以利沙Coad
Programmer Turned Designer Finds the Best of Both Worlds at Apple Internship 和 More
虽然从表面上看，艺术和技术似乎并不能结合在一起, Elisha’s deep passion for both forced him to carve his own path in combining the two. Both a programmer 和 an artist, Elisha’s story combines STEM 和 the humanities in fascinating ways.
伊莱沙·科德是bet365亚洲官网的毕业生，成绩为B.F.A. in 工作室艺术与设计. 他在2018年春季至2022年冬季期间就读于伊利诺伊大学. 他目前在约翰迪尔(John Deere)担任用户体验(UX)设计师.
当他第一次到达时，以利沙被吸引到一个双学位 虚拟技术与设计 和 计算机科学 since he was great with computers 和 fascinated by virtual reality 和 3D modeling. 在高中时, 以利沙培养了计算机编程和设计方面的技能, 甚至通过为客户建立网站来获得自由职业者的工作机会.
“我喜欢设计和技术的世界，喜欢把两者结合起来，”他说. “我会和我哥哥一起做项目. 他会做后端... 然后我会做前端，也就是代码的视觉效果.”
对科技的热爱深深地流淌在以利沙的血管里, with his father being an inventor 和 his two brothers being computer scientists. 他承认:“(对我来说)这是一条普遍的道路。.
考虑到他的家庭背景，艺术是一个未开发的领域, making it more difficult for him to reconcile his passions for art 和 his love 和 familiarity with technology.
His parents were very involved in his education 和 provided opportunities for him to explore his passions. Elisha said that this set him up with confidence 和 space to do what he loves. “如果我真的用心去做某件事，我就能做到，就能实现. 我认为这很有帮助。.
“Some people have the mentality of… ‘don’t make your job your passion because you’ll lose that passion,’ but I feel like I was always raised up with ‘find the job that you’re passionate about 和 you never work a day in your life,’”以利沙分享道.
对于他的研究领域, 他最终选择了界面设计, 我觉得这是科技和艺术的完美结合. “这正是我一直在寻找的挑战, 所以我最终把我的专业换成了艺术[学位],他说. He dropped 计算机科学 as a second major 和 went fully into 工作室艺术与设计, 重点是交互和平面设计.
“我仍然喜欢编程. 我在业余时间编写游戏程序。. It gave Elisha comfort to know that he would still be involving himself with the tech field while doing what fulfilled him most.
“Usually its designers going into [user interface/experience design (UI/UX)], so having that programming background already 和 doing internships as a programmer… I was able to have a stronger position [in the field],以利沙说.
Elisha was involved in “makerspaces” throughout his middle 和 high school career, which are programs designed to let young people express creativity 和 explore different mediums.
“I worked there for a long time 和 found a passion for creating things,他说. “That ability to create beautiful things is just something I hold really dear to me.” Since his love of art was always present 和 encouraged by those around him, 他很容易就找到了自己的位置 艺术与建筑学院.
在学校里，以利沙是 校园基督徒团契 在他入学的四年里. “I feel like a large part of my success in college can be attributed to having that support network,他说.
他还开创了 发展商学生社团这是谷歌赞助的面向程序员的项目. 他也是 大学荣誉课程当他第一次来到校园时，这给了他强烈的社区意识.
在大学, 以利沙仍然从事自由网站设计项目, 这帮他支付了一部分学费. One of his biggest projects was creating a br和 for a cryptocurrency education company, which allowed him to practice being firm in project timelines 和 pricing expectations for his work. 他还参与了2020年TEDxCoeur d 'Alene活动的品牌推广工作.
以利沙很欣赏学校里的老师 艺术与设计专业 that “had high expectations for students” 和 gave a “higher level of underst和ing” to the field, 特别点名格雷格·特纳-拉赫曼, 戴夫Gottwald 和 戴尔芬Keim. He said that his professors would allow him to modify projects if he thought they aligned with the freelance work he was doing. “I was really thankful for those opportunities where teachers allowed that,他说.
每年夏天，他还接受了几个实习机会, 其中大部分都涉及编程，直到他意识到自己对设计的热情. Elisha found most of his job opportunities through his incredible network that was created 和 sustained by his freelancing projects.
One of the employers he worked for over the summer allowed him to shift his position from a programmer to a designer. 因为他对设计领域有独到的见解, 以利沙能够轻松地进入新的角色, 从而向他们展示以利沙“作为设计师的价值”.”
Elisha had an amazing opportunity to intern as a UI/UX designer at Apple the summer before his senior year. 他前往加州，与设计系统团队接触, 是谁帮助他找到了自己作为设计师的优势和劣势.
“设计系统是用于界面设计的. It's the building blocks from which other designers use to build [a website],他解释道. 例如，按钮、下拉菜单或对话菜单或弹出窗口. 所有这些东西都是设计系统的一部分.”
“I feel how my brain works is well-positioned for design systems because you have to think of all the details of each component,他说. “我也很喜欢它，因为我可以支持其他设计师. 我认为自己是整个设计团队的支持角色.”
“I helped [Apple] redo their website [in what’s] called the information architecture of the website,他说. “How do we organize [information] in a way that makes sense to people using this website?“因为苹果是一家高度安全的公司, 他们不依赖云服务来存储他们的信息. Instead, they created their own internal system, which is what Elisha fixed during his time there.
Elisha now works at John Deere as a UX designer for their farm management platform. This platform is used by farmers who want to keep track of the goings on of the products they’re using for work.
“他们可以对任何特定时刻发生的事情有一个高层次的概述, 看看他们的机器在地图上的位置, 他们可以看到他们在过去的一年中做了什么样的工作,他解释道. Elisha creates 和 manages the design system of that platform alongside some product advertising design.
长期, 以利沙说他想在一家初创科技公司工作, an ode to his childhood growing up with a love for technology 和 programming. 通过他的关系网, 他认识很多对创办科技公司感兴趣的人, 以利沙说他很期待看到他的旅程.
他支持“学习者的心态”, in that he believes everyone would benefit from exploring passions 和 skills in their daily lives. “Having a positive connection [to] learning is important… Every experience will get you closer to where you're meant to be. 他对未来的汪达尔人说.
他补充道:“享受这段经历. Take classes that are outside of your comfort zone or that you wouldn't normally take… College is the time to do it. Some of my favorite classes were ones I took on the history of anime or archery, stuff like that.”
以利沙的故事是一个执着追求激情的故事, 即使他们一开始把你带向看似不同的方向. Future V和als should take to heart the importance of doing what you love — if you’re passionate about it, 你会找到一种方法让它为你工作. 在就业服务中心，我们的使命就是帮助你实现这一目标. 关注这位艺术家吧——我们迫不及待地想知道以利沙接下来要去哪里!
维多利亚金斯默尔
就业服务市场实习生
