Is anyone there who is a designer? I just wonder if you love your job
what kind of designer?
Fashion?
Website?
Interior?
Curriculum?
I posted a reply to this and now the post is GONE!
Very strange… :fume:
graphic designer…is what I was talking about.
or any designers…
Don’t know what happened to Wolf’s post??? Anyone has seem it?
Just want to know if anyone out there loves doing your jobs…I found it’s all very depressing working as a graphic designer in taiwan. Despite being a designer, I have to be accountant, a project manager, and sometimes a secretary…I get good pay…but living a life which is non-stop…just makes me really exhausted…
How do you gain energies when you’re down? I wonder if there is a way to get better without travelling outside of the country…
Hey Erica, good question. As an architect, I’ve asked myself this many times. When I graduated I was really into my job (loved it so much that I didn’t care about the money, the long hours, the terrible boss, and so on). But after a few years I started to feel tired with it all… and so I travelled.
I’ve just returned to Australia, and am back into my job as an architect. I still love it, but the hours are long, the work is hard, and so on. I know I should read more, as this hepls me to feel passionate about my work, but now, I try to keep other interests (martial arts, music, friends, surfing, etc). I really want to travel again, but I don’t know when I will have the time!
The key thing is that now, I have “accepted” that my career is a life decision. My advice to you would be to try to enjoy it, and avoid burning out. Take a break if you need to, and come back to it when you’re ready.
Good luck!
Well I don’t share your same specific problems but have had to deal with burn-out many times through out my career.
Since coming to Taiwan I have suffered from different kinds of work related exhaustion. I find where I live to be an exceptionally difficult place to gain creative inspiration - I certainly don’t find it in the workplace so I need to find it elsewhere. Because work seldom affords either a high level of creative output or a high level of design activity (I still believe design as a discipline is still in its infancy in Taiwan) I used to do a great deal of personal work. I would spend every evening and weekend studying or completing projects that would help me grow as a designer. Luckily I would take this effort and roll it into my for pay work - at that time my employer was pretty pleased with all the changes I brought to his division. For the last few years I have been spending my time going back to school. I thought a proper grad degree in design would help give some legitimacy to the knowledge I had and perhaps I could learn from fellow students and absorb some of their enthusiasm. It hasn’t really worked out quite that well as I was certainly learning and growing more on my own. But it certainly has been ok. I gain a lot of inspiration from the streets of Taiwan herself. There are so many interesting visuals, so many examples you can use- that clients can understand- of how not to do things. So I spend a lot of free time out walking, exploring, seeing places I might have missed before. This is good down time - away from the computer, away from giddy office workers going ape over the idea of ordering ice tea from a new vendor, and a chance to talk to different people. I love these walks. It also gives me a chance to very slowly develop a very weak skill - photography. I take pictures of everything.
I find the diversity of your job stimulating. When I get mentally bored I learn something new. My illustration skills are crap so I started studying figure drawing with a local artist. I had to quit due to time but will start again soon. I took some programming courses which helped change my thinking a great deal.
Reading books by Italo Calvino and Sergio Borges helped open my design thinking.
Give yourself time to be bored – ya get bored. Sit in your house, lay on the couch, turn off the TV, and daydream. It works for me. It’s harder now that I have a baby but I still manage to find time now and again.
Otherwise I recharge by doing what many others do, I leave Taiwan. I’ve found the craftsmanship in Northern Thailand to be very inspiring and have seen some great art in Vietnam.
I have been pretty down about my job lately and have no doubt that a major change is in order to keep my sanity and semblance of a career on track. There seems to be no growth here. Projects and organisational change start with big ideas and enthusiasm but die soon afterward. Everything is circular and nothing works in a linear progression. I also find a great lack of team thinking - I get excited with the idea of actually working with people, especially if they come from different backgrounds. Most people I find think in teams of one. That could just be my organisation though and not indicative of Taiwan in general. Sometimes a major change like a new job can be a great way to gain new enthusiasm and energy.
Being pretty isolated and time being short I have never sought out any designer type organisations in Taiwan. Does anything like that exist here? Any get togethers other than those Macromedia flash-fest’s?
[quote=“The Big Babou”]
The key thing is that now, I have “accepted” that my career is a life decision. My advice to you would be to try to enjoy it, and avoid burning out. Take a break if you need to, and come back to it when you’re ready.
Good luck![/quote]
Hi Big Babou:
thanks for the support. But the question is: Everytime I thought I would get through the burning session or trying to avoid being burned out too much…but it’s nothing that I can control…Everybody lives upon others’ help, such as teamwork…my company is lack of a good person who really knows managing manpower well…so the problems keep coming out and it’s been there ever since I got this job…it just gets worse, no better improvement at all!
I can’t help thinking about quitting now just trying to give myself a break and some time to regroup myself. I’ve been burned out a lot and no time to take off to somewhere for a nice vacation…I even gave my boss the message that I really could have some helps…but he thought it was my problem and being ignorant about it.
I would like to think that I’ve done the best I can to hang on to this job, but it gotta to be ended.
I don’t want to quit easily just because I thought that I have not tried or have done my best…I’m always looking for chances to self-examine myself, to see what I can do better to improve the current situation. So that’s why I haven’t give a resignment to my boss yet.
In any time sooner I might be forced to quit the job, maybe not. But I’m sure that I don’t want to go through self-examination and think what I can do to improve the performance… If our mind is not free, how can we be creative?
In short, I need a break, and I might be forced to make that day coming soon, perhaps a part time job so I have more time for myself…who knows?
[quote=“kelake”]
Being pretty isolated and time being short I have never sought out any designer type organisations in Taiwan. Does anything like that exist here? Any get togethers other than those Macromedia flash-fest’s?[/quote]
I’m not sure if there is a organization like this in Taiwan, but I wouldn’t mind to start a one on myself. Maybe I could use some help to design a website, and attract designers or anyone who work in creative field to join this group. I think sharing experiences and exchange ideas with designers is the most wonderful idea in the world.
What do you think? 
Many times employees here allow their bosses to rule them like slaves, making them work overtime without extra compensation, making them stay in the office until the boss leaves (regardless of how long you have been there), asking you to do tasks that are not in your job description or within your abilities (give a sales meeting, for example).
To some extent, if you allow your work environment to slip out of your control (or your ability to manage it) then you need to rethink your options.
If you are being used, it is time to get out of Dodge.
“Take whatever parts of your dream you can find and cobble together reality.” – Wolf
Can I simply tell my boss to eat shit if he tells me to do this and that but none of them I should do because I am hired to be a graphic designer not his secretary or anything?
Yes, when I tell people that and they usually think it’s my problem, including my boss. If I didn’t take time off to rest well that’s my fault too.
I guess I’ve taking too many responsiblities and add onto myself but in the end people are selfish to think for themselves. They said “why can’t you take off for a nice vacation”? Only if they know why I can’t and don’t have time to get off…
Well, maybe I should be meaner and more selfish…try to learn to avoid extra works so I can go home on time… :s
Find a new job. Don’t tell me that there is only one design company in this city?
yep, time for me to see the outside world…
I just want to make myself a bit happier and more time to do or learn something else…
I think every designer has been in the situation that Erica is facing. I had that problem working in a small office (8 people) Sydney, and eventually quit to come to Taiwan.
Sometimes, though, it can be a good thing to be given new tasks. Although the secretarial work must suck (even I have to look after the phones occasionally), I was recently given the new task of selling our designs to clients. It was something I was a little reluctant to do, but I’m now really enjoying the role.
A Taiwanese friend of mine was working in a law firm, but was really unhappy with her job. Basically, she was doing too much secretarial work (as well as the boss’ personal stuff). As a result, she’d had enough and was ready to quit her job, but then asked her Dad for some advice. He suggested that she go talk with her boss and tell him why she was so unhappy with the job. She told her boss this and then added that she didn’t really want to quit, but needed him to help her situation if she was going to stay. He quickly got the message and made some changes to her job. That was 3 years ago, and she’s still happy to be working with that company.
Personally, I think it was great advice. Erica, if you think you really want to quit, then have a chat with your boss beforehand, and see how it goes.
[quote=“The Big Babou”]She told her boss this and then added that she didn’t really want to quit, but needed him to help her situation if she was going to stay. He quickly got the message and made some changes to her job. That was 3 years ago, and she’s still happy to be working with that company.
Personally, I think it was great advice. Erica, if you think you really want to quit, then have a chat with your boss beforehand, and see how it goes.[/quote]
Thanks again, big babou. But I did talked to my boss last year after I finished a huge project of designing an annual report. I honestly told him about how slow my colleague worked so that was a big influence on my job as we were working together as a team…and I got burned out a lot. He just simply thought it was my fault that I didn’t allow myself to take some time off. He even blamed me not going with the whole company when we sometimes have dinners together…Basically he thought the fault was all mine…so what can I do?
I talked to the team leader who is a senior ID designer and has been working for my boss for some years and also was his student. He is very understanding and tells me that he will try to help as much as he could, but don’t work with a bad mood…these I understand, and I’m trying to press down to concentrate on working…sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
I know I could walk away from this job, quit being a designer forever. Sometimes I feel so depressed that I don’t want to be a designer anymore. But I think it’s impossible. No matter how untalented I am, I feel that sometimes I’m happy to be a designer, because 1. my job is being respected by some understandable clients and they appreciate of my hard work 2. It feels good to be creative.
Same like you, I don’t mind doing those secretarial works or learn to neogitate price with the client…I believe learning little is also a help, that helps you on anything you have to deal later…But…I always believe if you’re hired to do your professions, then you should concentrate on doing those…
I don’t know, I’m trying to be understandable and not to complain much. But in the end the problem is still there even I asked for help, I have to be selfish and think what’s next. It’s just matter of time if I want to quit or not.
@Wolf: I would think that today flexibility, to some extend, is a must to keep a job and/or move forward.
“Running away” to another company won’t help much as you might just end up in the same situation, and today it’s not so easy to find a job, even less to find a job in a “perfect” company (if there ever was such a thing).
I wouldn’t be able to afford a cleaner ( 
) now if I always had told my (former) bosses that I won’t do this and that and avoid getting my hands dirty. Today I can afford to reject certain tasks, let it be by delegating them to my staff.
You’ve got this all wrong. The answer is not to be selfish, it’s to be incompetent. If your boss tells you to take the company car and pick his kids up from school, prang it in the parking lot and it’ll be the last time he ever asks you pick up his kids. If he scolds you, tell him you
I think Wolf’s advice is generally quite good. In most small design teams though you will be asked to wear more than one hat. I personally think of this as a good thing - as long as people are given respect for their craft and are not responsible for so many different skills that they never perform the job they were hired to do. Being well rounded is a good thing.
It’s up to Erica’s lead or boss to ensure that things are working smoothly within the team. If you run a design department it is in your own best interest to keep everyone productive and happy. Losing good talent and rehiring/training new is disruptive and can hurt their business. If they care …
My point was to, of course, look for something else while you suffer through what seems like a less-than-optimal position (unless you want or can afford a long layoff).
My first advice would be to try to reason with the boss. My point is that if you let him or her walk all over you, he or she will get used to it and keep it up. If the boss is unreasonable, see my first point above.
[quote=“kelake”]I think Wolf’s advice is generally quite good.
Losing good talent and rehiring/training new is disruptive and can hurt their business. If they care …[/quote]
Yes, I agree with Wolf. I need to plan well…
Believe it or not, My company’s been suffering from rehiring/training new people…and I believe that hurts our business too. However, it’s just a small part because those who quit were junior designers. It will hurt a lot till the day that a few senior quit because they have been the fundation of this company ever since it was started, and those are really talented and devoted people…
The most that worries me is that from next week I’m going to have 3 projects to take care of and they are big name clients. As for my team (graphic designers) are pretty much full with works…can’t take anymore. I wonder how I’m going to go through a tough time, June and July…