Living His Best Life: David Nuff's Inspiring Freelance Success Story

 Living His Best Life: David Nuff's Inspiring Freelance Success Story

If we could design our best life, what would it entail? What would our freelance success story look like? Hear firsthand and get advice from someone who has designed their career and thrived.

David Nuff is part of the Toptal network, where he works as a freelance design consultant. The ability to work remotely has fueled his life plan for more than a decade as he works between digital products, branding, and art. David has worked for some of the world’s largest brands, including Cisco, Nestlé, and Google.

David is also a speaker on the Toptal Speakers Network and an artist with exhibits across Canada. In his professional life, he has found that the more flexibility there is, the more it feeds into the quality of his work.

In an episode of The Talent Economy Podcast, he discusses how remote work has empowered him and why more organizations should embrace the depth of experience that makes up the global talent pool.

The interview was conducted by Paul Estes, editor-in-chief at Staffing.com and host of The Talent Economy Podcast.

Hello David. You have quite an unusual background! You were going to be a computer scientist. Could you tell us how your perspective has evolved as you moved around the world, and what your journey toward becoming a designer was?

My father worked for a multinational, so we picked up and moved somewhere else every two to three years. I grew up with an innate understanding that the world is a vast place, where many doors can be opened, and for this, I’m very grateful. But the reality is that at times, there are also a lot of gatekeepers trying to keep the doors closed. Luckily, I wasn’t aware of this as I was growing up and had no concept of picking a lane.

Our family had a blend of arts and science; the idea that the two go together–were complementary to each other. I grew up with an interest in drawing, but also computers. Because of that, I was always looking for ways to combine art and technology—a way of bringing my love of drawing and computers together.

I considered architecture, but computer science made more sense to me and seemed more accessible. As the first generation growing up as an “internet native,” many people in my generation took to computers more naturally than perhaps generations that had come before. We were the first kind of the bilingual/analog/digital generation, and that know-how was something I felt would give me a bit more of a headstart in professional life.

Early in your career as a junior designer, you worked on a wireless tech for Montreal’s public bike system. TIME Magazine recognized it as one of the “Best Inventions of 2008.” What was it like to get that sort of validation on a project that you worked on so early in your career?

I think employers took a chance on me because they assumed that with a computer science background, I could probably communicate well with developers and engineers, and still bring a level of creativity and visual thinking to the project.

The project—and recognition—gave me a leg to stand on. At that point, I had no resume, no portfolio beyond this job. While having our work appear in TIME Magazine was obviously incredible, what really mattered was getting to work on something visible. The bikes were all over the city. People were using them, interacting with an interface I had designed. Anybody looking to hire me had proof of my work a few steps away.

Employers often say, “We want diverse experiences,” but when it comes down to it, very few leaders are willing to take that bet on somebody. As you’ve moved to on-demand work, how have you seen clients interact with you, given your background?

Especially at larger companies or companies with a more established product, it’s much easier to say, “We’re looking for specialists. We’re looking for people to slot into this machine and do a very specialized job. And we’ve got a secret sauce. We’ve got a way of doing things that is very specific to us.” That approach often causes them to miss out on opportunities to find new ways of working, do optimizations, or make improvements. At a more junior level, I found that it was tough to get opportunities with my experience and background, compared to someone who was a “specialist.”

Let’s say you’re a car company looking for a designer. You’re going to hire someone who’s worked for other car companies even though a good designer from any background would be able to learn about that industry. There might be some specialized knowledge, but that’s something they can ramp up.