I'm writing this after reading <Work Never Betrays You> by Jongmin Kim, who is a Google Interactive Developer and Designer.
I first learned about Jongmin Kim through a post in a community titled "Portfolio that received a job offer from Google." I discovered that there was a Korean person working as a UX designer at Google, doing exactly what I wanted to do - being both a developer and a designer. It's incredibly encouraging to know there's someone who can give advice in this field. I subscribed to his YouTube channel and enjoyed watching his videos, and a few weeks ago I bought and read his book, so here's my review.
The book title might be mistaken for a self-help book. The main content is about his experiences from starting as a high school graduate working part-time at a PC café at age 24 to becoming a Google engineer 10 years later. Through this book, I was able to contemplate what I like, what kind of work I want to do, and what kind of creator I want to become. He mentions early in the book that you can understand why he chose this new title instead of the original title <Interactive Designer> when you see how importantly he views work.
The subject matter itself - a Korean person who got hired at Google, which could be called developers' dream company - is fascinating enough. How was he able to grow into a designer and engineer recognized in New York and Silicon Valley as a high school graduate who never studied abroad? I was able to hear about his 10 years of thoughts, practices, efforts, and his stories about design, and as someone who wants to take a similar path, I found it extremely interesting to read. While the book itself is thick, it flows smoothly with interesting anecdotes and portfolio photos with explanations.
"Work is not simply a means to make a living, but truly for one's own self-development, and it's a very important part of life that defines what kind of person I live as."
As someone who has pondered a lot between being a developer who designs and a designer who develops, I dream of becoming a developer who can design. Since childhood, two of the things I did most were drawing and using computers, so naturally I became good at them and developed interests in them. Come to think of it, finding my interests and aptitudes this early is something to be grateful for.
However, I was always curious whether I could work at a company in an ambiguous position - neither a frontend developer nor a designer. Even looking at IT companies' hiring positions, they don't deviate from the big framework of FE, BE, App, Data Scientist, Researcher, etc. Actually, if such positions didn't exist, I was prepared to pioneer them myself. In this context, it was welcome news that positions like Interactive Developer and UX Engineer exist at Google. While I'm thinking about designer+developer, jobs that do both design and code aren't predetermined from the start and can exist in various forms.
- Frontend Engineer
- Interactive Developer
- UX Engineer
- Designer (Motion designer, Visual designer)
Job titles can always be called differently according to market demands or technological changes. I think professions are something I create myself. If it doesn't exist, I can create it. Who knows what kinds of jobs will emerge in 10 years? I need to build my skills and experience while dreaming of becoming a developer who can design AI-human interactions, which will definitely be necessary in the future.
"What's important is not technology, but the hard-to-explain expertise in design, motion, and interaction."
Having dreams of working abroad, I was curious about how he succeeded as a high school graduate who couldn't speak English at all.
I once talked with one of my mentors at work about working abroad. The reason it's difficult for senior developers in their 30s-40s in Korea to readily accept overseas job offers later is that it involves giving up many things to take on challenges. There are many things to give up: the house you've established in Korea, family, relationships, etc. It becomes even harder to take on big challenges in unfamiliar lands when you have a family. It's true that it's better to go as early and as young as possible.
"The trigger for seriously preparing for overseas employment was when I felt I could no longer grow in Korea. I needed an environment where I could continue growing as a creator."
The book was quite helpful as it covered how overseas employment works, from portfolios and resumes to applications, interviews, offer letters, visas, housing and living expenses, international moving and things to do in the US, and even permanent residency.
"When you think that results made using libraries are your own skills, it's easy to become a collector. Collectors spend more time collecting libraries rather than building actual skills."
These days, many convenient libraries and tools are pouring out. No-code technologies that enable non-developers to develop web and mobile apps without coding are particularly gaining attention. When trying to build a quick development career and portfolio using convenient technologies, we need to reflect on whether these accumulated experiences actually help improve our development skills. Developers must always pay attention to new technologies and change. However, if we only pursue convenience, we lack substantial understanding of code and can only use limited functions provided by tools.
"I enjoy creating and using necessary functions myself. Libraries inevitably come with unnecessary code."
His Form Follows Function (FFF) project, which won various design awards and is well known in Korea, was mostly implemented using JavaScript to improve performance by reducing unnecessary processes in jQuery. This shows his admiration for how he implements interactive results based on fundamental code implementation.
The 5 personal projects introduced in Chapter 5 seem to account for more than 70% of why this book is thick.
"It was a valuable experience where I, a rookie who had just arrived in New York, could help people living in New York with my skills."
For me, dreaming of becoming a 'developer who designs,' author Jongmin is an excellent mentor. It's a position that's neither developer nor designer - potentially neither here nor there - but I find it very attractive and feel I could do well at it.
I agree with many aspects of his thoughts, experiences, and values about work. I too enjoy growing myself daily through work. However, I don't agree with all of the author's thoughts revealed in the book. Regarding his negative perception of networking in his younger days, I don't think we need to view networking negatively. If it's not negative exploitation, networking can be a shortcut or opportunity to achieve personal dreams.
Through the author's experiences, I think once more about the role of universities, work, and careers. I dislike going to graduate school inertially just because others do after graduating from undergraduate studies. I hope to write about this topic someday after organizing my thoughts more.
This was a somewhat disorganized but thought-filled review. To avoid taking away the wrong lesson of 'I should make the same efforts as the author to get into Google,' I'll conclude by borrowing the author's words.
"The goal should be to make companies like Google want you. Focus more on your own growth. A company is a tool for growth, not a life goal."
He achieved overseas employment through various personal projects and growth as a high school graduate without attending university. I'm greatly inspired by the author's experiences and values. If someone goes to graduate school or gets a job for higher salary without genuine interest in academics, or just because others do it - shouldn't adults at least be able to set their own goals and dreams?
The reason for not pursuing a master's degree was to keep more possibilities open.
Having graduated from KAIST, some people occasionally expect graduate school as a given. Just to avoid military service without passion for research? To increase one's market value? The merit of graduate school has diminished compared to before due to changes in the professional research system, and I didn't like the culture of thoughtlessly going to graduate school like everyone else. However, I was thinking about wanting to do research. I thought maybe I could finish with a master's degree after completing military service.
There's no predetermined career path - you can design your life yourself and make various efforts to achieve those (big) dreams.