5 Things to do to prepare yourself for the Kimoyo fellowship or any design bootcamp
Being in a new environment can be daunting, it takes you back to being the new student in class, you are not exactly sure how to react. But can preparing your mind for the journey ahead help out? Yes, absolutely, or maybe not, whatever the case might be it is never a bad idea to prepare. I would be sharing with you tips to help you prepare to become a Podian.
1. Be open-minded
Be ready to learn, unlearn and relearn; While this might sound cliche, it works! The Fellowship was created for this purpose, so you have to be open-minded to receive its benefits, learn new ways to design, research, learn new design terms, share what you know, unlearn bad design habits, and many more. The moral of the story, is to be open-minded.
2. The art of collaboration
Being a designer, one important thing to know how to do is become a team player. Shine in your strengths and help others gain strength from you, learn from others in your weakness, gain strength from where others shine, Do not be shy or scared to ask for help. The Kimoyo Fellowship is about your individuality and teamwork, your team is called a pod, that is why fellows are called podians, you would have a team of people to yourself, so you have to learn to collaborate and use them wisely.
3. Questionnaire
From experience, some people are natural at asking questions, they ask the hard and stupid questions you are scared to ask. I know it can be scary but Picture this;
Worst Case Scenario: My answer is no.
Best case scenario: Thank you for that question, here is the answer.
Don’t just assume, ask first! Make sure to clarify things. As designers, we make decisions based on feedback gotten from users to provide the right solution for them. So ask no matter how stupid you think it is, just ask!
4. Be a reader
Design articles and books will expand your mind. They will help you experience design from different standpoints. These experiences become case studies via you would understand how different solutions play out to similar problems, building your problem-solving skills when you use these combined lessons to solve problems.
Not sure where to start your reading or how? Articles are a sweet spot to start, they are short and straight to the point. Medium is a great place to search for articles. It covers different design articles from designers all around the world. When not sure, I use the keyword + medium in a google search e.g User Research Medium.
5. Be yourself
Don’t be scared to be unique. Bring whatever you have to the table. Product design is multidisciplinary, so whatever your background is, there is always something for you to bring to the table. The fellowship is there to help to take your potential to higher heights, so don’t be scared to place all your cards on the table. You have gotten this far so just be you.
Not still sure whether to apply to that bootcamp, here are 5 reasons why I applied to The Kimoyo Fellowship. Learn more about the fellowship here. If you would love to connect with me or ask me questions you could send me a DM or email me here.
This article is a part of my The Kimoyo Fellowship series, where I share design and growth lessons I have learnt along the way.
Please Note:Some processes might have changed due to constant upgrades on the program to make it better.
