The Start

With Season 3 in the books I wanted to recap the episodes and some things that stood out to me. Themes, if you will. This season we spoke about commitment, saying yes before you can say no, life outside of the industry, digital overdosing, being humans again and a bunch of other things. Thanks again for listening.

For the final guest of the season we brought Dan Mall on the show to talk about his life, professionally and personally. Dan has done a lot in his life and he was incredibly open in sharing it with us. In a nut shell, we talked about his “failed” attempt as a 3D animator, producing work that isn’t good enough, working with greats like Jeffrey Zeldman, the illusions of job security and handling the stress of freelancing while supporting a family. Outside of his professional life we talked about why Dan works (hint, his kids), how he breaks up his day and the loving story of how he met his wife. This episode will go down for us as one of our favorites so we hope you enjoy it too!

Randy’s life is a mix of thought-out steps and going where life takes him. In his professional career he’s managed to try various hats at a small shop in Orlando, get his masters from SVA, start Citizen Scholar, Inc, create The Supermarket and lead design at Etsy. He’s had a wild ride but it’s all apart of Randy’s plan in one way or another. As you'll see in this episode, Randy is led by two personal (and professional) principles: human-interaction is key to our success and our internal compass is the best sense of direction we have.

This is by far one of our favorite episodes. I’ve known Andrew for a while and he’s definitely the developer I hope I become one day. His determination, his patience, his bad ass tattoos all make up the man that Andrew Norcross is. But lets make one thing clear - it wasn’t the easiest road to get to where he is now. Andrew once worked in Finance, leading some really big portfolios for some really important clients and decided to leave that life and start a new one in development. During that time Norcross became a new dad and learned to code clocking in 12-16 hours a day. If you learn one thing from this episode it’s that hard-work trumps all. There is no fast lane, there is not over-night success, its a long-game that we must commit to. And while I said you’ll learn one thing, I was lying. You’ll also learn how to cut the perfect sleeveless shirt.

In this episode we chat with Keenan Cummings about risks. Those we take on purpose and those that just happen. In Keenan’s case, those risks defined his career as a designer. When asked what Keenan wanted to do as a teenager he responded very simple, “study design.” Too bad he didn’t know what design was. Luckily for Keenan he did know one thing - he was drawn toward strong branding and visual identities from his punk/skater lifestyle growing up. After graduated Keenan took a big risk. He left a job some would kill for at VSA Partners, where he helped redesign the Chicago Cubs logo, and started out on his own. It was so quick he totally overlooked his lack of computer when taking on his first client. His career is defined by moments like these. Everything from taking a few more freelance gigs, starting his own company with his first product Wander, to selling Days to Yahoo. Keenan is a guy (and designer) who makes moves with his heart and gut, only taking the work and opportunities his excited by and slightly scared of.

Yesenia Perez Cruz is known by most as a designer but after this week we like to say she’s a designer and student. She’s had the privilege to work at great companies like Happy Cog and Intuitive Company designing websites, apps and interfaces for clients like Zappos, MTV and Chef Garces. In this week’s episode we spoke about learning on the job, working with talented colleagues and getting better every day. Yesenia’s had the privilege of working with someone of the Internet’s most influential developers and designers while at Happy Cog and needless to say she learned a lot. Things like the Gap concept or the Gray Box exercise. Big or small, Yesenia used all tools to grow her skills to become one of the leading designers in the industry.

On a very philosophical level, this episode explores a lot of interesting facts about life when you listen “between the lines.” To start, a loving mother with a strong background in education raised Claudina. So when she decided to leave college after her freshman year, it was no surprise there was some concern for her wellbeing when she moved to Portland. But after a job or two in Portland and New York her mother, like most, realized she’d do well on her own being that she prepared Claudina for moments just like these. Claudina’s experiences vary from a French translator/design, to start-up founder, to her current role as a Front-End Architect with OddBird. And in each experience she’s managed to find an adventure and a new reason for curiosity. If we had to sum up Claudina’s life into one word, it’d easily be “bold”.

Ben is a self-taught developer, and designer, who specializes in JavaScript. He got his start the same way a lot of us did - by “googling it.” Even years into the game he still googles stuff, too. Ben grew as a developer by necessities as his projects and work required. Over time Ben built his skills and got his first job, and when he landed that job he still felt like an “imposter” - as most of us do. Similar to other guests, Ben says yes before he can even think about saying no, trusting he’ll figure it out and get the job done. Ben’s perseverance in his work is probably the main reason’s he’s successful today.

Karolina Szczur is a designer, developer and photographer living in Kraków, Poland. Karolina started working at a very young age as a fortuneteller for an online future teller company - randomly, we know - and has found work opportunities online ever since. In this episode, we talk about how Karolina often says yes before she can say no to pretty much anything – conference talks, jobs, projects – and how it has opened up new opportunities. We discuss how she got started giving talks at conferences, and the wrong way to research and deliver a talk and touched a bit on a personal note dealing with technology overload, disconnecting from our industry and our devices, and more.

Jen Mussari is a freelance lettering artist and illustrator. She’s never worked for anyone else and plans on keeping it that way. Her skills and fine-arts background helped her produce great work for clients like Squarespace, Airbnb, Kickstarter and to just name a few. In this conversation we spoke about everything in Jen’s life that has influenced Jen’s interests and career. Everything from her pope-painting grandmother to that one time she created the artwork for Amos Lee’s Mission Bell album. And even the small spaces in between like hobbies outside of her profession and what it’s like to be a part of a co-working community like The Townhouse.

Chatting with Karl proves our lives can take us anywhere, and each destination has a purpose. In Karl’s life he’s worked in two professions, music and development. He’s worked in Australia, Europe and currently resides in New York City. As a kid he SysOp'd bulletin board systems before the internet was a thing, and years later hung out in IRC chat rooms, like most of us. Instead of chatting about the newest trend he was discussing naming conventions for the MP3 file format. When Karl wasn’t on the computer, he was working an odd job here or there to help pay for his internet connection. His interest as a kid were very clear - music and technology. Karl’s story solidifies that hard work, passion and always maintaining relationships with friends and colleagues alike can take you far in life. All of these factors helped Karl through 3 continents, a seven year stint as a DJ and now a Director of Engineering at HUGE in Brooklyn.

Lara Hogan is a Senior Engineering Manager of Performance at Etsy. A lot of Lara can be summed up in one word - commitment. Her level of decisiveness is definitely admirable and something I hope to achieve in my career in general. Overall, the conversation was a fun one, we talked about her family life, her background and education, what the kind face really means, and how she’s built a career in the web industry. We even spoke a bit about donuts and cookies.

Nick and Patrick talk give a recap on the first season of The Start. Things that worked, things that didn't, and a little background about themselves and how this podcast got started.

Dan was once offered food in exchange for his design services and that's when he realized how much he loved design. Instead of waiting for things to be made, Dan went ahead and created the products he wanted to exist. Along the way he worked as a "Website Administrator" at a local company while in college. Then one day, he was offered an internship at Dropbox. After some deliberating, Dan and his now fiancé moved out to California to give his opportunity a shot. He's now a designer at Dropbox.

Oddly enough, while Aubrey is a designer, he started writing HTML and CSS by hand in with a friend in detention. Early on in his career he took advantage of small opportunities like the Cooper City Bridge Run competition to bring his talents to larger audiences. After college, Aubrey found himself a team of one throughout his career until he landed at Color where he was able to create a team around him enabling knowledge to grow the company and their skills. Aubrey is now the Designer in Residence at Science, creating and consulting on all types of projects the incubator throws his way.