Take me to Silicon Valley: 19 year old designer seeking opportunity
takemetosiliconvalley.com
takemetosiliconvalley.com
Also the "LET MY DREAM COME TRUE" image's hover state not being preloaded made me sad.
Okay to actually be constructive:
It's a good time to be trying this because it's the beginning of a new year so H-1B visas are available.
As another self taught young developer who's extremely eager to leave his full-time job and go to school next semester, I can't say I agree with his goals. But if that's what you want to do, it's a good attempt at getting out there.
Most companies I would know that would be willing to set up a visa for a person who wants to drop out of college in Europe would be start-ups, however I don't know if a pure Graphic Designer is in demand with start-ups. I would expect them to rather have someone who's very good at graphic design and can code the basics of the designs themselves rather than have someone who's fantastic at graphic design but is just a one-trick pony.
When I worked in a start-up one of the biggest deciding factors we had when interviewing designers (right after their taste) was how much of the design they could implement themselves. It made little sense to pay someone to design a Photoshop document and send to a developer to turn into HTML or a layout file where we could pay someone else to design it AND make the HTML file themselves. Most of the time that person didn't ask for 200% of the pay of someone just doing Photoshop work either.
I'm also a tad worried that you skipped the portion of my post regarding looking for pure graphic designers. It may just be my experience from companies I've been in but the last two graphic designers I helped hire were combo packages.
It's nice to see another 19 year old excited about startups and technology though :)
* "I am Filip Santa, 19 years old designer from Slovakia" sounds a little strange. Maybe something like "I am Filip Santa, a 19 year old designer from Slovakia"
* In your timeline, instead of "Learning what is layer", maybe "Learning about layers"
* Also in the timeline: "Trying first webs & posters", maybe "Designing first web sites & posters"
And, here's my OCD peeking through, the images seem to have a colour profile associated with them, which clashes with mine producing: http://i.imgur.com/6BV6o.png (try making the background transparent)
Best of luck!
If you need help, email me and I'll help you as much as I can (I'm an English Lit. major and native speaker).
You may want to broaden that statement - Palo Alto is a very small piece of the Silicon Valley pie
Great pitch.
I mean I guess it looks good. I just wish "designers" would try something else for a change. It gets kind of old. Trying something else and making it look good (and function well), in my eyes, is what separates a great designer from the good.
College is important. I plan on going back before I die. You can get involved with startups, work with them and learn from them, without leaving college. Our world is all about networking, and just like I had an amazing network in SV from my dorm room in Ohio, so can you in Eastern Europe.
I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I've made my decision and I feel convinced it was the right one. I just think some people make it too hastily. Feel free to ping me if you have any questions.
An H-1B visa isn't a big deal, but it prevents you from working for a few weeks on contract to try things out, and it makes it quite a bit harder to change companies or quit.
Valley companies tend to overwork and under-compensate, and an H-1B makes it -that much- harder to get out of a terrible situation if you find yourself in one. An American designer in the Valley can say "no thanks" and change careers or move elsewhere with a minimum of effort compared to the issues associated with leaving with an H1B.
EDIT: It turns out I don't know much about visas and it's hard to get an H1B without a degree (thanks HN - learning a lot!). See replies for a wide variety of speculation as to which visa type would work in this situation, and feel free to sub in your choice of visa where I initially said H1B, because I think the danger of a poor working situation is either similar or even more pronounced with another type of visa.
Actually, getting an H1B visa without a college education is near-to-impossible. I have a college education that isn't in computing, and I've had to provide evidence of six years of work experience as an alternative. I doubt our 19 year old friend will be able to do that.
Plus he can't "work for food for two months"- in fact, just that being on his site would probably be a giant red flag for immigration. You have to be paid a prevailing wage.
The easy answer here is to do internships. I'm not sure what the visa situation around them is exactly, but I'm sure it's easier than getting an H1B.
Plus, my word of warning about painful working conditions applies doubly to a J1 internship visa, which as far as I know doesn't allow a transfer between companies (or quitting) at all.
Getting a silicon valley company to give him an offer would be a per-requisite.
He is 19 - almost half my age. You have YEARS ahead of you, and if there is one thing I regret - it was not learning to code when I was a munchkin.
In terms of design, very attractive (minus the cleavage. that's considered trashy over here) and engaging. I read from top to bottom. Copy is nice despite being broken english.
Only gripe really is you should use some kind of @font-face (check fontsquirrel.com to make your own) so that 1. your text is well, actually text 2. highlight-able, click-able & copyable 3. your load time will increase dramatically 4. SEO!
Great idea. Great execution as a designer. Wishing you the best of luck.
ALSO: Even if you don't get recruited, you still have a bright future ahead of you. Don't get discouraged and keep trying. =)
The only viable option is to join a University in Silicon Valley and work part time in a start up.
I'm not an expert on this topic by any means, but I do speak from personal experience.
I am myself planning to stay, work and learn from the valley sometime soon. And I am sure there are hundreds like me.
His only option is an internship visa.
I know you're trying to help, but these kinds of absolute statements can really mess with people. I got pretty much the same speech when I decided to leave school more than a decade ago.
Logically, I still cannot figure out what they were talking about. I have never met anyone who cared about what school you went, how well you did there, or if you went at all. Irrationally, however, I wonder how many days I have left until it hits and all the regret sets in.
Anyway, don't let me stop you. I just wanted to point out that getting so involved in other people's lives, people you don't even know especially, can be quite damaging.
... plus the world might end this year
He also is willing to make sacrifices and go halfway across the globe to join a team. Doubt you'll see his manager worrying if he's spending too much time on reddit.
It's also a big deal to leave your country and go somewhere where you have little base.
So in a nutshell, because he has the classic immigrants ambition, and won't rest on his laurels like perhaps someone who was born here would.