Job Shadow

For my job shadow, I attended Dawson Design Architects in Seattle. DDA is a high-end firm that designs hotels internationally and currently has an office in London. DDA is a hard working environment that uses “the struggle” model, which weeds out designers who are not up for the challenge. The firm is known for it’s smart and savvy tactics used to save money, their highly creative designers, their distinct interiors, which all result in long-term clients. An interesting aspect of DDA’s design was the fact that everything they use is custom made and their own which shows another dimension of their creativity. I found this job shadow to be very eye opening and valuable because they expressed the importance of a unique and outstanding portfolio that stands out as well as a hard work ethic. After experiencing the job shadow, I have decided to change my work ethic and have decided to put more effort into all of my work because when applying to jobs, no matter where it is, I will be compared to everyone else with the same desire but even from other schools who may have a higher rating. Thinking about being compared to anyone and everyone across the country, I have learned to put all my effort into each project and assignment I do because it will make me a better designer. Another thing I retained from this job shadow experience was the need to know how to work fast and work on multiple projects at once. This experience was an extraordinary experience to see what the real world looks like and the possibility of designing for global hospitality.