Porag Gogoi's Unique Career story!

Hello Teacup People,

I am literally sipping on a cup of tea while as I am writing this. Haha

I passed out from NIT Silchar in 2015 and worked as a Civil Engineer for a short while. Like all my fellow designers here, I too dreamt of learning design in one of the NID’s or IIT’s and eventually working as a designer. I applied for NID exam 2016  while I was still working but I could not make it through.

After working for about 10 months, I left my god forsaken civil engineering job I came back home, jobless and  feeling very existential. A huge storm of peer pressure started mounting over me over the career choices I was making. My parents and relatives weren’t happy about my decisions.

 It was probably about that time when I discovered Teacup blog and the growing community of fellow designers. I read every article, every success story in it and slowly the doubts about my career went away. I was more confident than I ever was that I wanted to pursue design as a career. I packed up my bags and came to Guwahati from my hometown. My target was very clear- find a part time job (hopefully as a coaching teacher) and prepare for all the design exams for the next year (2017). For practical experience and building a believable portfolio, I also started networking and marketing myself a little bit- The plan was to acquire any design assignment I could get and complete it free of cost, and after a few such free projects, start charging a little bit.  No sooner, I ended up with a branding project  for a small startup in Guwahati. Time passed soon, I appeared CEED and NID and was very confident this time.

Unfortunately I could not make it through this time too. I consulted with Mr Prassanna in detail about this. One thing I was sure about was that I wanted to be a designer, the only question was whether preparing for the next year would be a good decision. I was disheartened, but on the other hand I already had an average if not good portfolio. Mr Prassana had a look at it and suggested that I should start looking for jobs as it is technically not necessary to have a degree to be a designer. He helped me out with a directory of design companies and startups back from his IIT days. I sent emails with my portfolio attached to all of them. I did a quick google search and also mailed to another 50 or so companies in the Northeast looking out for freelance and full time opportunities. In just a matter of weeks I ended up with enough projects to keep me busy 15 hours a day. With every new project my portfolio increased and my chance of getting into a big firm increased manifold. I even ended up developing a product for a Beijing based entrepreneur.  I eventually ended up with a job offer I liked and decided to move to Delhi. I took some days to complete all the freelance projects I had in hand and personally made visits to all my clients to let them know I was moving to the Capital. It was on one of these visits , I ended up discussing the possibility of starting a creative firm in Northeast with a client. The client (now my partner) was a veteran entrepreneur in the region and seemed very interested in a venture like that. I took a week to decide.

While money and family opposition was definitely and had always been an issue, but the opportunity of learning everything about design, entrepreneurship and the challenges surrounding starting a creative firm myself overshadowed everything else. With a little haste, we started off with a team of 4 people (all of whom are my partners now) on 9^th of August 2017, and now a year later, we have expanded to a team of 15. My career has never been more fulfilling. I lead a team of 15 people and we work closely to solve problems through design thinking. It is sometimes a struggle but I love the challenges and the competition. I still work more than 12 hours a day, although, ironically lack of time for myself  was the reason I left my civil engineering job.

So that’s it guys. That’s my story so far.

On a serious note though, I am still learning and I am not sure I can be of any guidance to all my fellow designers here. But one thing is for sure. It is very important to market yourself. I am sure your designs and ideas are great but as long as no one knows about it, it is worthless. And also, you do not need a design degree to be designer. Don’t be disheartened and or abandon your dreams because you could not get into your favorite college. All the books and resources are available in the internet, buy them or search for them and start learning. Contact businesses, mail them, let them know that you are looking to learn and contribute. Learning your skill is only 50% of the job, the rest still comes down to marketing.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Prasanna. His advice was the single most  important career help I have received so far. I can’t thank him enough.

Check out our website at  https://www.righthemisphere.in/

You can mail me at poragjyoti1991@gmail.com

I am also on instagram @lifeofgogoi