The biggest feature of a small company is that it is small but full of all kinds of things, and it may have more work than a large company. The company’s owners are all eager to take their subordinates as one of ten, not as ten, but at least as four as five, so it’s not new to have several jobs in a small company. In addition to doing the most basic style design, computer software is widely used, most designers should be able to use the computer to do graphic design, and even do art design, embroidery pattern design; more technical, can test samples, but also down to the factory, real communication with workers, give instructions; some even have to see the supplier, need some basic knowledge of materials, can order fabric, accessories, etc.; and so samples After the samples come out, you also have to know how to set up the showroom, participate in the order meeting, travel to meet the buyers, and be a salesman for your own design – in short, you better be good at everything.
After a year in the private sector, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what the industry is like inside and out. If you like it, you may become addicted and enjoy every aspect of it. That’s why it’s so hard to adapt to a large company after working at a small one. Designers in small companies involved in the whole process of a product from design to production until it enters the store, and when the boss tells you indirectly with a salary increase that the sales are not bad, you can immediately feel the greatest sense of accomplishment given to you by a complete cycle of this industry. When we see our designs on the shelves in the store, we always like to say, “This is my baby.” This is a statement that only designers in small companies are really qualified to say. So for people who are new to the industry and aren’t sure what they want yet, it’s actually good to start out in a small private company, it gives you a quick idea of what you want and what you want, and sometimes the latter can be even more important than the former.
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My first interview before I graduated was at the St. Louis headquarters of May Department Store. There was an opening for a “technical designer,” which is the person who makes the patterns and makes the first samples. I had only interned at a ready-to-wear company for a month before that, and I had seen how technical designers worked, and I thought they didn’t have to get involved in any complicated personnel, but just hid quietly in the corner, in front of a big, tall table, and did their job as a pattern maker, so I thought I would like this job, and I submitted my resume.
The interviewer, an Asian woman who was a technical designer, looked me over and asked, “Do you know what a technical designer does?” I nodded. “They don’t do any design, they just support the designer, you know?” I immediately hesitated. When she asked again, “Do you really want to spend your life working only with paper plates, scissors and technical numbers?” I was then completely ambiguous.
In the end, I pulled my resume from May Department Store, and when I looked for another job, I focused on “designer” and never considered “technical designer. I never considered “technical designer” again. Luckily, I met someone who knew what they were doing before I even left school and had my first interview. Without her, I don’t know where I would have started my career as a designer, and I don’t even know if I would have started it.