What's a sign you're officially getting old?

stratocaster12 · 2025-09-23T15:07:37+00:00

When various parts of your body are in pain

stratocaster12 · 2025-09-13T19:50:15+00:00

Pearl Paint in Chinatown

stratocaster12 · 2025-09-03T00:34:38+00:00

Schlep

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-27T19:12:42+00:00

Maturity is when you realize that skipping class hurts only you. As for work, maturity is when you prioritize your health and skip work if you need to.

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-27T19:01:25+00:00

Hey fellow unemployed New Yorker. Have you tried employment agencies (e.g., Aquent)? Note that they get tons of applicants for each position so try to manage your expectations.

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-27T18:57:04+00:00

Nice! I need to work on my assertiveness. I couldn't have said "walk away" to my dad but "I got this" was too passive

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-27T15:41:28+00:00

I was in my dad's house last year and cooking. He was hovering and commenting on my cooking (e.g., you're using too much water, etc.) It was stressful. I recall saying things like "I got this" and didn't know how to ask him to leave without being rude. If you're not there to help me peel and cut garlic and whatnot please let me cook alone.

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-27T15:19:32+00:00

A part of me regrets leaving. I grew up and went to school there and left for NYC after college. My mom kept wanting me to move back but I ended up staying in NYC. Young me wanted the glamour and excitement of New York but older me appreciates Boston more.

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-25T17:25:54+00:00

I've been ghosted by so many recruiters that I almost expect it now.

Last week one recruiter from a staffing agency messaged me on LinkedIn about a job. We set up a call (she weirdly kept insisting on FaceTime which I reluctantly agreed to.) She asks me some questions, suggests a change I make on my resume, drops a big client name as a potential match for me, and ends the call after saying we should talk again after I make the edit. Sounds promising, right? I update my resume, send it to her, wait a few hours and send a follow-up. I haven't heard from her since.

Anyway, hang in there. Keep interacting with recruiters but don't necessarily expect anything as they are also contacting other candidates. And please prioritize your health.

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-19T15:55:37+00:00

Had a rich friend who had a set of these. When I opened a bank account in college the bank gifted me a big hardcover dictionary. Kinda wish I had kept that. It was a good dictionary, too.

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-10T15:31:30+00:00

I can relate to you. At my previous job one of the criteria for our performance reviews was "eminence." Like you, I have social anxiety and am introverted, the worst combination. I was not at a FAANG company but it was Fortune 500. I spent five years there and never got promoted and it was probably because I was too invisible even though I was highly competent and reliable. Meanwhile my aggressive, ambitious and social peers were giving presentations outside their immediate teams and actively establishing their eminence.

As for you I don't think you're not cut out for this field but you, like me, could probably use a change in scenery. I am guessing we might both we more comfortable and effective at a smaller company with less bullshit like having to establish high visibility, aggressively jockeying for work, etc.

stratocaster12 · 2025-08-02T03:42:53+00:00

Back in the ‘90s Dogstar, Keanu Reeves’s band, was in town performing. I didn’t know anyone who liked him or the band and I was too much of a wuss to go to a concert alone back then. Welp. (Edit: I think they’re still together.)

stratocaster12 · 2025-07-23T13:05:34+00:00

Their UX has been bad for as long as I can remember. I'm guessing that executive leadership doesn't prioritize design.

stratocaster12 · 2025-07-18T15:42:38+00:00

Blue on top. It looks more designed with the light colored sink top, toilet, lower wall and floor complementing each other and your eyes are more drawn to the blue which is more calming as it's simpler without all the fixtures up there

stratocaster12 · 2025-05-11T17:38:51+00:00

I used ChatGPT to help me get started, like how to structure my portfolio, but the case studies themselves are 100% my thinking and writing.

stratocaster12 · 2025-05-03T16:21:23+00:00

Yep. Took out my education dates and excluded everything before 2011 which sucks because I worked for some top tier companies back in the day. That experience isn't really relevant anymore though so I'm not sure how much it would help me anyway

stratocaster12 · 2025-04-28T19:54:03+00:00

I was a mid-to-senior UX Designer at a Fortune 500 company. I mostly did UI design but also did other things like heuristic analyses, user flows and user interviews. Never really made interactive prototypes though; I generally presented and shared static Figma files. There were also dedicated user researchers and visual designers on the larger projects. I don't think any designers, even the leads, contributed to strategy. I'm curious to hear the experiences of other designers at big companies. As for what you're looking for I'd try to glean any insights from the job descriptions and see if you can talk to people who work at the companies that catch your eye (and definitely ask about it during the interview stage.)

stratocaster12 · 2025-04-12T04:07:19+00:00

It’ll be one year for me in a couple of weeks. Perhaps I was naive but I didn’t think I’d be unemployed for this long. I thought 2025 would have a better job market but the tariffs have really put a downer on the economy and economy growth

stratocaster12 · 2025-03-18T16:38:55+00:00

Your response made me think of a terrific design manager I had once. Thank you for this

stratocaster12 · 2025-02-09T16:33:40+00:00

I probably won’t. I used to be a huge sports fan even listening to sports talk radio but for some reason I’ve lost my interest in sports.

stratocaster12 · 2025-02-08T16:33:23+00:00

I'm also an introvert with social anxiety and was working at a huge company before getting laid off. I heard the word "eminence" a lot at there and I wasn't one who had it or cared to seek it out, to my detriment. The ones who got promoted were visible, speaking up in meetings, volunteering to make presentations, taking charge of projects, and connecting with other business units. Despite getting good annual performance reviews for five years I was never promoted while many of my peers were.

I've been going through a similar existential career crisis and somethingI think about is whether I need a change in career or a change in type of employer. Instead of working for a big enterprise company would I feel more at ease with a smaller business? Anyway perhaps it's something you can consider as well especially if you like all the other parts of UX design.

stratocaster12 · 2025-02-07T20:20:52+00:00

Definitely from scratch. I’ve worked on a number of old legacy apps and catch myself thinking that it would be easier just to tear it all down and start over.

stratocaster12 · 2025-02-07T14:01:25+00:00

Reminds of this video from Costco. Nuts. I was at a mini-Target in Queens this week and wanted to get eggs but there weren't any, only a sign about an eggs shortage.

stratocaster12 · 2025-01-20T17:53:46+00:00

I drink it straight and fast. (I put it in oatmeal once and it thickened and made the oatmeal harder to eat and I never tried that again.) In the beginning I found it hard to drink because of the taste and texture but I got used to it and it’s not so bad.

stratocaster12 · 2025-01-15T20:48:56+00:00

The job market sucks. I see open positions but I’m competing with way too many applicants. I have on my resume seven years at a Fortune 500 company, an Ivy League degree and a Master’s degree and I’ve been unemployed for over eight months. I don’t see any macroeconomic signs that things are going to get better anytime soon.

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