Adobe firefly AI, tech layoffs, and career strategy talk
Last week, Adobe released its ethical AI art, Firefly, by training its ML on licensed content from Adobe Stock. I was invited to their beta group and played with the format several times before the release. Besides text-to-image, new features such as text effects and recoloring vectors were introduced.
New logo, "We❤️NYC" was unveiled with controversy. Typical reaction: everybody hated it. Adobe Firefly's text effect feature brings next-level nightmare to Microsoft Word Art.
Amazon announced another round of mass layoffs and the return to office mandate on May 1. Starting in May, I must return to the office three times a week. I haven't worked full-time at an office for eight years, and imagining going to a noisy office environment is less than ideal. I'm semi-annoyed.
In the past week, I was asked 5 separate times, "how can I stand out, so I can keep and/or get a job?"
The Peter principle says, "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence." This satire indicates that a competent person will be promoted to a position that requires different skills. Promotion will keep happening until they reach incompetence. This outcome is inevitable, given time and positions in the hierarchy level.
Since we will all rise to incompetency, adopting a growth mindset is a good strategy. Take on challenges outside of your comfort zone. See failures as a necessary step towards growth, learning, and development of your abilities.
- Be willing to challenge your own assumptions and beliefs. What is sacred? Do you work to disprove your own ideology?
- Growth happens in inches. You can't speed it up no matter how hard you drive.
We can't teach ourselves how to "regulate" our psychological or physiological reactions to situations. We develop mental resiliency through life, returning to achieve success after each challenge. It is the process of life. All diamonds go through high pressures and stress to shine.
The designer's value is beyond the capability of using a tool. It's the ability to be concise, convincing, and organized with the right level of rationale.
I'm conducting a 45 min live workshop on developing a career strategy. The framework was shared in the previous post here. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP on ADPList. It will be on 4/8/2023 at 1pm EST. Please share if you believe others will benefit from this content.