How I Became a Designer Even Though I Had Studied Economics

I was a very successful student from the beginning of primary school until I started high school. All my grades were high; everyone pointed at me.

In short, I was a nerd with huge glasses.

Raising nerds was not easy; my family did their best to achieve it.

Even though I was pretty young before I started high school, the government forced me to compete with others to pick where I would continue my education. Tens of thousands of my peers were now my enemies. How do they expect me to decide when I can’t even choose the clothes I wear myself.

They began pumping information both at school and at a private teaching institution where I took additional lessons during the last two years. This is the human brain, of course. At some point, I burst like a balloon and got bad grades on practice exams. Even the teachers in the classroom were looking at me as if to say, “You are a lost cause.” Maybe they were not entirely wrong.

My father hadn’t used his final trump card yet

One evening, while the whole family was having dinner, he detonated the bomb. He mentioned that if I were successful, he would buy me a computer and even have an internet connection. My body was about to skyrocket, like Bitcoin to the moon; I could feel it. As the state purposelessly pressured us to pass the exam. The pressure was suddenly as light as a feather.

When the exam day arrived, the students’ hands were sweating with anxiety, and they had no idea what to do because of the stress. I was still acting in my usual relaxed attitude. My only fear was not getting that computer. Otherwise, how could I play the recently released games?

The exam was completed, a few days passed, the minister of national education with a big mustache announced that the results of the exam were announced. Excitement was at its peak; would that computer be mine? Me, who had had disastrous results in the practice exams, was gone, and a nerd that had skyrocketed to the moon had arrived. I had won one of the best schools in my city. Who cares about school? I’ve already started researching which computer I want.

Having my computer and internet felt like pirates who managed to get into the treasure chest.

I immediately started learning design and coding.

Just kidding, of course, I was wasting my time playing games day and night and chatting with girls online.

Nerd is back

Gradually my nerdy side started to take over, and I began researching how they made web pages. Back then, there weren’t as many resources as there are now. I was new to Microsoft Frontpage. I saved the web pages on my computer and started to examine the source codes.

When I drew buttons with Fireworks and changed the downloaded pages, I started to feel like a senior web designer of 40 years. I created web pages on Yahoo Geocities with teenage names that I thought were cool, like “RockerBoy14”, “CoolWebTr86”.

In summary, the steps that allowed me to improve:

• Download web pages and review source codes
• Preparing images such as buttons, banners
• To follow all the tutorials, I can find
• Applying what I learned by doing dozens of different examples
• Working for the better by getting feedback

After that, I found myself in a growth that grew like a snowball. I prepared a digital version of the annual yearbook in high school instead of print and created a great memory. My reputation began to walk.

Oh, by the way, all this hardworking studentship was until I got the computer. I’ve been a lazy student all my high school life.

Somehow I took the university entrance exam and got the score to enter the economics department in my city. Unwillingly, I started to study this department. While I was studying, I suddenly found myself in the web design business.

When I finished university six years later, I found myself as someone who had nothing to do with economics but developed in web and design. Even though I didn’t realize it, it had become my profession now.

Afterward, I managed to survive to this day by working in different agencies and corporate companies. I can’t say that studying economics didn’t add anything to me. I had a great college life and made great friends. I learned a lot of basic information about economics that I didn’t know I would need later.

Despite studying economics, my father’s plan B of getting me into a reputable school, which began as a backup plan, enabled me to become a designer.

Thanks, DAD :)

It is essential that we find our source of motivation, even if there are things that we need to do unintentionally. Otherwise, how could this life continue?