking course, Design Innovation is a biweekly Saturday course, and since I bought a car, now I go back to school to help teaching.  I like teaching, and it’s worth driving two hours.  Actually I joined the class from the beginning of this term, but I skipped two classes in a raw because I was asked to work on Saturday with Japanese workaholics.  It’s good to “take a day off” on Saturday.

Those two courses are led by a mechanical engineering professor and an industrial design professor.  To make a long story short, I understand that the aim of those courses is to make engineers designers.  Since I have both engineering and design backgrounds, let me assume I am a perfect match.  At the beginning of Design Thinking course, most of the students are pure engineers; once they came up with an idea, they stuck to it and tried to make it better without thinking of alternatives.  Now I can tell they are becoming familiar with design approach where they explore design ideas to find better solutions.  But changing habits is not easy.  When they try to generate different ideas, some of them seem to focus on technologies and often forget design implications such as human factors.  When I asked “what are design challenges in your project?” some of them could not answer.  But if they truly understand design approach and use their engineering expertise, I’m sure they can be “strong” engineering designers.

I like teaching, and now I want to be a good teacher; I want to show my design approach as a professional product designer.  But I still don’t know when it happens.  My journey will go on.

February 24, 2013Permalink

Engineers are also people, right!?

This is a typical conversation I hear at my workplace.

Japanese engineer: Please install the pipes here, not there.
Canadian pipe fitter: It’s better to install them there because it’s easier to walk here.
Japanese engineer: No, it doesn’t have to be. Only maintenance personnel walk here.

I can derive two points from this conversation.  First, although Japan is known for its advanced consumer products, maintenance personnel (engineers and technicians) are not considered to be “users”; only those product consumers are recognized as users. Second, technology-oriented engineers do not consider human factors.  Probably they focus on “efficiency”; in this case, using less pipe, thus shorter route with less material, is more efficient.  But, is it really?  No.  Uncomfortable work environment easily causes human errors.  It is inefficient.  Those engineers are not trained to recognize maintenance personnel as users of the facility and to design user-friendly work environment.

I have found another difference between Canadians and Japanese in this context.  Some machines to be maintained are placed near the floor.  This is because Japanese people often crouch to work, which is very uncomfortable for many Canadians.  Many Japanese simply do not know this difference.  In one case, I explained this to a Japanese engineer and Canadian pipe fitters, and advised to install some machines at a little below chest height.  Now those machines are placed as I advised, but only a few people know it.  No matter how many people know it, I’m glad to see them installed from designer’s view point in the engineer’s world.

February 18, 2013Permalink