I Got Fired Over Christmas And Nobody Told Me - Product Design Horror Stories

In 2015, Nick drove to an interview in his moms car. Three minutes in, the hiring manager told him he would never make it as a designer. 10 Years later, he loses his product design job over Christmas. And that's just the start...

In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick share the worst moments of their careers so far. Nick gets torn apart in his first ever interview, prints a batch of flyers that come back the wrong color (because nobody told him about RGB and CMYK), and takes on a small favor for a client that turns into a project so big it costs him two clients.

In the meantime, Tyler gets thrown into a print job with zero training, discovers his own company was quietly interviewing outside UX agencies behind his back, and gets let go about a month later. Nick turns down a request to fly to Asia for work, gets let go over the Christmas break, and finds out because nobody bothered to tell him.

They weren't bad at their job (is what they're telling each other). Sometimes it is just not the right fit, for either side, and the only way to find that out is to live through it.

In this episode you will learn:

🔸 Why RGB and CMYK color spaces catch almost every designer off guard the first time they print something

🔸 The scope creep mistake that can cost a freelancer a client, or two

🔸 How to notice the warning signs that a company is quietly replacing you

🔸 Why a job can end without anyone telling you directly

🔸 The real lesson buried in every one of these stories, that not being a fit is not the same as not being good

Chapters:

0:00 Setting up the horror stories episode