Since graduating from CSU Chico, what have you done in design (not jobs but projects)?
Everyone who knows me is fully aware that I am not afraid to move around in my career. In doing that I have worked on all kinds of projects. I started out working with furniture, customizing hard goods like entertainment centers and buffets for customers and selling ridiculously overpriced sofas. That wasn’t for me so I moved on to a residential firm that specialized in very high-end renovations and new construction. Kitchens and bathrooms that the cabinetry alone totaled over $100K. I’ve worked with a model home merchandising firm designing all of their millwork and built-ins and some of my current projects include a full home renovation, interior and exterior, and designing a new taproom/bottle shop that will be opening in October. No project is ever the same.
What type of firm are you with now?
Currently I am working as the principal designer and development manager at a design build firm. I started out doing freelance for what was then just a construction
team and the company has taken off rapidly in only a year. I work directly with the clients and the general contractor to develop each job from design through completion.
What is a typical “day” for you?
What I love about my job is that there is no typical day. In one day I could be driving to meet a client to discuss which walls we will be tearing down to open the space, then get called to another site to solve a dilemma with the lighting plan. On the way back make a stop at a slab/tile showroom to select countertops with another client and finally head back to the office to put the finishing touches on floor plans and calculations for a permit that needs to be submitted the next day. Each and every day going to the office I have a list of what needs to get done, and might cross off one item by the time I leave for the day. That’s what keeps me coming back, there’s no way I could ever get bored.
What computer/technical applications do you use every day including any “office” type products?
Every single day I use the same programs; AutoCAD, Illustrator, Photoshop, Excel and Word. Every other day I use Sketchup, and Quickbooks. The more programs you are familiar with the further you will go. I wish I had more time to learn even more!
What advice might you have or goals did you set as you graduated and:
Looked for jobs:
I knew that I just had to get my foot in the door. I wanted to move to the Bay Area, which is full of competition. The saying is absolutely true:
“It’s easier to find a job when you have a job.”
Negotiated offers:
Always have a number going in. Aim high and know your worth.
Settled in to a routine:
I don’t like this question :)
Any advice for knowing when it might be time to look for another job?
You’re never going to have the perfect job or the perfect boss. There WILL always be a time, no matter how much you love your job that you HATE going to work. Don’t let that be the trigger for finding a new job. In my experience I knew it was the right time when I realized there was no more potential for me at that company, I had gone as far as I could and I knew that I was going to be doing the same thing day in and day out for years. Starting out in the field you have so much to learn, things that no teacher or textbook could ever teach you. Each job is a learning experience, when you’ve learned all you can from that position, its time for the next.
What are the top three things you would have wanted to know about this profession before you graduated?
Employers will always look for experience over education, in design especially. It was a hard thing to accept at first and it does not mean that education is not important, but I expected to hit the ground running as soon as I had my diploma and all that qualified me for was an administrative assistant position for a design firm.
This goes right along with my previous answer. Throw your expectations out the window; expectations about pay, and about what you’re qualified for. I expected to know all sorts of things right out of school and it was a rude awakening as to how much I really did not know. Field experience is invaluable.
I would have like to been told just how hard you’re going to have to work to get to where you want to be. Maybe I was told, but I certainly didn’t listen if I was.
Kelli (Dahlgren) Lopez
Chico High Class of 2008
California State Univeristy Chico
Major: BFA Interior Design
Class of: 2012
Current Occupation: Principal Designer and Development Manager
