Josh Puckett: Design Has Never Been More in Demand. So Why Can't Juniors Get Hired?

Josh Puckett went goblin mode for four weeks to ship Interface Craft — a course where you pick a library card, sign your name on it, and insert it into a web interface that unlocks everything behind it.

He's been designing for close to 20 years. Dropbox. Wealthfront. He's mentored and placed hundreds of designers through Upper Study. He invests into early-stage tools companies through Combine VC.

We talk phantom competency, uncommon care, why a chef who cooks one new dish a week should probably find a different career, and whether "AI native" is a real skill or just the new "mobile designer."

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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - "You have to demonstrate high slope"
00:14 - Who is Josh Puckett
01:53 - Coming out of the Interface Craft launch
04:03 - Goblin mode & going dark to build
04:45 - The Wealthfront chapter: 4-person design team
05:49 - Has design actually changed?
08:22 - Phantom competency & AI as apprenticeship
09:34 - LLMs as tutors: where they help, where they miss
11:20 - What are you telling designers right now?
12:32 - Uncommon effort vs. uncommon taste
16:19 - Discovery has changed: social as a portfolio
19:18 - "AI native" is just the new "mobile designer"
21:50 - High slope: what it looks like
24:10 - The playground pattern
25:47 - What to do with the anxiety
29:31 - Uncommon care: just give a shit
31:44 - Shot selection: where to invest your time
35:31 - What multi-perspective gives you
37:30 - Product design is not art
38:42 - Why designers are the least happy with AI
39:52 - One post away from changing your life

ABOUT STATE OF PLAY
Host Tommy Geoco discovers what fuels the internet's most interesting designers and builders.

LINKS:
Interface Craft: https://interfacecraft.dev/
Upper Study: https://upperstudy.com
Follow Josh: https://x.com/joshpuckett

FOLLOW ME:
X / Twitter: https://x.com/designertom
Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsdesignertom
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/tommygeoco