Mun Jen Ng

If any Chinese person could get a job in art and design, it would be Evan.

But we graduated in 2000, right after the dot-com crash, and nobody was getting a job.

For seven months, all my friends sent out resumes and samples of their portfolios, and they didn't hear anything back.

I sat in my bedroom and I drew the shades down.

I remember thinking, oh man, I made a huge mistake.

Maybe my parents were right.

Maybe you can't have a career in art and design.

Sometimes we attach our self-worth to our career.

And if we don't ever have a career, then we think we're worthless.

That's a bad thought to have when you're just 22.

I had thought any age.

One day, sitting in my bedroom, I get a phone call.

A design company I had sent my work to says, hey, man, we like your stuff.

We don't have the budget for a full-time designer now.

How about an internship?

And I thought, an internship?

I'm a graduate.

But honestly,

After sitting in the dark for so long, I'd be happy just to get out of the house.

I managed to ask them a question that my parents would be so proud of.