Self-Awareness

I realize that this might sound a bit pretentious, and that people with formal education and training in this area will likely take offense, but I am going to claim a title. Designer. The reason I claim this title is that hardly a day goes by when I don't design something, and it seems appropriate to start looking at it as a vocation, if not (yet) a profession. I really cannot help myself. I see a product and automatically critique it, redesign most things, and my first thought when I have a problem or realize I need something is to design and build a custom item to fit my needs. It is as uncontrollable as breathing, and has much the same effect on my vitality. Having made this realization (after having been quite dim for too long), I now set about learning all the things I need to know to turn this into some sort of career. To begin with, I will need to improve my ability to render my thoughts visually. I am a fair sketcher and plan maker, but I need to learn the formal language and method that such things are presented in. So for starters I will start to study mechanical drafting and CAD, as well as 3D modeling. I have very little money to invest in this education, so for the moment the library will have to serve. Perhaps in the near future I will have squirreled away enough to take a class or two at a community or technical college. It is my belief that the quality of a person's work and their work ethic and persistence have far more to do with success than any piece of paper they might have framed on a wall. I intend to prove this to be true.