Culture
My first 6 months as a Junior Designer at Code
June 9, 2021
We have a range of different types of designers, with specialists in Content, Product, Service, Brand, UX & UI, and we're always looking at keeping the right mix and developing peoples' skills in areas that are interesting for them and for our partners.
We asked our junior designer Sam a few questions on his path to Code, and experiences over the last six months since becoming part of our design team.
I'm a Junior Designer, where I work alongside more experienced Designers, Researchers, Developers, Content Creators daily. As a Junior Designer, I help to create and improve the overall user experience of the products that we work on for our clients.
As well as getting the chance to work and collaborate with others, my role enables me to learn from more experienced colleagues, ask questions about how I can improve, seek feedback/advice and ask questions about working processes.
The company culture and its values are what attracted me to this role. When I was reading about Code, what they do and the kind of people they look for, a lot of things resonated with me. I value learning, always improving myself and collaborating.
Code had all of these to offer, and I was very intrigued by the opportunity of getting to work in multidisciplinary teams as I was learning about front-end development for most of last year alongside design to help me understand developers more.
I have had a great onboarding experience! Even though it has been remote, it hasn't stopped me from feeling welcomed by everybody. Everyone has been super helpful, they're always ready to answer any questions that I have had, give me advice, feedback and just talk about things other than work.
We have these introductory meetings called Brew Rounds and they were a great way of getting to meet colleagues and find out a little bit more about them.
I first came across design during university. There was a module I picked called new media where we mostly had assignments based on graphic design. For my final year project, I had to incorporate web design for the idea that I had, and that was where I came across the design industry for the first time.
I was using YouTube tutorials to learn the design software used to design sites, looking around for similar sites for inspiration and using sites such as Dribble and Pinterest to get an idea of how a good site should look.
At the time, I didn't even realise this would be what I would eventually get into as a career path. I didn't even know about UX and UI design until I got my mark back from my lecturer and read the feedback he gave, telling me I should consider a career in the design industry.
After that, I spent some time after graduating taking some short courses on UX design to get a better understanding of it and to make sure it was the right career path.
The highlight of my first few months has to be getting to take part in design sprints. The first time I was sitting in and observing how design sprints work, looking at the different types of activities people do during sprints and the types of people who get involved.
The second sprint I was more involved with, researching to find resources to take to the design sprint and getting stuck in with the activities. I got involved with idea generation too which helped me understand how to apply divergent and convergent thinking.
Another one of my highlights would be getting to talk about my first few months at Code during a company meeting. I made a presentation to talk people through how my first few months at Code were going and the things I had learned so far.
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Looking for a new opportunity in a company that values personal development and growth?
We've got a variety of career opportunities across engineering, design, product and analytics at the moment. Have a look what's available here.
EM Code is a customer experience, digital innovation and AI agency.
We’re a strategic digital partner that delivers breakthrough growth throughout the customer experience (CX).
We achieve this through our industry-renowned services in digital transformation, web development, brand strategy, click rate optimisation (CRO) and UX (user experience).
Our human centric approach underpins every aspect of our work.
A collective of experts in multiple disciplines, we collaborate to distil the complex needs of organisations and end users to engineer solutions that make an impact.
From fast scaling start ups to global brands, we can help you to transform your organisation.
We are an EssenceMediacom North agency.
EssenceMediacom North helps brands to breakthrough in the new communications economy.
Disrupting models of media, EssenceMediacom North accelerates creative and business transformation for its clients roster, including Hillarys, Absolute Collagen, Webuyanycar.com and United Utilities.
The agency delivers breakthrough growth, capabilities, and revenue through the integration of media, creativity, data and technology, combined with its diverse industry-leading expertise.
Equipped with access to the richest data, robust benchmarking and advanced technologies, EssenceMediacom North unlocks new opportunities to deliver truly integrated media solutions for scaling and global brands.
EssenceMediacom North is part of WPP’s media investment group, GroupM
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