This year, we had the honor of being invited back to the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. This was our second year in a row and it was even better this time around! The SkillsUSA conference brings students from all over the country to compete in a many different competitions. Like last year, Tekkii served as judges for the web design competition. This allowed us to interact with the students, while seeing the passion they all shared for the industry. As a result, the future of web design is bright.

“Why should we hire you?”

“Walk us through the process…”

“How did you start in web design, and what makes you passionate about the industry?”

Our bonus question was, “What were our names?”  While some remembered and answered quickly, this stumped many students. Luckily, we didn’t grade that question. While we let students know about the last question, that didn’t stop the great reactions we got from them!

In general, the majority of the answers given this year were great. Many teams were clear, concise, and sold themselves well. Most noteworthy were students that included their beliefs in their answer. What do we mean by this?

While we received many good answers, we received bad answers as well. For instance, to our first question, “Why should we hire you?” Many students replied, “ We work really well as a team. ” A few teams had even told us they had done websites before. Well, of course you do, this is something we expect! This and many answers like it were given to the questions we asked. Consequently, we had to take many points off for answers not being very convincing. As the client, we expect experience, teamwork, and most of all professionalism from a web design company. The beliefs are what set the company apart.

What do you feel a website should be? What inspired you to take this approach? Why do you do this for a living? These are questions that showcase a belief. They present the “ why ” of the angle, which is, in our opinion, the most important aspect to convey. Students this year understood that, and it was incredibly inspiring to hear! There is no doubt that every student at SkillsUSA can make a splash in the industry. This year, however, there were many teams that we know will shine bright. So young, and they already get it. Incredible.

Apart from web design, there were many other awesome competitions to see at SkillsUSA. Check out some photos we took! You can find a full list of them here: SkillsUSA 2017 Competitions

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