I’m not on Twitter. I’m not on Facebook. I‘m not 100% sure what Snapchat is. I was gifted an Apple Watch once, I wore it for a week and returned it. I almost never use my computer at home. If I learn how to do something in one application, I rarely explore new ones. I use two hotkeys. I’m not even aware of half the cool things OSX can do, though I use it daily.

I’m not making a conscious effort to avoid these things, it’s simply not where my interests lie. I’m not a tech explorer, an early adopter; ‘next big things’ don’t have much appeal to me. My tech interests evolve when I develop a need, until then, I’m generally good where I’m at.

This essentially makes me a caveman in this industry.

When these topics come up and I casually say I either don’t know what the’re talking about or I’m not on that platform, I get that commonly mentioned ‘dog who hears a high pitch sound’ look. Then people usually ask in some way shape or form “so, what do you do?”

I work with my hands. I buy, re-design and rebuild vintage motorcycles. I do home construction projects. Kitchens, bathrooms, electrical, plumbing, everything. All torn down, re-designed and rebuilt.

I use design to create better user experiences visually and functionally. It’s problem solving, the same thing I do with the web. And there’s no need to be a techie to do so.

There can be benefits for sure. Taking free time in the past to learn HTML/CSS and learning more about back end languages benefitted me as a designer for a number of reasons. But you don’t need to fall into the Silicon Valley mold to be successful.

If that mold fits you, kudos. I’m not taking shots. But if you don’t, don’t allow that to keep you away.

Your a problem solver, and everywhere has problems.