Success checklist

1. Standup

   Each day, you have an opportunity to show up. Your standup represents your level of respect for your coworkers.

   If you aren’t able to say “what I did yesterday, what I want to accomplish today, and if there are any blockers,” then you have to ask yourself why? Is it because you do not know? Is it because you don’t know how to type? Is it because you don’t have time?

   If you can’t spend 1-2 minutes writing your standup, then don’t bother reading the rest of this list. If you can’t put in the incredibly small amount of effort to do your standup, then you cannot have a job in this industry.

   No matter your track record, you can start – today. Start showing up now.

2. Meetings

   Treat people as you would like to be treated. If you book a meeting, honor that time. If you can’t make it, reschedule in advance.

   If you don’t do these things, you are essentially saying: “I don’t respect you or your time.” to the other person.

   When you book a time, you are taking up time that another student could have used.

3. Prepare

   Organize your thoughts. Clarify your questions. Prepare any research, assets, and have your projects open and ready to go. Getting time with the boss or the senior developer is a gift. Use it well.

4. Networking

   Treat everyone with the same respect. You never know who will be the one to connect you. Treat your teammates here at PE, and the people on Discord etc. – with the same respect and appreciation you’d give to [insert someone you consider a hero].

   (Beyoncé, Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr. – you pick. Keep that person in mind – in general – as you’re reading the rest of this list)

1. Focus

   You are in charge of your time. You are in charge of your focus. To make the most of your time (the most valuable asset) – you’ll have to make some clear decisions. Do you want to passively engage in something, get half the value – and then have to do it again later? OR do you want to turn everything off – and soak up everything you can during that time? If you’re feeling like you “don’t have time” – it’s because you’re using it unwisely.

   “People don’t have short attention spans: They finish 3 hour Joe Rogan episodes. They binge 14-hour shows.”

   – Julian Shapiro

   If you want something, then make the time and focus on it for that time.

   We’ve built this program for exactly this purpose. If you get a clear schedule and stick to it, it will work. You have to choose to be consistent. If you can’t focus for 3 hours now, then how will you focus for 8 hours when you land a job?

2. Choose enthusiasm

   There are a TON of jobs. You could be a security guard for the president. You could dig trenches. You could be a grocery checkout clerk for 50 years.

   Almost no job is as fun and rewarding as design. It’s a fact. It has the most versatility and the most impact. Choose to enjoy it. If you can’t enjoy this, then there are always those other jobs.

3. Humility

   We are lucky to have a job like this. We have immense power. Stay humble and close to the task at hand. You can either do it – or you can’t. Be honest with yourself. Your feelings and your Ego – don’t matter as much as reality.

1. Daily exercises

   By trying a new set of things every day, you are able to stretch your brain and get out of your comfort zone. At the core of this course is the idea that – the goal – ultimately drives decision-making. You have to be ready to work through new problems and pick up new skills and points of view. It’s not all about you.

   This is how the job works, so – we start you off in that real-life situation.

2. Working smart

   Each day there is a manageable set of work to go over. If life gets in the way, then you need to work smarter. That means picking up the phone – or sharing a screen or doubling down on a Saturday. The pace of the course forces you to change your behavior – otherwise, you will fall behind.

   Use your resources well. Who can help? Who can you offload this task to? Can you ask an expert? On the real job, you’ll have to work smart to get ahead / so that you can maintain a work/life balance AND have left over time to just have fun at work. Stay ahead of things. Everyone else will love you for it.

3. Get used to "not knowing"

   Instead of learning how to complete tasks, learn how to problem-solve. It’s like asking a genie for more wishes. You’re not going to know all of this stuff. Learn how to meet new challenges with a sense of excitement vs. fear. This is a choice.

1. Choose to believe in yourself

   We give you ALL of the tools you need to complete each assignment. If you spend your time looking other places for faster answers – or you focus on the “feelings” that it’s hard – then that’s what you’ll end up with.

   Stick to what is possible with the tools you have at all times. The answer is NOT somewhere else. It’s already in you. If it wasn’t, then why would we need you for anything?

2. Take responsibility for yourself and outcomes

   Nothing is anyone else’s fault. That’s that.

   Even if it is… you’re a problem-solver now… so, – solve it and keep moving forward. That is your job.

1. Full understanding of your computer's file system

   You need to put things in places and find things. Sometimes with a mouse / and sometimes with the command line. Is it organized? Do you understand where everything is?

   Anytime there’s a tedious task / like finding a deeply nested folder.. and you catch yourself going through the motions: fix it. Constantly work to become a better computer user.

2. Learn the shortcuts

   They are called “shortcuts” because they are faster / but they are also much easier – and better for your body too.

   We can tell if you know how to use your computer well from across the room. If you’re in a meeting – people are going to notice if you seem pro. Just be pro.

3. Consistently become more efficient

   This goes for email, chat, time, typing, indenting – and everything.

   The more time you save / by being efficient, the more time you have to be creative about the real problems that actually matter.

   Don’t wait for some magic day where you “have time.” That’s the point. Learn how to CREATE time, now.

1. Why?

   Know why things are the way they are – and not just what to type. We do certain things in certain ways – because of how the web works. If we change something too drastic – it will break ALL of the web pages. This is important to understand because it will help you with problems going forward.

2. It's responsive by nature

   The web is shown through unknown media. Did you print the page? Did you look at it on a tiny screen? Did you have your evil robot assistant read it to you? A really giant screen? An assistive screen reader?

   Understand that the bigger picture – isn’t just “websites.”

1. Look to understand the problem first

   If there was a quick fix, they wouldn’t need you.

   Spend the time upfront to engage and really think about the goal. It might not even be a problem. Ask “why?”

2. Allow the goal to make the decisions

   Choosing a color or a font – just because it feels “good” – isn’t enough. It’s not going to sell it to the team – and really/ you aren’t even selling it to yourself.

   By focusing on the goal and making your decisions purely to satisfy it – you’ll get what you want – and you’ll have an easy time talking all of the stakeholders into it.

   Make it easy on yourself. This is not a career that will reward you for “being unique” for the sake of it.

   Use a process. Follow a mental framework and learn to LOVE constraints.

1. Be aware of User Experience

   It’s mostly a buzzword. It used to be called “thinking.” But corporate structure got so crappy – that there wasn’t much of that – so, they had to rebrand it to bring it back.

   That CSS file – or that JavaScript function you’re writing? Someone else is going to have to look at that later. Make it readable. Everything you do – is going to be used by someone else. Do it with them in mind.

2. Learn from the world around you

   Walking around town, visiting a website, using a device, driving a car, ordering dinner – it’s all UX. Learn from the best school ever (life). It’s free. PAY ATTENTION. Document cool things and write about them. Talk to your friends about design. It will make you a better designer.

1. Research things

   It’s fun. Look around. Find stuff. Notice patterns. Write things down. Show them to people. Do it often. CTOs need to research and vet new technology stacks. Visual designers need to keep up with the latest trends so that they can avoid them (jk). Everyone on the team should be doing – at least – “research lite” all the time.

2. Make them actionable

   The “work” is sometimes just the work. You don’t use every single scene you shot in your final documentary. You don’t show every painting you ever made at your art show. You probably use about 1/100 of the stuff you find.

   Make sure that your research turns into something useful. The boss doesn’t want to see a football field-long Google Doc. They want the next steps that you figured out – after doing the research.

1. Know Google suite well

   The hierarchy of your documents translates directly into the concepts of HTML and CSS. It also means that you care about legibility and you have some empathy for the other people on the team. It takes just as much time to do things well – as it does to make a mess. Make it A+. Do a good job.

2. Get comfortable with all of the tools

   Whimsical and Trello are good proxies for the other brands. Get comfortable with them. We don’t mean playing around with them for 30 minutes once or twice, but actually using them as tools. Create charts and to-do lists about your work. It will be HUGE when it’s time to use other tools / and it will make you smarter. These are user interfaces and you can learn a lot from them as examples of web applications.

3. Learn how to use Git and Github

   You can start with just a daily journal. It doesn’t even need to be code. Then just scale up – as your projects get more complicated. You’ll need it for too many reasons to explain here, but put simply: if you don’t know it well, you can’t have a job.

1. Make 1 webpage a day until it's burnt into your brain

   Take any website and copy it. Not the style. Just the hierarchy. What is the H1? H2? Paragraphs? Then look at the code for the real site. It’s probably wrong, so – trust yourself. Get help.

   We’re only asking you to really know about 10% of HTML. You can learn the rest as you go. Take it seriously. It’s not just “the easy thing.” It’s the thing that matters most.

2. Check your sites for accessibility all along the way

   You can use the validator. You can use a screen-reader. This is really important. Ask for help.

3. Learn SEO

   It’s mostly just writing great HTML and having great content. But you should also understand what it is and how it effects your job.

1. Practice

   Just like anything else in life, you aren’t going to just magically be a fantastic graphic designer. You just have to try it often enough to get the hang of the basics. You may not do it much in your job, but understanding how it works – will help you communicate – and will make you more valuable as a developer.

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!

There's an empty list!