Article and Interview by: Brittne Stovall
I sat down with Liz Hollerman, Interim Dean of IBIT and asked the questions students want to know about what can be accomplished with an associates degree in Digital Media Arts and what options there are for students nearing graduation from Bellevue College.
Transcript
Brittne Stovall 0:01
If you could introduce yourself, your new title and what your role is in the DMA department.
Liz Hollerman 0:07
My name is Liz Hollerman and I am the new Assistant Dean for the Institute of Business and Information & Technology or IBIT. I also serve as the chair of the Digital Media Arts Department.
Brittne Stovall 0:19
How is the DMA department able to work around the challenges of COVID-19 and online learning?
Liz Hollerman 0:26
We’ve worked around these challenges by giving students free software for Adobe so that they can continue to do their coursework, as well as a laptop checkouts through student affairs. If they need a laptop, they can get one from our college. We’ve also worked with other software companies like SideFX that makes software Houdini who is going to be giving us free versions of their full software for students to be able to use at home. We use zoom and Microsoft Teams for online classes that will meet sometimes secretly or asynchronously, so students could continue to learn the coursework.
Brittne Stovall 1:00
So where do you think the future of design work is headed? And what does having a successful career look like today?
Liz Hollerman 1:07
Today, I think it’s going to be heading in the augmented reality direction, a whole lot more and virtual reality. It’s gonna be a lot more digital than it was previously, like print design is still around, but it’s not as prevalent as it is now working in the online space and digital space is really where it’s at. And having a successful career in design is someone who’s going to be you could still go and work at an organization for a number of years. So you can go work at Amazon, you can work at Microsoft, as a designer. But a lot of designers like to kind of switch jobs kind of frequently to get a diverse sort of background or get some diverse skills and a variety of different art styles when they’re first starting out. So it’s not necessarily surprising to have someone do some freelance gigs, or join the gig economy and do freelance work, or do some contract work early on, so that they can kind of get their feet wet and some different types of design houses before they decide which way they really want to go.
Brittne Stovall 2:05
So as students are nearing graduation, what are some essential skills that they should have by the time they graduate, specifically from Bellevue College?
Liz Hollerman 2:17
So essential skills, by the time you graduate for me would be problem solving skills, quite honestly, because the obvious answer might seem like design skills, because that’s that’s that is obvious, you’re going to want to have some really basic design skills, understanding and showcasing the principles and elements of design. But if you can solve problems, because that’s really what you’re doing, as a designer, your client was going to come to you and they’re coming to you with a specific problem that they have. And it’s your job to use design to solve it. So that’s what we’re really trying to teach you at Bellevue College is how to approach different design problems. Other essential skills are group and communication skills, communication skills are really, really important. If you don’t know how to work with a team, then you’re not going to be successful in the workplace. So at Bellevue College, we really try to do project based work and put you into teams so that you can collaborate with others and understand what a production studio might look like, once you kind of get into the workforce.
Brittne Stovall 3:13
How important is it to have an online portfolio to showcase design work and are school projects enough?
Liz Hollerman 3:21
You have to have an online portfolio to showcase your design work, you can’t really get by without having it. Because if you’re going to apply for a job, there’s always going to be a space in that job application that’s going to ask for an online portfolio so you absolutely must have one. Your school projects could be enough, but it’s always recommended to do more because the school projects are essentially designed to give you an understanding of a specific tool or skill. And eventually, as you get through the degree, you will be doing more work that will definitely be able to make it on your portfolio, but you always want to be designing, design every day. That’s kind of a good motto to kind of take with you as you’re an artist is like you want to be drawing every day, you want to be designing something new every day, because it’s just going to make you better because all we’re really doing in school is giving you practice to become better designers. So the more you practice at this, the better you’ll be and the better your portfolio will be.
Brittne Stovall 4:17
I guess that kind of goes with my next question, then, how important is it for students to seek out design work while they’re still in school?
Liz Hollerman 4:26
You know, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s important to seek out design work while you’re still in school, it is absolutely in the sense that you do want to be looking at what companies are looking for in a designer that’s in terms of the sorts of skills and the sorts of art that they’re looking for you want so that you can model your portfolio to what it is they’re looking for. But what I would say is a little bit more important when it comes to you know, looking for design work while you’re in school is really looking for connections or networking, with organizations going to networking events to meet people who work at these companies, you might want to work at. Going to the Seattle Interactive Conference, which usually happens around October, just so you can meet other designers and have conversations that’s really important when you’re in school, because half of getting a job is knowing people who work at these companies. So you could have, you know, a somewhat decent portfolio and but meet somebody and still get a job versus someone who has an amazing portfolio but doesn’t know anybody and might struggle. That tends to happen more often than not, because half of getting a job is just knowing the right people.
Brittne Stovall 5:31
So then, what advice would you have for students hoping to enter directly into the job market after they graduate with an associate’s from your program?
Liz Hollerman 5:42
Network, I’m going to keep pushing that through network network network, you’re going to want to get to know people, we at Bellevue will, we generally have networking events quarterly. We’re going to be bringing in industry professionals to have conversations with students or just to industry talks or we’re going to notify students about things that are available or talks that are available so they can go meet people. Anytime you see a networking event and it has to do with design, you want to be in there and you want to be talking to people, because you’re going to learn something for one and you’re also going to meet people that could potentially get you a job. So overall, my advice, if you’re going into the job market is also to network and to continually do more work. Like just because you’re no longer in school doesn’t mean you should stop designing.
Brittne Stovall 6:31
So are there websites that you would recommend for students to apply to design jobs? And if so, how would students follow up on that? Would they go to networking events to the jobs they applied for or would they find them on LinkedIn?
Liz Hollerman 6:51
You know, LinkedIn is a great source for looking for jobs, especially because you could see who the recruiter is for that organization and reach out to that recruiter. Indeed.com is also pretty great. But you’re going to be finding a lot of stuff through LinkedIn and LinkedIn is changing the game a little bit as far as recruiting is concerned. And something I would actually recommend on LinkedIn is joining some LinkedIn groups, find groups that could be affinity groups, or could be just overall groups that you’re connected with, because the people within those groups are a new network that you could explore and also learn more about in design. And as far as following up after you apply, generally, I would just be reaching out to the recruiter. I’ve had times where it’s taken six months to even hear back sometimes just because the job wasn’t necessarily really high in demand and so they they kind of were in a hiring freeze and they weren’t and then they eventually wanted to hire me. So it doesn’t hurt to reach out to the recruiter every so often to just kind of see how things are going. Now do you my best recommendation for reaching out just generally kind of stick to LinkedIn or Indeed.com.
Brittne Stovall 8:03
All right and what options are there for students in the Digital Media Arts program that might want to finish their Bachelor’s degree in the future?
Liz Hollerman 8:11
So if you’re currently a DMA student and you’re going to be getting an Associate’s degree and if you want to get a Bachelor’s degree, we do have Articulation Agreements, or we do have courses that are transferable to other colleges within this region. Seattle University is a great school to go to if you’re wanting to do more design work, or if you’re wanting to do film studies that we have, we have a lot of courses that will transfer over to both of those degrees of Seattle University. Lake Washington Technical College is also another one. They have a design degree and they have a game design degree where we do have courses that will transfer. UW also has a design degree in Visual Communications that you could transfer to. So a lot of our courses, you do have to take at least 15 credits of general education and all of those will transfer over and some of our core classes will also transfer over. So your degree here is transferable to your Bachelor’s program and I, 100% will help students figure that out if they do want to go to a Bachelor’s degree in their future.
Brittne Stovall 9:17
Is there any additional advice that you have for graduating students or just design students in general?
Liz Hollerman 9:24
Just keep hustling and working hard and networking and making work. It’s not necessarily something is going to happen right away because everybody’s looking for jobs right now. And I’ve been where a lot of the graduating students are at and I just kind of kept designing things because generally when you get into art, you’re doing it because it’s what you love. And that’s always the thing to remember is that you like you love to design so design every day. Make new designs, make more art, because when you’re making more art and you’re posting your art like don’t just make it for yourself posted so others can see it because that’s why you’re making it, post it so the world can see it on Instagram on your LinkedIn on your website. So get yourself a following because as you’re making art, you don’t know which piece is going to be the one that maybe resonates with somebody who reach out to you for a job. So as long as you’re putting yourself out there, it’s going to happen for you.
Brittne Stovall 10:18
Thank you so much for meeting with me today and answering some of the questions that I know students have had on their minds that are graduating and looking towards what comes next so thanks again and congratulations on your promotion.
Last Updated January 5, 2022