S5E3 An Interview with Tessa Rodes, Senior Design Manager at IBM

Tessa Rodes joined the very first cohort of IBM Design Bootcamp in 2013, and since then has seen the design organization and company grow and evolve into a truly design-led system. She has reviewed 100s of portfolio applications in the 8.5 years of IBM Design, and has strong opinions about both what makes a great portfolio and what NOT to bother with. She launched the initial version of the product IBM Cloud and has worked to ensure quality, consistency and differentiating features ever since.

In this episode, we talked about:

• How did Tessa get into design
• IBM design Bootcamp
• Tessa’s role at IBM Cloud
• Tips on what makes a good portfolio?
• Importance of cover letter in the application process
• IBM’s interview and hiring process
• How pandemic affects IBM operation and current workplace environment
• And much MORE!

Links:

https://www.ibm.com/design/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessarodes/