How to get unhealthy real fast 101

I’ve never been the kind of person who’s been mindful of my well-being and health- neither mental nor physical. It was never one of the priorities in my life because I thought it was a tradeoff to accomplishing other things that seemed more important and I knew that I simply couldn’t have it all- health was something I had accepted that I was willing to sacrifice.

My college lifestyle consisted of everything unhealthy you can ever think of.

Constant all nighters with 4–5 hours of sleep in average

Binge-eating/drinking

Stress snacking

Starving myself for immediate “recovery”

Relying on surplus energy drinks for that always gave me headaches

So, what happened?

Inevitably, both my physical and mental health deteriorated. I had gained alot of weight, suffered from constant mood swings, and breakdowns every other day. My nickname was basically “Angry-bird”- my family, friends and teammates around me were scared and cautious of when my next “outbreak” was going to be.

With that, I didn’t want to be around people as much and was afraid to show up in social settings. I didn’t want to talk about myself and how mentally unstable I was. I didn’t want anyone to see this weak side of me. On the physical side, I I felt horrible not being able to fit into 90% of my clothes and the immediate cure to that feeling was shoving another greasy snack to keep myself “satisfied”. I refused to acknowledge the existence of mirrors because life was much easier that way.

I kept on telling myself, “Don’t worry, some day, one day, you will be back to normal, and everything will recover naturally”. My actions didn’t align with my words though- I avoided facing the problems just so that I had an excuse to avoid that uncomfortable state of change. Although deep down I knew that my mind and body was screaming for recovery, I shut those voices down.

Looking back, it was because I didn’t know where to start. Quite frankly, I don’t think I wanted to start. I obviously needed help, but I didn’t seek it because I was so embarrassed to admit to both myself and others that I had hit such a hard bottom. My crazy mind, and change in my physical appearance initiated a loophole of negative feelings and doubts in myself, taking away the internal happiness and confidence that I thought I would always hold.

Boom, just like that, my confidence and trust in myself was dropped. This rippled into so many other aspects of my life and it seemed like it wasn’t going to get anywhere.

TLDR; It’s time for a plot-twist to this story.

During the quarantine, I came across books, resources and people that helped me learn and realize the importance and integration of well-being and happiness. I was truly shocked and angry that I had neglected such an important aspect of life.

Somebody recently asked me what Success is.

My answer a year ago would be around accomplishing superficial milestones that the society “approves of” and crushing my career goals and ambitions.

I’m not saying those weren’t valid (trust me, I really do think that having these goals and milestones were well valuable in my life), but I think having had this phase of my life, it proved to me that these forms of “success” didn’t mean much to me. Yes, they made me feel pleasure, but that pleasure was ephemeral. It didn’t translate into the rest of my life.

Well, that’s why we gotta have room for trial and error in our lives, right?

Success can mean such different things for everyone. Recently, I’ve decided to define my own success and own it.

Living everyday to its fullest with intentionality- drenching myself with joy and gratitude for each of the small moments in life, and sharing that energy with those around me.

I want to live my life to the fullest, and HOLO! (shameless plug to my personal tagline High Quality YOLO life)

We only live once, so why not make it the BEST one we could ever imagine it to be? Why not design the life we want so that we can live in the best version of ourselves? (Wow okay I can write endlessly on this topic, but let me circle back on my health journey)

I’ve noticed that we have around 4 months until 2020 and I believe this is the prefect time for a transformation for myself. In the next 4 months, I’m committed to learning more about this area around health and wellness- integrating and experimenting these learnings into habits, then letting these habits that work for me into my routines. Through these inputs, I know there will be visible outputs. Now you may question, what’s the ROI? (Lol, yes, I am THAT tech girl- jk but yes, I am driven and motivated by seeing results- who isn’t though?)

Productivity, confidence, and happiness through this journey.

(More to followup later on how to make these measurable and actionable)

I’m committed for the next 4 months to become a better version of myself through a healthier lifestyle focusing on mental and physical health. Are you in?

I’m so excited to make this commitment for myself and am SO grateful that I had came to this realization during the quarantine.

If you know me, you know: when this I commit, this girl makes it happen. I’m all about sharing the good vibes, uplifting each other when we hit our bottoms, and growing together through sharing experiences, and learnings. We are more powerful when we empower each other. (This is a quote I saw somewhere, but forgot where I saw it!)

If you’re interested in following or hopping on this journey, please connect with me on @holo_journey on instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/holo_journey/

Annyeong & Holo!

🥰 Hwanghah

“I-know-it-all” BS attitude will hold you down.

Don’t pretend like you know when you don’t. Ask for help when you need it. I know that it’s intimidating and frightening when it comes to revealing your weakness, especially when you think that the question you have is going to be considered “stupid”. Well, once you start playing that “Yes, I know it all game”, you’re only putting yourself into a downward spiral, and set improper expectations. Beginning of the internship is THE BEST time to ask all the “dumb” and “stupid” questions, because nobody is going to be judging you and taking you that way. Nobody started out their career as a master, they all had to learn from others or figure out on their own along the way, and just by reaching out for help, you’re saving yourself from all the energy and time you’re going to be struggling alone.

PERFECT Projects don’t exist, so enjoy the process of getting there.

So you’ve probably already seen your intern project, and started thinking and planning about how to make this project be the best as can be. Well, it’s time to throw away that thought. You’re not at a school anymore, where you’re working with 2–3 other people on a group project where things get decided within a day, and research findings turn into wireframes over a week. There are so many unexpected changes, and dependencies that will occur that you will only understand when you face them as you go. The result or than final execution of the project may not be what your envisioned “perfect” scenario was, but what’s actually more valuable for you than what you see as the final result ( of course, the quality of the project is still super important) is the process of how you get there. You will probably only fully understand at the end of the internship, but I really want to encourage you to focus on learning and absorbing as much as you can from the processes, and getting as much out of them as you can. Be ready to face “roadblocks” that can come in the form of ambiguity that you’ll have to swim in. While there may be disappointments when things don’t go as planned, there is also a different approach you can look at it; Appreciate that these roadblocks exist during the process, as they will train you to pivot in multi-directions with creative solutions.

Transparent communication should be the foundation between your manager.

Again, going back to admitting your weaknesses, it’s something that I know you’re not quite comfortable with, especially to someone who is going to manage you. The fact is, you’re not here to impress your manager. Your manager is someone who is there to set you up for success, someone who is going to help you guide you in this 3 month adventure. You should be comfortable setting your own direction, speed, and boundaries, and communicating that with your manager. It’s your internship, and you own the experience. Of course, it doesn’t mean that what you decide is necessary the best outlook for the internship experience- that’s why it’s important to share this with your manager to get their feedback, and recommendations on how to best set you up for success.

Do yourself a BIG favor and spend time thinking specifically about how you want the next12 weeks to look like- What skillsets do you want to focus in improving? What are some personal goals you want to achieve in this next 3 months, outside of just the internship?

Remember to revisit these goals/milestones during 1:1s, and have open conversations about how both of you feel on the process of these. Only being transparent to your manager can help yourself with the best feedback and ways of support. There will be time when you “fail” and feel disappointed at yourself, but congratulations! you just earned yourself an opportunity to climb another hurdle, that will lead to a stronger you.

Anyways, you’ve worked so hard to get this internship, didn’t you? Now, you’re finally here in this place, with insanely talented people, with your manager being one of them, who is also your biggest supporter of your success and growth. They have already dedicated their time and energy for you and your growth. Don’t let this rare opportunity just pass by.

Be Proactive.

Simple as it is! (Obviously, SO MUCH easier, said than done)

See an interesting ongoing project during an all hands meeting? Find the POC on that project to learn how they’re approaching the problem, what challenges they’re facing.

Need help on writing your research goals? Reach out to a researcher you always run into in the bathroom. Don’t be afraid to initiate conversations with people outside of your team.

Pro tip: I would recommend conversing with them (irl or messaging) prior to scheduling time on their calendars. With anyone, we want to respect their time; Think ahead what questions or conversation you want to have, and communicate before (either through messaging or calendar invite description) so that both or all parties have aligned expectations on what the “meeting” will be about.

How much you gain from your internship comes from your own proactiveness, and your willingness and mindset to explore. I understand it’s hard to break from your comfort zone, but if now now, then when?

Spend time with your Intern Friends.

There are going to be so many first-times for you: Design Critiques, goal sharing with 1:1 with manager, redlining specs, etc…,

Also, starting a new job, in a new environment, in a city; That’s a pretty big change. The thing is, you’re not alone. Other interns may look like they’ve all got it together, but most likely, they’re all going through the same challenging stage as you are. You guys already have so much commonality established, so much to share and learn from another.

Let me give you an example; knowing that one of your fears is presenting in-front of others, it probably comes from lack of control on where the conversation or questions may jump into, more than the communication/ presentation skill itself. No matter how many times you practice over and over in front of the mirror, that isn’t going to solve that problem. I would suggest getting together with your intern friends, practicing and getting/receiving feedback from one another, prior to upcoming presentations, or meetings. This way, you can anticipate rooms for improvements and questions that may be raised, that you can prepare for.

Work hard, play hard?

No.

Work smart, play smarter.

Gotta admit, you’re not the best when it comes to managing your time and energy. The summer’s so exciting! Yes, you will have new friends, dinner invitations, events to go to everyday, weekend trips every weekend, the list goes on. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to say yes to all of these above to have the best experience. Time is the most valuable currency (as quoted by my life guru, Taido) that directly correlates with your energy;

What kind of activities make you happy? What kind of people makes you grow? On the other hand, what kind of things drain your energy? As you encounter different events and people in the next few days, take mental notes of your energy and emotions as you go, and surround yourself in experiences and people that makes you happy, and grow.

It’s not fair to yourself that you’ve earned yourself an opportunity to be in an environment you’ve dreamed of being in, yet wasting bits of it in things that do not drive you forward.

Now, go make the next 12 weeks the best 12 weeks of your life, because it will be.

I would like to thank my intern manager, Taido Nakajima for all the wisdom he has shared and taught me, & Nathalie Grandy for all the support, guidance and love throughout my internship at Airbnb.

It’s been a crazy wild ride, but I’m finally done with college and this nomadic life that has taught me so much.

Background

I started out my undergrad life at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) in Atlanta campus in summer 2015. After half a year, I moved to Savannah, then continued my education at the other side of the world, in Hong Kong (also a campus of SCAD). I had my summer internships in Charlotte, Beijing, and San Francisco and ended up taking a quarter off to do my internship in Seattle in the fall.

The Story

As a new recent grad, I finally had the chance to look back at all my undergrad life as a SCAD student, and this crazy roller coaster that I’ve been on for the past few years.

When I stepped into orientation as a freshmen, I did not expect that I would live the next 3 years in my life as a “nomad”, moving around every 3 months or so. This kind of lifestyle and life definitely had its ups and downs, but I don’t think I would be the same person I would be today if it weren’t for this diverse journey- I truly didn’t know at the time , but looking back, here are some lessons I picked up along the journey.

The Lessons

1. Pushing limits, beyond the comfort zone

I used to be someone who relied on other people for everything- from making plans, ordering food, being introduced to new friends and even packing. Things always seemed to happen perfectly fine without much of my input, so I always just sat down and waited for the magic to happen.

However, when you’re out in the wild, you’re all alone. I was suddenly experiencing challenges (such as my phone not working when I had to call an uber at 3am to my Airbnb) that I had to figure out all on my own. When I made the choice to go abroad to Hong Kong, I purposefully didn’t ask any of my friends to go with me because I knew that I needed to stop relying on other people.

Being in a strange place, I had to force myself to get out of my comfort zone- asking for directions, saying “hello” first to make a new friend, and even at a networking event. I remember, during a UX conference (UXHK), I awkwardly roamed around the room during the networking time for about an hour, sipping my wine every 2 seconds (to hide my fears) debating whether I should approach someone or not. One handshake became two, then two handshakes led me to a handshake with my future, manager at Microsoft (whom I obviously didn’t know would be at the time).

Once I started to live and push myself beyond my comfort zone, it seemed like a door to world of new and unforeseen opportunities presented themselves.

2. Fake it till you make it

Obviously, pushing outside of my comfort zone was hard. Just like any skill, I had to practice it. I lived by the motto, “Fake it till you make it” everyday, half-jokingly believing that one day I’ll eventually live like it wasn’t fake anymore. Well- believe it or not, with this approach, I started to become more confident with myself. Being in different places, and environments helped me feel safe exploring different versions of me. I was testing different approaches in bettering myself in various ways, without feeling like I had to stick to the “same Hwanghah” I was to my friends, or fearing that people would think I’m strange for being someone who can’t even present with notecards on hands to someone who’s (pretending to be) confident to take on a lead of a project. I was broadening my character, and pushing my boundaries, but I was also taking the time to find myself- getting to know what my strengths and weaknesses were through the challenges I faced.

3. New places = New opportunities

Opportunities are presented…. from the experiences you put yourself into, and that is something that everyone has total control over.

Many see the idea of opportunities as a result of putting in effort, and hard work, and a little bit of luck. While this is true, I do think that these opportunities are ones that we expect and planned for, which is a very small selection of what the world could hold for us. For me, some of the most amazing things that have happened to me came unplanned and unexpected, when I had to put myself in unfamiliar situations and experiences, such as meeting an inspiring friend of mine through my first blind “designer’s date”, and getting interview opportunities through referrals of people who I have asked for help during my portfolio-building process.

You never know who and what can help you when(or vice versa) — the world is smaller than you think.

Opportunities come in all shapes, and colors, and sizes, and even transparency. The presence of some opportunities may not be immediate, and some may not be noticeable; we may not realize the importance of them because we’re only able to see them as the roots of a planted seed. These seeds also don’t plant themselves- we need to take action to put the seeds in the pot, even if it means stretching beyond what we’re used to be doing. Believing that these diverse experiences and opportunities will lead you to a fully blossomed flower is something I definitely learned, and that rather than intentionally chasing for these opportunities, I should better prepare for them with building a better version of myself- both skills and character.

4. Broadening perspective and understanding

Walking around the different cities, I became quite an observer of things I see and interact with. For me, as a designer, this aspect of being able to see and understand different cultures, people, and intentions behind services and products were built was amusing for me, questioning things like,

“Why is the bike-sharing economy so successful and dominant in Beijing, but not in Seoul?”

“Why is the Hongkong metro system designed the way it is?”

My questions didn’t just slip or wander off my head- As a person living in these various places for a few months and not as a tourist, I had the opportunity to actually engage in these activities, gaining empathy for the locals who actually utilize the products and services in their everyday, to gain a more authentic perspective and feel their painpoints and challenges through their daily journey. These experiences were so valuable to me, because I know that nothing- not even a month long research can replace a 5 minute experience by action, because it’s felt by the heart.

At the end of the day, no matter where we are, it’s all about keeping a positive and growth mindset. To be able to explore, travel, and be in different environments is privilege, and I realized that I should learn to take advantage of these experiences when I can, because it is the best way for us to be exposed to challenges, experiences, and eventually, new lessons that will live and grow upon us.

This story is published in Noteworthy, where 10,000+ readers come every day to learn about the people & ideas shaping the products we love.

Follow our publication to see more product & design stories featured by the Journal team.

My summer internship at Airbnb was life-changing. Coming into the internship, and leaving the internship, I felt like a whole new person, and it was the first time in my life I ever felt so empowered.

Miracles do happen.

The internship at Airbnb had set me up for success. Success, not defined by other people’s standards, but my own meaning of success, crafted in the directions that I wanted to focus and grow upon. I was extremely lucky to have an amazing manager who helped me grow upon this journey, not just as a better designer, but as a better self to myself. His patience, and leadership taught me so much about how one can impact and influence someone, and now, he’s my lifetime hero who I admire and respect. (I’ll talk about this topic more in depth in my next article). Although it was a challenge to be open at first, I had never felt a safer environment to be vulnerable, and to be honest with someone, sharing my weaknesses and talking about my areas for growth and improvement. My manager sat down with me daily, to talk about these certain goals I had set for myself, and helped me realize these goals every day, step by step.

I could truly tell that my manager, my team, and my amazing recruiter (now my half-blood sister) cared about my growth, but most importantly, my happiness. It was surreal to wake up everyday knowing that I had genuine support from my co-workers and people that I engaged with. I think this comes from the fact that people in Airbnb share traits of the underlying core values, which are taken really seriously at Airbnb. Discussions around core values and making the world more accessible, and making people feel belonged anywhere, is a topic that I engaged with daily, which really warmed my heart and reminded me of the ultimate goal/reason for anything I was working on.

I could have not asked for a better team, manager, and friends who allowed me to realize what kind of environment I wanted to be at everyday.

Perks & Fun

Being a part of a company that respects design, and designers, I was truly in awe when I sat in meetings with other cross functional partners to discuss certain projects. From being in design critiques, to personal 1:1 with pm/engineer, I witnessed why Airbnb is known for its design culture. At Airbnb, even as an intern, I was in full control of a certain project, defining my own scope, timeline, and goals, writing one pagers to creative briefs, to bring different partners all into one project. This experience was so valuable in that it helped me build confidence as a designer, which I lacked before. Well, now for the not-so-deep but the more exciting things,

Did I mention that you’re basically living in a paradise… for free? I never wanted to go back home (Despite the fact that I lived 3 mins away). I had friends visiting me and we would hang out/work at the beautiful office.

If you want to see this office more in detail, visit my vlog!

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=YDhJHprnVeY

I mean,

Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Check

Amazing snacks 24/7 (which you need serious self-control). Check

Homemade Kombucha on tap. Check

Unlimited Alcohol (that I drank responsibly). Check

Who would want to go home?

The interns are spoiled with amazing events and experiences that the program offers, from sailing, bowling/dancing parties, volunteering trips, silent disco, commuting expenses, airbnb credits (which I used to learn DJ-ing), etc… the list goes on.

There are also cute DOGS everywhere- even a mini corgi-con that you can go to over lunch.

Design-related interns (content strategy, research, XD, production) were also able to attend a week-long “festival?”, “conference?” (A mix of both) to attend Airbnb’s EPIC week which brings designers across all of Airbnb’s offices globally for this event, to meet, mingle, and learn about what different teams are working on.

But again, the best perk of this entire experience for me was finding amazing mentors and friends around me, who have transformed me into a better person just within the few months I was here for.

It’s also one of the reasons why I felt it in my heart that this was the place that I had to come back to.

Airbnb Design Internship Experience was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Introduction

Ever since getting into UX at my school (Savannah College of Art and Design) in 2016, Airbnb was one of the companies that I admired and respected. I was so fascinated and inspired by Airbnb’s design-centric culture and how that was directly translated to the services and features of the product.

When one of the 30+ designers I messaged on Linkedin replied back to me with an available date for lunch, I flew off to San Francisco. I was excited- it already felt like a dream come true, just to meet a designer from Airbnb

I still remember stepping into the Airbnb office, and not being able to process what I was seeing. Magnificent, beautiful, and breathtaking are all just understatements to describe this heavenly “office”.

The host took me to the cafeteria, where as we had lunch she talked about her role as an experience designer at Airbnb. Throughout our conversation, I felt completely enchanted by her experience and work life at Airbnb; I noted in my head,

I hope I can work here someday. No, I HAVE to. I WILL.

I opened up few questions to address the mystery behind Airbnb’s hire for designers. (At that time, I’ve never seen any job postings/mentions for designers) It wasn’t easy facing the harsh truths.

• Airbnb is the dream place for many designers
• They have the best connections, resources and access to the best designers whenever needed
• They don’t have an internship program

(Oh. Adios Airbnb.)

Leaving the office, my footsteps weren’t as light as when I walked in.

Application Process

Well, fast forward one year from that day- Here I am, with an offer to Airbnb as their Experience Design intern (It is Airbnb’s first year hiring design interns) Like mentioned above, I would like to share my application and interview process, that could potentially help you prepare for your interview. (This process is strictly based on my personal experience, and will not be same for everyone)

1. Applying for Airbnb Design Position

In December 2017, I started to see Airbnb job postings on their site and Linkedin. I applied to every design position regardless of what it was (Design technologist, production design, etc…) just hoping that I could get an interview. At the same time, I knew that another way that I could approach Airbnb was to apply to the KPCB fellowship program.(http://kpcbfellows.com) When the program application opened up in January, I submitted my application right away and crossed my fingers for the best. To this date, I have no idea know from which portal the recruiter got my resume in her hands.

2. Phone Screening Interview

On January 28th, I received an email from the recruiter to move forward with the interview process: I scheduled my interview for the earliest day available, (it’s always better to schedule your interview earlier than later).

On February 28th at 11:00am, I picked up a call from San Francisco.

Hello, I’m ___, production designer at Airbnb. I believe you’ve applied to our production design intern role here for this summer.

I had thought that my interview was for the product designer role, and not a production role. Although they sound very similar, the work is completely different. My knowledge with producing and implementing precise visuals to different specification was very limited, and it was definitely not an area I felt confident in. Feeling shocked, I triple checked my email to see if it had been a mistake. It wasn’t. I had just mis-read my email the whole time.

After a brief introduction about myself, and the designer’s role, he jumped straight into few questions regarding the production design role.To recall some of the technical questions, I remember being asked about my process to formatting graphics and visual assets across different mediums, and how to create reusable, systematic design all across those mediums. Other questions aimed to see what my process would be when it came to communicating my designs with the engineers to produce them. I was freaking out the whole time and I honestly had so much trouble answering many of the questions as I had never prepared for them before. Near the end, the interviewer asked me some other general questions to find out more about my passion, and who I am as a person. Here, I talked about my passion for co-creating and designing for marginalized communities, and why I believed in the importance of experience design. I knew that this wasn’t an interview for the experience design role, but I felt like it would be completely pointless if I tried to suddenly craft a new passion for a field that I didn’t know much about, just to “pass” an interview.

Right after the interview, I had never been so sure about an upcoming rejection email. Just as sure I was with the rejection when I didn’t hear back for around a week and a half after the interview, the recruiter got back to me:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but we got amazing feedback from the team from your phone-screen, but they also noted you would be an incredible fit for our Experience Design role (which it sounds like you also have a passion for).

We just posted the requisition today and chatted with the team about you. I wanted to connect to see which role you’d be interested in continuing forward with.

I couldn’t believe it at first. I double checked this time to see that I wasn’t mis-reading anything again. It felt like a miracle. (I was 1000% sure I had failed the interview.) I replied right back that I wanted to proceed with the interview process for the Experience Design role. Due to few upcoming offer deadlines from other companies, the recruiter helped me schedule my final “Off-site: Final Video Call Interviews” that same week.

3. Final Video Call Interviews

For the final round, I was scheduled 4 interviews with different people in the Airbnb through their video call system, all on the same day. There was a 15 minute “break” in between each of the interviews. I was given a link prior the interview to join, which I then tested my screen share, microphone, and the space before the interview.

The 4 different interviews aimed to look at my core values, experience design skills, production design skills, and communication skills.

Because it’s Airbnb’s first year for hiring design interns, I couldn’t find any resources or past experiences anywhere (hence, why I’m writing this article!), so I decided to look at the title of these interviews as keywords, and prepare a list of things I wanted to share at some point of the interview. I tried to see the 4 interviews as a whole, and be strategic with which points I was going to hit for which part of the interview.

a) Core Values (30 mins)

For this interview, I had an amazing opportunity to interview with someone who takes care of the trust and safety side of Airbnb. As someone who’s passionate about emerging technology, but also worried about how that could become a threat and danger to the world, it felt like we were on the same page even though we were from completely different backgrounds. From reading the Airbnb design blog since the beginning, and believing in Airbnb’s mission, I talked about how and why I truly saw myself as a cultural fit for Airbnb.

Some of the questions asked were: “Why Airbnb?”, “What is your background?”,“Why design?”, “What motivates you?”

b) Portfolio Presentation(45 mins)

Airbnb will request you to send a presentation prior to the interview, but if you believe that your digital portfolio is the best medium to deliver the work (like myself), it’s completely fine to present from your online portfolio.

For the portfolio review, I asked the two experience designers to choose a project they wanted to see from my portfolio. I had few projects along with my Airbnb Redesign project. I realized that they could easily understand the context of the Airbnb redesign project, and thought it would better to show them creative work outside of the same “work” they see everyday, so I eliminated my redesign project. I ended up choosing only one project to talk about because I was aware that Airbnb is very design-process driven, and I believed that going through one project in detail to show my design thinking, and intentions behind every decision was the most important.

By the time I had finished my presentation, there wasn’t much time for questions left, and they invited me to ask them questions instead. I utilized that time to ask them few questions, regarding their process of co-creating with users during their design process.

c) Production Design Skills (45 mins)

(It was originally a 30 minute interview, but my interviewer decided to call 15 minutes early- which I thought was awesome!)

For this interview, I talked with an amazing and funny Design Group Manager. This was the most challenging interview where many technical questions were asked. First series of questions aimed to understand your overall process and your individual workflow as an experience designer. The other good section of questions aimed to understand how I would work with other people such as production designers, developers, and product managers to develop a product.

Some of the questions asked were: “What kind of designer are you?”, “What would you do on the first day of your work?”, “What is your design process?” , “How do you communicate with developers with your design?”, “What kind of questions do you ask regarding your work to your peers?”

d) Communication Skills (30 mins)

This interview was very similar to my first interview regarding my core values in the sense that it felt more like a conversation than an interview. A different design manager at Airbnb established a comfortable setting by talking to me a little bit about his background and his work in the beginning. During our conversation, I was able to up and talk about my real self, beyond just as a designer. I talked about how I got into design, why I love design, and what kind of designer I yearn to be in the future.

Some of the questions asked were: “What is your superpower?”, “ How do you resolve problems?”, “ How do you work in a team?”

Personal Thoughts

Package Yourself, then Story-tell it.

One of the things I learned from my Airbnb interview experience is that interviews should be comfortable for both the interviewer, and the interviewee. Don’t expect the interviewer to be the one to keep on asking you the questions. For example, I sensed that within the minutes of my communication skills interview, the designer wanted me to show the real- me. It would be awkward for him, even as an interviewer to keep on asking questions around that. Interviews are all about storytelling- frame the story so that you’re hitting the different elements that the interviewers wish to hear. Airbnb definitely values communication skill for all of their employees and I believe that strategizing your story within the interviews will not only make the interviewers’ jobs easier, but also have a long-lasting impression of you. As can be seen in Airbnb’s interview process, your portfolio and design skills are just one aspect of what people “evaluate” on. Being self-aware as an individual as well as a designer, and being able to clearly communicate that to the audience is as important. (This is my personal opinion after interviewing with other companies, and not just with Airbnb)

Earn your Luck.

To be completely honest, even though I felt like I had done well on the interview, it just didn’t seem realistic that I would land a design internship at Airbnb. When the recruiter called me with some feedback and the offer, I couldn’t believe it at first, and started crying. I feel very lucky, but at the same time, I truly believe that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Even when I was devastated after realizing that I had no hope for Airbnb at that time, I kept on improving my Airbnb redesign project, and brainstorming potential features of Airbnb. As cliché as it sounds, “Nothing is impossible” when you put your mind and effort to it.

All the people I interviewed with at Airbnb were friendly, open, and incredible people. I have witnessed why Airbnb is famous for their people. Be yourself; show your passion for design, and passion for Airbnb’s mission that you believe in. Good luck!

If you want to see what my first week of my work looked like, visit my youtube vlog!

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=YDhJHprnVeY

If you have any other questions regarding the interview process with Airbnb or any other companies I’ve interviewed with, feel free to hit me up on Linkedin!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hwanghah-jeong-954654124/

Journey to Landing my Experience Design Internship at Airbnb was originally published in Students Who Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.