Today I had the most strange job interview in my entire life. Normally, I don’t make any of such communications public, and I don’t intend to do anything like that right now either.
It’s just that one tiny detail left me deeply puzzled. Of which I’d like to tell a story about.
Context#
Before this year, I have never been actually seeking a job. I had no experience of a series of job interviews, because usually I was invited to join a company. And I always had a lot of work, so this skill was out of the table. I didn’t need to persuade anyone I’m a skilled professional, that was out of scope. Always.
Yet, the war met me unprepared. In a way, I’m lucky to be still alive!
Still, I had no proper resume. I had not many things to tell about the recent years of my work, especially I couldn’t show a thing. Our inner projects were super interesting to work on, yet they were halted.
Or just frozen, the time will tell.
I wasn’t ready for any interviews. Yet, I’ve been trying to go that way, because freelancing wasn’t an option.
I’m not a freelancer, I work with teams. I have my team of professionals, and I integrate into other teams too. I never work alone.
I saw no other way. I had to walk that path. In a way, that path is humiliating for me. Not because of the ego, but because my skills outset the representation of them. I’m more skilled than I look like, and I had no means to demonstrate those skills.
That means not that I’m beyond being super-cool. Well, I would love to be, but I’m not that self-centered egomaniac. That means I’m okay, but to an outsider I may look like a novice. Which is unacceptable. My bad, I missed some crucial things.
Roles#
I went through a series of interviews with some companies, and they weren’t matches.
E.g. there was that crypto startup, it was cool, and they seemed to like me— yet, I’m not someone who’s overly excited about crypto. I don’t treat it as a scam, I believe the technology is promising. Yet, if I’d be excited about it, I’d be there already. That’s the point.
This company, Global Logic, matched with me. I like it. They seemed to like me to.
I went through their interviews, and there was that ‘final boss,’ their person, who’d I report to as a senior UI/UX designer.
That’s the person who creates graphical user interfaces, typically for websites or mobile apps, but not necessarily just that.
Normally, I don’t apply to such positions, because I’ve been on them, like, 10 years ago. For a very long time, I’m not a designer any more. I’m rather art director, creative director, team lead, project manager, product owner.
What’s the difference between a designer and art director? Designer’s instruments are software suites, art director instruments are designers.
I am a person who works with designers, clients, developers. I don’t care too much about the instruments, the software with which people do their job. I care about the global picture and the people.
I’ve started applying to these positions because I’ve been lost and my mind was occupied about other things, namely war. So I made bad decisions about many career-related things. I was ready to step down the ladder and take any role that is still relevant for me. Not in any company, however.
English#
At the moment, I’ve been living in Lviv, Ukraine. And I’ve been trying to search companies locally too. This interview was to the local branch, not the HQ in California.
Which, I have feeling, could be easier for me than this one.
I am native English-speaker, and I wasn’t too well-versed in Ukrainian back than. All of the interviewers asked me about my English skills, and that was making me mad!
To one interviewer in some other company, I replied that I can forget English when I’m exhausted late at night. You know. Everyone has that point of tiredness, when you just can’t speak properly.
This situation worsens when one speaks many languages. I can speak 4 languages within the same day and in the late night, for me it could be a mix of all of them, and I can forget a word from one language and substitute it from another. (Usually that’s some complicated word, so you won’t have an impression I’m some dumb fuck.)
My wife used to tease me about that. ‘Who says those things on interviews!’ I tried to save myself with the addition that I should have had this ‘only’ word, indicating that normally I speak English.
That was another point I missed, that was my mistake. I was annoyed by the question, yet it’s perfectly understandable. The person on that side couldn’t have knowledge of me. I used to some popularity, but not here. Nobody knows me here, and my name doesn’t speak for itself.
Sometimes, I had that impression that English skills matter more than any other skill. Well, in that department I’m your champion, sir.
However, having the interview in Ukrainian language, I wasn’t my best. I’ve been nervous, because it’s only recently I started commincating back in Ukrainian, and I had no proper training. No Ukrainian school to visit, no teachers, not even books! I’ve learned the language over the internet and from my wife, a native speaker.
It went mostly well, and I saw no issues with our comminication. Until this fatal mistake of mine. I’ve been talking too much!
I’ve said that thing that ruined my interview and that I want to elaborate about. I’d love to refer to it to the original person who brushed me off for this, but honestly, I just see no point in doing so.
What I said?
That in my work, I try to make things as simple as possible. That I try to simplify till there’s nothing left to remove.
The quote was this referring to a variation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famous words:
‘Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.’
— This quote comes from his book ‘Terre des Hommes’ (translated as ‘Wind, Sand and Stars’). It beautifully captures the essence of simplicity and minimalism in design, art, and life.
This phrase is quite famous, and I believe many others paraphrased it differently. From my industry experience of 15 years, I can confidently say that it’s true. Good design is simple, but it’s not easy.
Looked like I failed to communicate this thing. That was a video conference, and I saw the negative reaction to my words. A bit later, feeling I failed the interview, I asked directly ‘what was wrong?’ and received the reply ‘we make pretty complicated user interfaces, and we’re looking for the person who is able to deliver them.’
I wasn’t in a position to explain myself and in my head I had only one phrase:
That’s the fucking problem of all of you.
Was I willing to report to a person who doesn’t understand the power of simplicity? All of the strongest players on the market, all of them, no exceptions — well, sorry, not Microsoft, obviously — most of them aim into simplicity. These are mavericks, Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, AirBNB, I can go on and on and on and on.
The thing is, it’s super difficult to achieve. This simplicity. I bet some higher up the career ladder person of Global Logic actually understands that. I believe it is so.
Why don’t those companies actually do simple interfaces? It’s not because they don’t want to, it’s because the talent is limited, and they’re unable to compete with, say, Apple.
Am I able to deliver complex user interfaces? Oh boy, oh boy. I am, since 2009 at least. Oh, I started my career with such complex interfaces, you girl would just be shocked.
I mean it. I’m not proud of that work, it’s borders the incompetence, how bad it was. I was a novice, and I was unable to make things simpler.
I totally able to deliver complex interfaces. Am I willing to do that? Well, yes and no. It’s a complicated topic, because most times it’s not possible to create very simple interface when you beging. It’s the process, the process of simplification. It takes years, and sometimes decades.
You may want to read a story about my first experience as a design intern. Which I would say I failed, as I switched to work on different things for a long while.
If that person sees the development process as ‘we create simple things and then we make them more complex,’ I have some news. I believe it’s the exact opposite. It’s the beginners’ stage, when you create something complex. Complexity is the stage of not understanding many things, and it’s normal.
Am I willing to work with the people who aim at complexity? Hell no, absolutely not. Unless I have the power to explain them my point of view, and they’re able to either understand my point or communicate their position back, clearly and with their own experience.
Conclusion#
I regret that interview. The company seems to be great, the team isn’t bad, and I could have been a great asset to them. Yet, I failed to represent myself as more professional person than they thought I was.
My takeaways are:
- no need to talk too much during that stage, I can easily scare away the potentially great team with some wrong phrasing, even when we mean the same things.
- I need a space where I can communicate those ideas, my website. It’s a shame I have no website at this point, but my excuse is I’ve been too busy for too long.
- I need to set some expectations from the companies and teams I’m interviewing with. That’s a long-term project, but it’d definitely help me find the like-minded people, not the ones who have too little experience to understand my position. If I have to explain myself with too many words, it’s not something I’m looking for from the people I’d like to spend my best self with.