Category Archives: Journey to the Dream Job

I have experienced being unemployed several times. Technically speaking, I am currently “self employed” because I do freelance jobs, but I don’t count it as “being employed”. I need a better full-time job. As I wrote in a previous post, being unemployed is very depressing. But, though I am still not happy, now I’m coming to think differently. Apparently, what did not kill me makes me a little bit stronger.

According to a Japanese internet article, 70% of job-seeking university students in Japan are frustrated. According to another Japanese internet article, 21% of those university students have thought “I want to die, want to disappear”. If I was at their mental level, I must have killed myself several times to completely disappear. However, in fact, this seems a serious matter in Japan. According to another Japanese internet article that addresses the same issue, the number of young Japanese who committed suicide due to unemployment has been doubled in last five years. What has changed in last years? Economy is probably one of the factors. Young Japanese people may be more sensitive, may feel more pressure.

Japan has experiences rapid change in mentality in last couple of centuries. During Edo era, Samurai spirit prevailed. Since Japan was opened to foreign countries around 150 years ago and the Samurai society came to an end, people suddenly realized that they were way less developed than Western countries, and decided to make Japan a “strong” country. This gradually formed extreme mentality in a different way from Samurai spirit, and eventually led to WWII. Some tragedies happened during this era due to the extreme mentality as I wrote in an old post. And then, Japan was defeated, and people suddenly lost mentality. However, it was not the end. In 1956, Japanese government stated “it is no longer a post-war period”, and Japan experienced rapid economic growth. As I wrote in another old post, Tokyo Olympic was held in this era. If I understand correctly, economy has influenced, or even formed people’s mentality since that period. People came to think that working for a big good company and making money is good. And then we experienced so-called bubble economy from late 80s to early 90s, and it eventually burst. Now what characterizes Japanese mentality? It seems most complex ever.

There used to be good old days. We cannot go back, but we can remember the mentality. During the rapid economic growth period when people faced many social problems that they had never thought of, a famous comedian, Hitoshi Ueki sang many funny songs. One of his songs is だまって俺について来い (Don’t say anything and follow me). Well, it’s like Don’t Worry Be Happy, and he sang the song in the 60s. It goes like this.

Those who don’t have a job, come to me. I don’t have either, but don’t worry. Look at that burning sunset. It’ll work out someday.

We cannot go back to that era, but we can still think in that way, right?

There is a difference between telling a lie and hiding a truth, but the difference is very small.

In general, life is tough. When something sounds too good to be true, it is usually not true. After having been a full-time job seeker for nearly a couple of months, I’m now a part-time job seeker; I do a freelance job to do at home, but it is not enough to live decently, and I keep looking for a better job(s). I have registered for a few web services for freelancers to find jobs (or from a different perspective which it is primarily for, they are for clients to find freelancers), including the one where I “practice” graphic design as I wrote in a previous post. Once in a while, I get invitation from a client to suggest me applying for a job they posted, but in most cases they send invitation to many qualified freelancers and I still have to compete with other invited freelancers. Last week, I got an invitation to a CAD coaching job. I am good at CAD modeling, and as I wrote in an old post, I like teaching. I said “wow”.

The invitation was very simple, like saying “if you have expertise in CAD modeling and you like teaching, this job is for you”. Can getting a job be that easy? I replied and asked more information. Their reply said like “visit our web site where you find more information and application from”. But the “information” on their web site, which is actually a youtube video which repeatedly says “earn money!”, is not very detailed and in the “application from” you only need to enter your contact information and “a message”, unlike typical job application where you need to enter work experience, education, skills and many other pieces of information. Can getting a job be that easy? I assumed they would give me a link to another web page or something to enter more information about me, and thought how to show my capability, but what they sent me instantly was an agreement form. Can getting a job be that easy? No. I read the agreement form and found it abnormally difficult to understand. After reading it three times, what I found is… if someone downloads a trial version of their CAD software, I will provide them with technical support AS MUCH AS THEY WANT during the trial period. And if they purchase the product after the trial period expires, the company gives me a certain amount of money no matter how much time I spent on the technical support. If not, they don’t. Is this a good deal for me? No, I don’t think so. Did they tell me a lie? No, they didn’t. Are they honest? No, I don’t think so. If they are honest, they don’t have to repeatedly tell “earn money!”, and they don’t have to make their agreement from abnormally difficult to understand. Are they smart? No, I don’t think so, but I think they are, or at least they try to be, cunning.

Anyways, life is not easy. I’ll keep looking for a better job.

As I wrote in a previous post, I often “practice” graphic design on a web service. It’s called DesignCrowd. I just wondered how easy my profile page can be found, and googled “DesignCrowed designer Hiro Shibata”. I seem the only Hiro Shibata on the service, and it’s so easy to find the page. What was more interesting was the suggested search term.

Apparently, many people have googled “DesignCrowd bad for designers”. I wondered what can be found with the search term, and found this article: Crowdsourced design is a risky business. In a nutshell, some “designers” copy other people’s designs and submit them to increase the chance of being selected, and the clients bear the risk of stealing someone’s intellectual property. The people who run DesignCrowd seem aware of this problem, and there is a function to “report an issue”.

As I wrote in the previous post, I do not expect to make money on this service, and use it to practice graphic design. So it does not make sense at all to me to copy other people’s designs. But I can easily imagine that some people do it.

When comes to dishonesty, some people may think of China which is known as one of the world biggest producers of pirated products and fake food. Recently I found a fascinating internet article: Chinese zoo angers visitors by passing off hairy Tibetan mastiff dog as lion. They displayed a large hairy dog and labeled it “lion”, displayed another dog and labeled it “wolf”, and displayed a white fox and labeled it “leopard”. It’s so easy to fake things in that way, and it’s equally easy to loose the trust.

Dishonest people may think they are cunning but in fact they are only unwise.

I’ve been a full-time job seeker for a few weeks. It sucks. Really. One of a few “part-time” things I do now is to submit graphic designs on a web service; clients post a design brief, and choose one winning design from tens or 100+ designs submitted by freelance designers. From designer’s viewpoint, it’s a series of design competitions. It’s literally competitive; only one winner, out of tens or 100+ designers, earns money. I cannot easily expect to make money on this web service, and I cannot call myself “freelance graphic designer” until I win. From a different perspective, this is a good way to practice graphic design; you can submit as many designs as you want for free. You can find examples of my graphic design on my profile page.

Practice makes perfect. I found an inspiring internet article, “Want to conquer a new skill? Do it every day“. New skill? Yes. I have not learned graphic design. In a nutshell, quantity is more important than quality because it eventually improves quality. If you want to learn something new, do it everyday. The article introduces an impressive YouTube video to show an example, “Girl learns to dance in a year“. This is what I need now. I mean, practicing design everyday.

By the way, dance is one of other things that I want to learn. This will be one of next steps after getting a full-time job.