Graduated in 2019 with a major in Music Business. Principal instrument: bass guitar.
Position: Product Designer at Thesis, a digital marketing firm which specializes in building webpages in which consumer interest is converted to sales. As a designer, Yordani lays out these pages and optimizes them to to maximize sales potential, with many small changes being the norm.
Overview: While at Berklee Yordani was initially interested in EPD, but the experience of getting stiffed financially after working on a hit song convinced him to study business. He worked with Berklee ICE and was also doing tech-based side projects while in college. After graduating, he moved home to the DC area. got a job which claimed to be “digital marketing” but in fact was just selling cables on commission. Searching online, Yordani quickly got a different job, at a company that built websites for car dealerships. The pay was low, but it was good experience–until the pandemic hit.
By this point, Yordani decided he wanted to go into product design. He did a 5-month “boot camp” at Thinkful to get a certificate in UX/UI Design. Aware that it’s hard to get hired straight out of the program, Yordani was sure to do lots of side projects, as well as to show the confidence that he could do the job. He applied very widely, getting many rejections and two interviews–one of which led to his current job.
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You can see Yordani’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “I enjoy working in e-commerce, and learning about how to improve the experience for people. A connection to music was it was good to make people smile or cry with your music. It’s cool to help determine how people interact with their next purchase or medical experience.”
“If you want to go into product design, first learn the fundamentals. Start with proximitydesignschool.com There’s a 9-day course “theory sprint”. Figure out how to judge a design and understand it’s more than just art, and it’s more than just tech. Don’t get too bogged down in all the buzzwords. Get the fundamentals down first and realize a design is a design–you are using specific tools and mental frameworks to accomplish business goals. Also definitely real out to someone who’s doing it, including me!”
“At some point in my education I realized that I’m not just a musician, I’m a creative person.”
“When you’re onstage at Berklee and playing and the keyboard player changes the chords you need to be able to respond quickly to that. That creative framework serves me well every day. I’ll get a ticket and it might be unclear how to approach it, but those improvisational instincts are there to catch me before I fall.”
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See the full index of successful Berklee alumni.