INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: networking is a skill, not a personality trait

Spoke to a room full of SCAD students yesterday about networking, and I wanted to make one point painfully clear. A lot of designers treat networking like it belongs to extroverts. Like it’s some weird social sport for people who love small talk and self-promotion. It’s not.

It’s a career skill. One that gets more important the moment school ends.

Your portfolio matters. Your craft matters. Your taste matters. But if nobody knows who you are, what you care about, or what kind of work you want to do, you’re making the journey harder than it needs to be.

Awkward first conversations are part of it. So is reaching out before you feel ready.

That part isn’t optional. It’s the work.