INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: students, afraid of the real world? Good. Get a mentor.

Young me had a system for learning this profession. Make the mistake, panic quietly, tell no one, then find out three years later that everyone else knew a shortcut.

I redrew a portfolio nobody would ever ask to see. I practiced renderings for jobs that did not exist and skipped the skills the actual jobs wanted. I once spent a full semester perfecting a concept that, and I want to be clear about this, did not need to exist.

A mentor would not have fixed everything. But it probably would have saved me from confidently misunderstanding several things in a row.

I know because I have since been that mentor, and I have watched students skip years of my flailing with one honest conversation.

You do not get points for figuring it out alone. Nobody is keeping that score. I checked.

SetFire Foundation is a non-profit group that pairs students with working designers who have already made your next five mistakes. It costs nothing.

When you sign up through Setfire, make sure you select IDI so we can match you with the right mentor. Link is in the comments.