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Hi there, fellow designer here who also doesn't like to fit in the narrow box of most product design roles. I've been doing this generalist thing for 10 years, and I've found that it makes applying for jobs pretty challenging - most companies are looking to fill a specific role and won't value the breadth of your interests. I think there are 3 ways that you can make this generalist path work without it being career suicide. 1) Start your own profitable small business. It's not easy but if you can get to the point of personal financial sustainability based on something you've built, then you can stop worrying about the fact that nobody wants to hire you. Words of caution here - if you go this route, you will spend most of your time doing things other than design work and coding. Also, don't consider "start a business" synonymous with "start a startup". Startups are a very particular kind of business, but they aren't the only kind, and they have an extremely high failure rate. If you go this route, I would strongly consider focusing on building a small, profitable business first before you attempt to build a hypergrowth startup backed by outside capital. For this path, seek inspiration from https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses 2) Commit to the freelance gig path and make it work. This is pretty similar to #1 except in this case you're doing work for hire instead of building a product that generates revenue. I've done this path before as well, and found that the most challenging thing was to get a consistent pipeline of client projects. I think this is easier than it has been before. If I were doing this today, I would focus on building a reputation and profile on one of the gig marketplaces (Gigster seems like the best of the bunch right now) and use that to help fill the pipeline of projects. If you go this route, your personal financial planning should include a buffer for weathering weeks or months without work, as the lumpiness of income from the freelance life is one of the most challenging parts for someone who is starting fresh and trying to build a client base. 3) Find a very early stage startup that is so small that they value generalists over specialists and is working in an area that you're excited about and has high potential for growth. When you find this company, take almost any job they will offer you, and start working hard. If the company grows, there will be opportunities to take on more responsibilities. Over time, if you can prove your abilities in design and coding with hands on projects inside the ocompany, there will probably be many ways to contribute in these areas. You typically won't find companies like this by skimming the headlines of recent funding announcements - those companies have already made it far enough that they are usually focused on hiring specialists. Your sweet spot here will be smaller, scrappier companies that haven't made it that far yet and need to get a lot done with very little. Searching AngelList for startups that have raised only seed funding or no outside capital and are OK with remote work would be a good start here. |