Don't commit to a rigid career plan. Instead, treat your career like a product. Run small-scale experiments or 'MVPs'—like a 20% project, a volunteer role, or a teaching gig—to test your interest and aptitude for new skills before making a full commitment, then iterate based on the results.

The most compelling way to demonstrate AI skills to an employer is to build something. Creating custom GPTs for personal productivity or simple apps proves practical problem-solving ability far more effectively than a list of certifications on a resume.

In the fast-evolving world of AI, the most valuable trait in a designer is a deep-seated curiosity and the self-direction to learn and build independently. A designer who has explored, built, and formed opinions on new AI products is more valuable than one with only a perfect aesthetic.

Vercel's hiring process for design leaders includes a take-home assignment, a practice typically for junior roles. This lets candidates demonstrate real-world problem-solving and buy-in strategies, which are difficult to assess from a portfolio of team-led projects, while also helping the candidate evaluate the company.

For PMs struggling to get AI experience at their current job, building a ChatGPT app serves as a powerful portfolio project. The end-to-end process—from prompting an idea to running evals—simulates the full AI product development lifecycle, demonstrating valuable, hands-on skills to potential employers.

Frame the creation of your portfolio as an opportunity to learn a new skill or tool, like Framer. Matt Sellers used his project to push Framer to its limits, creating complex components and custom code. This transforms a routine task into a powerful learning experience that provides a 'superpower' for future client work.

Shift the mental model of a portfolio from a simple gallery of projects to an immersive experience. Designer Matt Sellers focused on making his homepage itself a demonstration of his craft and attention to detail, encouraging exploration even if visitors never click into a specific case study. The medium becomes the message.

Employers now value practical skills over academic scores. In response, students are creating "parallel curriculums" through hackathons, certifications, and open-source contributions. A demonstrable portfolio of what they've built is now more critical than their GPA for getting hired.

To avoid becoming an "ivory tower" manager, engineering leaders should use side projects as a playground for new technologies. This practice ensures they understand the limitations of new tools like AI and can provide credible, concrete, hands-on guidance to their teams.