Helen Tran @tranhelen Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Helen Tran

@tranhelen

31,461

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1,085

Following

329

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12,063

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Product Design Lead @AngelList . Meathead. Here to laugh, build, think.

YYZ / SFO

https://t.co/jNbNWaxL7t

Joined April 2011

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

17 days

The year is ramping up real quick here: we have another open role on the design team @AngelList . RT's pls! I'm looking for a Senior Product Designer who loves working with complex financial reporting tools and products. Hybrid SF or NYC!

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AngelList - Senior Product Designer, Financial Reporting

About the Role: We are looking for a Senior Designer who is interested in leading the design for large surface areas of the platform revolving around financial reporting. While some of your work is...

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

is anyone here just fucking tired

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

10 months

@daveholtz @Airbnb I once slept on a baby cot in a hallway in NYC

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

Nerds will literally do anything instead of go outside

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

I've spent the last seven years kind of building dashboards. I fundamentally believe they should not exist, in most cases, for more users, and I beg you all to stop building them.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

all designers must learn fundamental visual design space, typography, colour theory, basic art direction, rhythm and balance, grids (not dev grids, design grids), etc. this is a hill i'm willing to die on

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

The world has no idea what to do with people who have multiple talents.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 months

Any of you older tech millennials notice apps got... worse somehow? Like the basic usability stuff: account logins not working, patterns that are incredibly unusual...?

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

Has anyone noticed not a lot of ppl want to do things… well… anymore?

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

8 months

people be like “your portfolio isn’t blowing me away,” my brother in christ your company is b2b sass we all have the same tables

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

7 months

I hate Meta but, credit where it's due: this product finally understands it's fashion and not tech.

@verge

The Verge

8 months

Meta’s smart glasses can take calls, play music, and livestream from your face

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

5 years

'Someday,' is a no. 'Maybe,' is a no. 'Not sure,' is a no. 'Not now,' is a no. If it's not a YES, it is a no. There. Just saved you years of trouble. Apply it to work, relationships, and everything.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

petition to remove pinterest results from google images

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

Designers, I splurged on Herman Miller this week. Mostly I've been holding off because I didn't want to be "that person" that owned an Eames chair but! *the ultimate desk* was finally created. I introduce to y'all: the leatherwarp sit-to-stand desk:

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

5 years

WHO IS THE PERSON CLICKING YES TO IN BROWSER NOTIFICATIONS IS IT NOBODY CAUSE I THINK IT IS NOBODY

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

i’ve reached that point in my career where i’ve pretty sure i’m unhireable

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

5 years

i don't want to be recommended young people things anymore the idea of a city with tons of live music and bars and imported coffee makes me want to die i want to make dinner for my friends, watch a movie with a smart man i like, listen to jazz and go to bed at a reasonable hour

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

not me making a fake app to get an interview after 14 yrs doing this shit lol

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

Developing taste is such an overlooked area for product and UI designers. Colour theory (esp. the weird horoscopey “blue is trust” bs) isn’t as important as understanding what simply looks good.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

Designers: do your research. Many of you out there creating UIs for things you know absolutely nothing about; meal planning, financial planning, accounting, etc. etc. and saying you do “product design.” There are a trove of ppl already doing those professions to learn from.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

I've answered this ? a lot f/ ppl who have watched me run through portfolios: How can you tell a new UI designer from a seasoned one within seconds? You look at their spacing. Their ability to space things speaks directly to their practice. Once you see it, you can't un-see it.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 months

It’s time to be Twitter official with @AngelList . 💍 I accepted a role as the Product Design Lead back in Nov. Joining a team of designers for the first time in 6(!) years was very exciting and they, along with the wider team, have been welcoming so far. P.S. I will be hiring.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

the downside of dating anyone in tech who works remotely is you find out who their “meeting persona” is

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

6 years

building good stable software always takes longer than you'd expect or hope

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

designers don't really need to spend that much time on UX personas presumably the business already has customer segments you can use; maybe break that down further if you like. define the goal & skip the bullshit about them being a single mom of 2

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

it's going to be hard in this market for designers who can't do the visual parts of their job to compete against designers who can do it + the other things, too.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

Fuck it, @NotionHQ for everything. Notion for websites. Notion for blogs. Notion for emails which aren't emails. Notion for links.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

I’m convinced just finishing what you started and doing what you say you will, will put you ahead of 99.9999% of people.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

This is transparently why interviewing in tech is so bad. If you’re screening for someone values, which you should be, you can do so without asking “gotcha” questions with arbitrary pre-determined judgements.

@mbertulli

Matthew Bertulli

1 year

I’ve interviewed 1000s of people over my career. Only 1% of candidates truly know how to stand out. Learn to answer these 13 questions and I guarantee you’ll ace your next job interview:

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

I’ve finally placed the feeling I had about the interviewing that threw me off and I think I can describe it now. Some people interview you in the position of the judge. Some people interview you in the position of a coach or teammate.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

People on Linkedin write about the roles they're moving on from like they were in the military. "It has been an honour to serve alongside you." Man, what do you MEAN, you make software ffs.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

In his book "Range," David Epstein mentioned that older start-up founders are more successful so I looked up the data:

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

"Nobody knows what they're doing." Nope. Not accepting this. This is a widely accepted insecure statement repeated to absolve themselves or others of doing better or learning. There are 100% ppl. who know what they're doing and they're very good at their jobs. Learn from them.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

5 years

that alarm some designers must feel when they realize they're just a regular person with a job

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

There is no “design-led,” or “engineering-led,” or “product-led.” In the end, there is just bad or good teamwork.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

Hi Helen, My name is person you’ve never met. I’d like to invite you to donate your time for no clear benefit I’ve identified, so that I, and someone else you’ve never met, can benefit. Something about being female and passion. I demand you respond to me in bold, Person

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

some ppl really do interview like everything is a “gotcha” exercise like you caught me… doing what, exactly? you’re the one/company who needs help

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

I have so much respect for people who start “second careers.” The amount of work and commitment to growth is so admirable.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 months

pls stop designing these thanks

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

This insight is brought to you by my portfolio along with: - In product, being early is the same as being wrong (stole that one) - What people want is not necessarily what they need - Calendars are complicated as hell and all developers underestimate their complexities

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

I love when designers talk about “jamming” in Figma like they’re musicians and not corporate workers whose whole job is to make it as universally uncreative as possible to complete tasks.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

I don’t think we’re honest enough with design students when they graduate whatever program (formal or not) about the gap between their abilities and the abilities required for a job.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

11 months

Me when I started my career: ship it. Me in the middle: let’s not ship total garbage, maybe we should think about it some more. Me now, after being a founder: ship it yesterday.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

Ideas are not rare. Executers are.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

I am open to a job. If you're looking for someone who self-manages, directly communicates, and knows how to _build_ a product from 0 > PMF and what it's like to scale with a company from 0 > 4000 and has managed and built a design team before (30+), DM. IC roles only rn.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

Where does a Designer's role end and a PM's role start?

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

how are you 21 and a life coach your brain isn't even done developing

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

Please stop building AI tools to summarize books. People need to read slower and process better so they can make higher-level connections, not try to turn everything into bite-sized quoted for random usage whenever they see fit.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

What is with the “don’t criticize web3” perspective? Any good idea or concept can withstand criticism.

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Helen Tran

1 year

it’s crazy to me how designers can be so talented and have all the skills to make things but they just… don’t be founders

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

Dear startup founders who don’t have a strong visual designer on your team: Whatever size your logo is, make it 50% smaller. Literally no one cares. #designtips

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 months

The refusal the design profession has to defining what they actually do is not helping. You do not exist “to solve problems.” That is the definition of every job ever invented in good faith. Be specific.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

8 months

Not wanting to climb corporate ranks for no reason isn't a lack of ambition. My ambitions are larger than contributing to a make-belief status game or the game of hyper-capitalism. The ultimate bore is what people call "ambition" these days, and I think they lack imagination.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

8 months

Design thinking is a way to trick yourself, and others, into doing more reps than you otherwise would have, to produce creative outcomes, which look like magic on the outside, but are simply the result of work over time.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

I am a student at the University of Toronto now. ☺️ It took me a while to get here, but going back to school (even part-time) at 32 is still something I never dreamed I’d have the chance to do. ❤️ Career #2 exploration underway.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

“It's not your kids holding your career back. It's your husband.” Fiery article to read on a Sunday morning.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

✅ accepted offer

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

yah I just don’t think I should need a portfolio after ten years if you are serious and can talk to me about my work

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

surely this notebook, unlike all the other notebooks, will change my life

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

15 days

You can criticize all you want about dribbble shots but at least they were practicing their visual design skills. We need more dribbbling. 🫠🥴

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

if you create a functional app and it does really well, please hire a UI designer to make it look good too what does it hurt, to give a shit a little more, and make the world a little more beautiful

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

I learned that designing a calendar within mobile constraints is an intensive exercise in patience.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

half of user testing is just waiting for ppl to cancel on you

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

A bunch of y'all are still asking so a list of q's: 1. What do we need dashboards for? Actionable insights. 2. Where do those come from? It's a trick, "someone knowledgable enough to turn data/visualizations into actionable insights." 3. Is user this? Answer usually no.

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Helen Tran

9 months

ppl who are like, 'show your work' being a designer can sometimes be strategic or lots of work can be replaced over time which you don't want to take credit for. there's quite a few reasons why a designer doesn't have a 'typical' portfolio and i'm so tired of this narrative.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

one thing I never had the guts to ask in my early career is, “tell me who my direct manager is and explain to me the decision tree in detail.” yep, asking now.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

it’s such a joke that ppl get so aggressive when i say i want to go to school, “why? you already have a job.” when the hell did wanting to learn (formal or not) become something you had to justify

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Helen Tran

2 years

I'll never be able to condense seven years of "fucking dashboards" into anything palate-able but if you're considering them, you better be building for NASA or data scientists bc no one else needs them, in *this* age in *most* contexts. ALL UI is a "dashboard."

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Helen Tran

2 years

Why does it seem like people are rushing to teach others before they even pay their dues?

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

i felt like a douche for buying a tesla, but after a couple of weeks with it, and i'm fine with being a huge douche. i love that car/not-car/road rocket/moving ipad.

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Helen Tran

2 years

A dashboard is usually running interference or used as a placeholder. Interference: "I need to study what data you have for me and think about this" Placeholder: "As a Designer, I don't know what they need so give them everything and hope they can do something with it."

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

do not buy philips hue coloured lights it is a slippery slope and you’ll never be the same person again

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

11 months

Designers fell into some selection bias when they cheered about PMs going away: maybe you’ve never worked with a good PM, doesn’t mean they’re all bad. Imagine a PM saying that about you back. 💀

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 months

The traits that all corporate managers claim to want in an employee (initiative, vision, high ownership) often overlap with founder traits and their interviewing processes almost exclusively select people with those traits out.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

Now that demand for designers is super high, we don’t have to argue about UI/UX/anything anymore. The peace!

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

5 years

Do not confuse your circumstances with your capabilities.

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Helen Tran

4 years

i need you to be kind not nice

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

I don’t know what to tell the tech companies interviewing me rn but this offer is amongst your competitors. That’s like… $24,000 to have no meetings.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

Uncommon interview advice: Work on your social skills friends. This is not an introvert/extrovert thing. This is a skill. Hello, how are you, etc. etc.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

I'm wondering if there will be a time when tech will support part-time employees. Not consultants, just part-time. I suppose the (actual) 4-day work week is close to this but I'm thinking more like 24h/week.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

8 months

New pic! This is decidedly not "up to the times" with everyone's cartoon avvies but ... people won't know what I look like when I meet them in meatspace and that's weird.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

living alone and single in a pandemic must have a lot of crossover with solitary confinement winter is going to be ... rough this year. I’m going to be darker than any finnish person you've ever met

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 months

Like this week: - Netflix blocks us merging accounts into a household, no explanation why - Lyft doesn't allow viewing receipts on the web anymore so I have to find it in my email It's like all these fundamental, "hey, I'm trying to use your app" things are just... broken.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

The only people who will remember you worked all the time are your spouse and your kids.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

ppl wondering where Design Twitter has gone and I think the q is, “who design twitter?” and the answer is Nigeria

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

how did we fuck up tv again but on the internet i'm just trying to get a laugh here

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

5 years

One is rarely criticized by another who is doing more.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

30 days

A large portion of software is going to be service design and I'm convinced founders are missing out on the historical lesson that service is a differentiator if you're building commoditized tools.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

Do you have a #WomenInTech story of a good ally? This one time I had a colleague tell someone, “that’s literally what she just said.” It made the whole room freeze but I still remember that as a moment of blissful justice. I still live on the fumes of that one.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

1 year

How old can someone be an IC designer for? Let’s find out.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

10 months

Having a shiny portfolio and being good at your job are two separate things. They’re not even correlated. “Being good at your job” is also as subjective as how shiny your portfolio is. Don’t give up trying to find people for you. Forget the elitist circle. You got bills to pay.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

Arnold said something once in his memoir about there being no competition at the top, and it still really resonates with me. Before you say, “all the people underneath you...” just pause for a second.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

What a way to stifle curiousity; to tell each other we can only pick one thing to care about. What a lack of nurturing, love, and care. Astounding loss of potential.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

2 years

How are designers future-proofing their careers? I’m thinking of going back to my development skillset and becoming a stronger dev through data science and AI/ML.

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Helen Tran

4 years

If you literally *just started,* you don’t have imposter syndrome. That’s you, learning, feeling anxious because applying yourself can be difficult in new territory. The way out is doing > builds self-efficacy > leads to confidence > repeat.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

Let’s just agree to not ask each other anymore how we are The answer is ‘idk’ for the foreseeable future so let’s just conserve some energy

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Helen Tran

3 years

We literally have no idea. From the way our governments provide visas, to the way our school systems work, to how social media is designed… it’s like no one believes we all have more potential than being good at one task.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

At this point, I'm convinced Google Sheets is a perfect product.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

4 years

i'm biased but i really just need all businesses to use shopify's checkout and stop fucking around

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

F*ck every company blocking trades rn.

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@tranhelen

Helen Tran

3 years

unconventional career advice: memorize this shit and practice using the words every day

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