I’m a designer at a mid-sized tech company. I’ve been working here for a while now, and I want to start updating my portfolio and creating some case studies for the projects I’ve worked on. I’ve thought about this a lot of different ways, and I can’t think of a way to safely make a copy of my design files without alerting the security team. Some things I’ve considered so far: • Logging into my work Figma account on my personal computer and downloading the files (requires SSO authentication / would probably get flagged because my personal computer isn’t an approved company device) • Logging into my personal Figma account on my work computer and copying over the files (assume I could get flagged for file upload behavior, and / or for logging into a personal account on my work computer) • Sticking a USB drive into my work computer and manually copying the files over (seems like a rookie mistake / all around dumb move) • Airdropping the files from my work computer to my personal computer (Airdrop is disabled on my work computer) • Slacking screenshots / images to myself (Slack messages are monitored / backed up by the company, and Slack degrades file quality) How do other designers generally handle this situation? I’m not looking to leave my job right now, but I do want to keep my portfolio up to date so I’m prepared whenever I want to interview for other roles. A few other details that may be helpful to mention: • A lot of the projects I’ve worked on are part of a paid app that isn’t accessible to the general public, so I can’t just take screenshots of the live site on my personal computer • My portfolio isn’t a public website, so I’m not worried about anyone at the company seeing my published work or seeing my case studies appear in search results • The company I work for is small enough for me to feel worried about any “suspicious activity” being manually reviewed / investigated by the security team Would really appreciate any ideas or input that you guys can share! #design #ux #ui #productdesign
Not in design but I email to a personal email knowing fully (and being ok) that it will be looked at. I don’t send work files though
If you email it from your personal email to personal email then the security staff won’t be able to identify it 🤷♀️
@splunk oh they sure can know what data is being sent out of the system, whatever method you choose. I accidentally put a drawing on my google drive when I was cleaning up all the personal files on my work desktop on my last day. I got an email a month later asking me to show proof that it has been deleted and never downloaded again from drive and my signature was needed to show that it won’t ever be leaked. If it leaked, I were to face legal consequences. My manager trusted me that this was an accident so it didn’t become a major issue.
Print to hardcopy now, print to PDF and add it to your email drafts. When you are giving notice consider pushing send.
I have stuck a USB drive on my computer at almost all mid to large sized companies I have worked with to get my files. Unless it’s something ultra confidential you are working on - I don’t think you’d come under the radar for copying design files for products that you have shipped.
Disconnect from network, put an USB, copy all the files to USB, store USB outside your house, burn your house with computer inside and make sure computer is completely damaged.
Brilliant 😂 Any other tips to make sure FBI doesn’t follow you after?
Yes, immediately move to Brazil
Create a dummy LinkedIn account. Zip your files and send the files as message attachments to your personal LinkedIn from this dummy account. You’re welcome
Zipping files leaves a trace. Don’t Zip and this is gold.
I don’t get it, why LinkedIn?
For online case studies you probably should limit assets (wireframes, animations, videos) at max 20 MB per project, that’s being generous. So I am not sure why you are worried about massive upload/download. Maybe I am missing something here?
I guess a way out would zipping selected assets for a project, locking them with a password, and uploading as an attachment to your personal gmail/email logged in from your work computer (assuming this is allowed, and you are not copying sensitive ip).
Hmm there are several options: A wait till the product is released. At which you can access the public resource and take images from there and ask your manager for your designs (most people should be cool about that) just don't use real customer data. B you can make make something operate and designed the same but for as example designs for a undisclosed industry and company. Or you could use what you've learned to make your own designs for something else. I'm sure there are more options.
This 👆🏼
Unfortunately a lot of the projects that I work on are never available as a public resource, even after they’re released– they exist behind a paywall / as part of a subscription service that I don’t have access to in my personal life. They’re not particularly sensitive or top secret, but the only way I can view the live version of this product is on my work computer. I guess very worst case I could always photograph my computer screen and recreate the designs in my personal Figma account? But that seems like a pain and I’d rather find a way to copy the files that have already been created
Just tell someone that you’re trying to update your portfolio in your free time? Wtf is this oceans 11 shit
Lol sometimes if what you designed hasn't been launched to the market yet the company may have you sign an NDA that your not supposed to share it with anyone outside the company (linkedin profile) unless you get permission. But yea if they say its cool to share then that's what we agree, share it.
Yeah that makes sense. Seems kind of pointless to try and put things in your portfolio that never went to market anyway lol
I personally think you're over thinking this. Just send images of your work to yourself via email or use Dropbox/cloud storage to share a few files. As long as the projects are password protected on your website, you should be fine. Companies make us sign NDAs so that no one steals ideas but as an interviewer, I have zero need to copy the work you did because it probably doesn't apply to my work anyway. (Now maybe you're working on a super secret project, in that case ask your manager how can you can showcase this work in your portfolio one day. (But from what described, it's just work behind a paywall - should be fine.))
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Not sure if it’s legal or ethical. Also if u show confidential work to prospective employer, they won’t think very highly of you. What if devs started copying their code over to personal computer to show to prospective employer?
Designers are expected to create case studies / portfolios of their work in order to get hired at any new job. It’s an industry standard, unfortunately
I know. It’s like employers want to put u in the grey area. Doomed if I do, doomed if I don’t. Sorry OP.