以利沙Coad

程序员出身的设计师在苹果实习中找到了两全其美的东西

Although art 和 technology don’t seem to go together on the surface, 以利沙对两者的深深热爱迫使他在两者的结合中开辟出自己的道路. 作为一名程序员和艺术家，以利沙的故事以迷人的方式结合了STEM和人文学科.

以利沙Coad is a University of Idaho alum with a B.F.A. in 工作室艺术与设计. He attended U of I between Spring 2018 和 Winter 2022. He currently works at John Deere as a user experience (UX) designer.

When he first arrived, Elisha was drawn to a double major in 虚拟技术与设计 和 计算机科学 因为他对电脑很在行，对虚拟现实和3D建模很着迷. 在高中时, Elisha cultivated his skills in computer programming 和 design, even working on freelance job opportunities by building websites for clients.

“我喜欢设计和技术的世界，喜欢把两者结合起来，”他说. “I would work with my brother on projects. 他会做后端... 和 then I would do the front end, which is the visuals of the code.”

A love of technology ran deep in Elisha’s veins, 他的父亲是发明家，两个兄弟是计算机科学家. “That was kind of the general path [for me],” he admitted.

Art was an unexplored territory considering his family background, 这让他很难调和自己对艺术的热情和对技术的热爱和熟悉.

他的父母非常关心他的教育，并为他提供了探索自己爱好的机会. 以利沙说这使他有信心和空间去做他喜欢的事. “If I really put my mind to something, I can do it 和 I can achieve it. I think that’s helped a lot,他说.

“有些人有这样一种心态:‘不要把工作当成激情所在，否则你会失去激情,’但我觉得我从小就被灌输这样的思想:‘找一份你热爱的工作，你一生中从来没有工作过,’”以利沙分享道.

对于他的研究领域, he ultimately settled on interface design, figuring that it was the perfect intersection of technology 和 art. “It was the right kind of challenge that I was looking for, so I ended up switching my major… into an art [degree],他说. 他放弃了计算机科学这个第二专业，全身心投入到艺术与设计工作室, with an emphasis on interaction 和 graphic design.

“我仍然喜欢编程. I program games on the side,他说. 以利沙知道他在做他最满意的事情的同时，仍然会参与到科技领域，这给了他安慰.

“Usually its designers going into [user interface/experience design (UI/UX)], 所以有了编程的背景，再加上做过程序员的实习，我就能在这个领域占据更有利的地位。,以利沙说.

在他的初中和高中生涯中，以利沙一直参与“创客空间”, 哪些节目旨在让年轻人表达创造力和探索不同的媒介.

他说:“我在那里工作了很长时间，找到了创造东西的激情。. “创造美好事物的能力是我非常珍视的东西.因为他对艺术的热爱一直存在，并受到周围人的鼓励, he found his place easily with the College of Art 和 Architecture.

On campus, Elisha was a part of the 校园基督徒团契 for all four years of his enrollment. “我觉得我在大学里的成功很大程度上要归功于拥有这样的支持网络,他说.

他还开创了 发展商学生社团, a Google-sponsored program for programmers. 他也是 大学荣誉课程, which gave him a strong sense of community when he first arrived on campus.

在大学, Elisha still worked on freelance website design projects, which helped pay for a portion of his tuition. 他最大的项目之一是为一家加密货币教育公司创建一个品牌, 这使他能够练习在项目时间表和对工作的定价预期上保持坚定. He also worked on br和ing for the TEDxCoeur d’Alene event in 2020.

Elisha appreciated the teachers in the 艺术与设计专业 这“对学生有很高的期望”，并对该领域有了“更高的理解”, specifically naming Greg Turner-Rahman, 戴夫Gottwald 和 戴尔芬Keim. 他说，教授们会允许他修改项目，前提是他认为这些项目与他目前的自由职业相符. “我真的很感谢老师们给我的机会，”他说.

He also took on several internship opportunities each summer, most of which involved programming until he realized his passion for design. 以利沙大部分的工作机会都是通过他那不可思议的网络找到的，这个网络是由他的自由职业项目创建和维持的.

整个夏天，他工作的一个雇主允许他从程序员转为设计师. Because he had insight into the design field, Elisha was able to step into the new role with ease, therefore showing them Elisha’s “value as a designer.”

大四前的那个夏天，以利沙得到了一个绝佳的机会，在苹果公司实习，担任UI/UX设计师. He traveled to California 和 got to engage with the design system team, who helped him figure out his strengths 和 weaknesses as a designer.

“A design system is something for interface design. 它是其他设计师用来构建(网站)的基石，”他解释道. “For example, buttons, a dropdown or dialogue menu, or pop ups. All that stuff would be a piece in the design system.”

“我觉得我的大脑很适合设计系统，因为你必须考虑每个组件的所有细节,他说. “I also really like it because I can support other designers. I see myself as a support role for the whole design team.”

“我帮助(苹果)重新设计了他们的网站，这就是所谓的网站信息架构,他说. “我们如何以一种对使用这个网站的人有意义的方式组织[信息]?” Since Apple is a very high-security company, they don’t rely on cloud services to store their information. 相反，他们创造了自己的内部系统，这就是以利沙在那里所做的.

以利沙现在在约翰迪尔(John Deere)担任农场管理平台的用户体验设计师. 这个平台是由农民使用的，他们想要跟踪他们正在使用的产品的进展情况.

“They can have a high-level overview of what's happening at any given moment, see where their machines are on a map, [和] they can see… what kind of work they've done over the year,他解释道. 以利沙创建并管理该平台的设计系统以及一些产品广告设计.

长期, Elisha says he’d like to work for a startup tech company, 这是一首歌颂他童年时代对技术和编程的热爱的颂歌. 通过他的关系网, he knows many people interested in starting tech companies, 和 Elisha says he looks forward to seeing where that journey takes him.

He espouses a “learner’s mindset”, 因此，他相信每个人都会从日常生活中探索激情和技能中受益. “积极地学习是很重要的……每一次经历都会让你离目标更近。. There's never wasted moments,他说 to future V和als.

He added on, “Just enjoy the experience. 参加一些你不喜欢的课程，或者是你平时不喜欢的课程，大学就是这样做的时候. 我最喜欢的一些课程是关于动漫历史或射箭之类的.”

Elisha’s story is one of a persistent desire to follow passions, even if they take you in seemingly different directions at first. 未来的破坏者应该牢记做你喜欢的事情的重要性——如果你对它充满激情的话, you will find a way to make it work for you. Here at 职业服务, our mission is to help make it work for you too. Keep an eye on this artist — we can’t wait to see where Elisha goes next!

维多利亚金斯默尔

职业服务 Marketing Intern