Any designers mamas out there?????
I have an internship starting and I'm really trying to get off on the right foot by:
A) Communicating as realistically as possible with my client about time constraints that I have as a still student single mama
B) Learning how to politely decline to do something if it is beyond my time-constraints/realm of knowledge
C) Learning how to SAVE AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE for myself and the client by making sure that we are on THE SAME PAGE design-wise- aka "Getting to know you, getting to know ALL, about you......."
D) My client has worked with designers before, but there are already things coming up- such as asking me to do a logo for a site in two weeks time- where I get the feeling that he's either A) an eternal optimist or B) doesn't really understand how long even simple looking things can take.
E) The hard part for me? The stress level that I don't want to have rise- They are an AMAZING non-profit that really makes waves in our state and at this point, nationwide- and yet they really need design help- that feels like a lot of weight. Yeah. And I can't blow off my classwork because, of course- I am still a student, still learning my chops- and just got through one of the hardest years of my life- finally getting my focus away from the personal to the professional- and here's this amazing opportunity- and I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants a bit, and it scares me (though it is really amazing to realize the energy that I'm finding within myself to learn as I go, in a sense).
Advice????
I'm also having moments of that good old mom guilt where I feel like I should be taking my kid ice skating instead of doing design work. I'm the main parent, and really have very little back-up care for him beyond preschool and exhausting myself staying up late.
- Birdie's blog
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I am not a designer, I,m a trainee doctor BUT I do know about ballancing study, voluntary work and internships and parenting. I think you are totally right to lay it out clearly as far as the limitations of your time goes. Basically internships are a taste of the world of work and in my experience that world is results orientated so if you produce noone gets too antsy about you leaving early and cherry picking the best experiences for you. In addition I found that I really had to learn to assess each activity put infront of me in terms of wether or not it was going to help me achieve my goals, e.g. if a peice of school work was simply pass/fail I learnt not to spend too much time on it to free time up for other stuff that was more valuable in the long term.
Good luck!
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