Unicorn Horns

Every discipline in tech has its own version of what a “unicorn” is – generally, it describes someone who’s versed across a wider spectrum of skills than expected. As someone who’s been called a Ninja / Rockstar / Guru / Etc through the early 00’s, I know these titles are often dangled in front of young, skilled workers to butter them up for exploitation. I’m long past the days of being excited about seeing my name and title printed on a business card, and actively warn my students about applying to jobs seeking Wizards and other mythological beings.

However, I had to put my personal misgivings aside when my Fall 2018 class latched onto the unicorn as sort of spirit animal, a personal benchmark to measure themselves against. To them, a Unicorn was the kind of being that leave whatever career they’d had before this, and design for a living. Unless you routinely teach new designers, you’re liable to forget how magical what we do looks from the outside, and how magical it can actually be when you’re doing it right.

When I told the class that I encouraged them to dress up for Halloween, it wasn’t hard to guess what the theme would be. Well, I guess a little hard, since I dressed as Franken Berry. I managed to keep a couple of the horns, and keep them on my desk in case I forget that I do, in fact, dabble in the world of magic.