After graduating in April, industrial designer Janae Pettit landed a job at Vivint Smart Home's Innovation Center. Her time at BYU gave her real-world experience and taught her communication skills that have been critical to her career.
At Vivint, Pettit works as an associate industrial designer. In this position, she supports the work of senior industrial designers by planning, conducting research, designing product parts, and coming up with new ideas. Besides aiding in the senior industrial designers' projects, Pettit also comes up with her own projects that allow her to use her creativity. This gives her a lot of independence, but she is also trusted to complete all of her projects on her own from start to finish.
One of the things Pettit loves most about her new job is the team she works on. There are only four people on her team, and they all have a different skill set that supports the team.
"We all have different strengths, so we keep an atmosphere to openly encourage each other in those different ways," Pettit said. "It's refreshing and satisfying to feel valued and useful in the workplace."
A lot of skills and experiences she had at BYU have allowed Pettit to progress in her career. She loved that BYU allowed her to be flexible in her curriculum, and let her hone in on areas of industrial design that she was most interested in. The projects she worked on during her junior year gave Pettit more experience, and taught her to become more independent, a trait that is beneficial in her current job. Pettit also explained that she didn't enjoy her general education courses too much while she was taking them, but has recently seen how many crucial skills they've taught her. They taught her how to communicate better through emails, presentations, and meetings. These are all skills that Pettit has used since she started to work for Vivint.
"It has been reassuring to realize over and over that I am both qualified for the work as well as a good fit within the team there," Pettit said.
Pettit gave some final advice to current students or recent graduates who are looking for jobs.
"Being valued in the workplace goes beyond simply getting paid," she said. "You'll grow and be most satisfied if you work in a place that appreciates the way you think. Don't settle for less."