I hit a point in my life where I could take my career in countless directions. I left my job in the summer of 2019 and began my venture as a freelancer. I work part-time as a social media strategist while I develop my career in data visualization design. At the end of 2019, I wrapped up a dataviz contract and I started to have doubts. I wasn’t sure if I was any good in this line of work and didn’t know how I could contribute to it. I wasn’t sure how to make this work. I didn’t have the answer to these questions, and I was getting nowhere ruminating. There were two encounters in the new year that helped me turn rumination into something productive. The first was coming across a Ted Talk by psychologist Guy Winch, he offered a way of dealing with rumination. The goal is to transform these thoughts into problems that can be solved:

我在人生中遇到了一个可以将自己的职业带往无数方向的点。 我于2019年夏天离开工作，以自由职业者的身份开始创业。 在从事数据可视化设计工作的同时，我还兼职社交媒体策略师。 在2019年底，我结束了dataviz合同，开始感到怀疑。 我不确定自己在这方面的工作是否出色，也不知道我能为它做些什么。 我不确定如何使这项工作。 我没有这些问题的答案，而且我也没有思考的地方。 在新的一年里有两次相遇帮助我将沉思变成了富有成效的事情。 第一个是心理学家Guy Winch的Ted Talk ，他提供了一种处理沉思的方法。 目的是将这些想法转化为可以解决的问题：

“To convert [the thought] into a productive one, you have to pose it as a problem to be solved. The problem-solving version of ‘I have so much work to do’ is a scheduling question. ‘Where in my schedule can I fit the tasks that are troubling me?’”

“要将(思想)转化为富有成果的思想，您必须将其摆成要解决的问题。 解决问题的版本“我有很多工作要做”是一个计划问题。 “在我的日程安排中，我可以解决困扰我的任务吗？””

The second was when I asked for career advice on Twitter. I was recommended a book called So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport. I went through the book and discovered that Newport was going the same challenge as I was. He had a question that plagued him and he needed answers. To get answers, he interviewed various people and gathered his insights into a book.

第二个是我在Twitter上寻求职业建议时。 卡尔·纽波特(Cal Newport)向我推荐了一本书，名为《 那么好，他们无法忽略你》 。 我浏览了这本书，发现纽波特正面临与我同样的挑战。 他有一个困扰他的问题，他需要答案。 为了获得答案，他采访了许多人，并将他的见解汇集成一本书。

One day, an idea clicked: Why not turn my ruminating thoughts into a question and interview experienced designers to get answers? I pinpointed the following question to guide my interviews:

有一天，一个想法响了： 为什么不把我的沉思变成一个问题，并采访经验丰富的设计师以获得答案？ 我指出了以下问题来指导我的采访：

“How do self-employed data visualization designers make their money?”

“自雇的数据可视化设计师如何赚钱？”

With this question in mind, I reached out to the following designers: RJ Andrews (Info We Trust), Alli Torban (Data Viz Today), Matt Baker (UsefulCharts), and Ann K. Emery (Depict Data Studio).

考虑到这个问题，我联系了以下设计师： RJ Andrews(Info We Trust) ， Alli Torban(今日Data Viz) ， Matt Baker(UsefulCharts)和Ann K. Emery(Depict Data Studio) 。

There is a big gap of resources explaining how people do what they love in data visualization. So I decided to write about what I learned and share voice clips of our calls. I wrote this article for people like me, who are starting out on their own and need guidance on how to navigate this industry.

在解释人们如何在数据可视化中做自己喜欢做的​​事情方面，有很大的资源缺口。 因此，我决定写一些我学到的东西，并分享通话的语音片段。 我为像我这样的人写了这篇文章，他们是一个独立的人，需要有关如何驾驭这个行业的指导。

数据可视化设计中的收入流 (Income streams in data visualization design)

In general, there are two main ways to make an income as a self-employed data visualization professional: (1) provide a service, and (2) sell a product. Many folks use a combination of these to create diverse streams of income.

通常，有两种主要方法可以使自己成为数据可视化专业人员，他们可以赚钱：(1)提供服务，以及(2)销售产品。 许多人将这些结合起来创造各种收入来源。

提供服务 (Provide a service)

Services are generally hard to scale and are tailored to a specific client’s needs and problems. You will notice that for any service or product to exist, there must be a skill and experience to leverage from. To consult, teach, or speak, one must develop specialized skills. If you are new and lack experience, a good place to start is through personal projects or participating in online challenges like Make Over Mondays or Viz for Social Good.

服务通常难以扩展，并且只能针对特定客户的需求和问题进行定制。 您会注意到，要存在任何服务或产品，必须要有一定的技能和经验可以借鉴。 要进行咨询，教学或演讲，必须培养专业技能。 如果您是新手并且缺乏经验，那么一个不错的起点是通过个人项目或参加在线挑战，例如“星期一制作”或“ Viz for Social Good” 。

Specialized skills: These skills are usually technical and the work is client-facing. In data visualization design, these skills are used to create a concrete deliverable. Examples include: maps, infographics, reports, presentations, and dashboards. Clients hire people with these skills because expertise is required to create high quality results. Example: Studio Terp.

专业技能：这些技能通常是技术性的，工作是面向客户的。 在数据可视化设计中，这些技能用于创建具体的可交付成果。 示例包括：地图，信息图，报告，演示文稿和仪表板。 客户需要具有这些技能的人员，因为需要专业知识才能创造出高质量的结果。 示例：Studio Terp 。

Consulting: Consultants possess a library of solutions they have developed from solving many problems. They are asked to provide direction on how to build projects and might not be too involved in execution. Example: Visualizing Data.

咨询：顾问拥有一个解决方案库，是他们根据解决许多问题而开发的。 他们被要求提供有关如何构建项目的指导，并且可能不会太参与执行。 示例：可视化数据 。

Teaching: This takes the form of workshops or courses. It can exist in the corporate space or in educational settings. These are usually done in groups. There is more predictability and control through teaching and it’s a great way to attract new projects. Example: Stefanie Posavec.

教学：采用研讨会或课程的形式。 它可以存在于公司空间或教育环境中。 这些通常是分组进行的。 通过教学可以获得更多的可预测性和控制力，这是吸引新项目的好方法。 例如：斯蒂芬妮·波萨维克(Stefanie Posavec)。

Speaking: This takes place at events, conferences, or corporations. Like teaching, it requires experience. Speaking can be lucrative, but it can be hard to start due to costs involved with travel. Speaking provides exposure to people from different industries and it could generate new leads. Example: Maarten Lambrechts.

演讲：这是在活动，会议或公司中进行的。 像教学一样，它需要经验。 说话可能很有利可图，但由于出差所涉及的费用，可能很难开始。 演讲可以让来自不同行业的人们接触，并且可以产生新的线索。 例如：Maarten Lambrechts 。

销售产品 (Sell products)

Products are scaleable (i.e. serve many people at a time) and are good ways to generate recurring revenue.

产品具有可扩展性(即一次为许多人服务)，是产生经常性收入的好方法。

Physical products: The common products sold in data visualization design are posters or books. In these cases, data visualization is informative and can act as a reference. Or, it could serve a similar purpose to art, where it adds some personality and joy to the living space. Example: Nick Rougeux.

物理产品：数据可视化设计中出售的常见产品是海报或书籍。 在这些情况下，数据可视化是有用的，可以作为参考。 或者，它可以达到与艺术品类似的目的，在艺术品中为生活空间增添一些个性和乐趣。 例如：Nick Rougeux 。

Digital products: These can include software, online PDF sheets, and online courses or training. These require a huge investment in time and money up front to develop. Example: Stephanie Evergreen.

数字产品：这些产品可以包括软件，在线PDF表格以及在线课程或培训。 这些需要大量的时间和金钱上的投资才能发展。 例如：Stephanie Evergreen 。

其他收入来源 (Additional income sources)

People can make income from creating content (writing, audio, or video) and be paid in the form of ads or sponsorships. You can be paid to write for Nightingale; you can produce a podcast and get paid by sponsors; or you can make YouTube videos and earn income from ads. You can create a Patreon account to build an audience that will support your work. Affiliate marketing is another avenue in which you can get a small cut through sponsored links on your page. Granted, these sources of income are unstable and can be very competitive. They require a strong following and high-quality content. Many content creators develop these types of income streams while managing a job with consistent pay.

人们可以通过创建内容(文字，音频或视频)来赚钱，并可以通过广告或赞助的形式获得报酬。 您可以为夜莺写作而付费; 您可以制作播客并由赞助商付款； 或者您可以制作YouTube视频并从广告中赚钱。 您可以创建一个Patreon帐户来建立支持您工作的受众。 联盟营销是另一种途径，您可以通过页面上的赞助商链接获得一些好处。 当然，这些收入来源是不稳定的，并且可能具有很强的竞争力。 他们需要强大的追随者和高质量的内容。 许多内容创建者在管理薪水稳定的工作时，开发了这类收入流。

为什么他们开始自己的生意 (Why they started their own business)

When thinking about people who gained success, we tend to wonder how they did it and whether their process can be replicated. The people I talked to all had different reasons for starting their venture and they all approached it differently. For some, it was never part of the plan; it conspired through luck and chance. For others, it was something that was willed into existence, and they adapted their careers to fit their life circumstances. Here’s a breakdown on why they started.

当想到获得成功的人时，我们往往会想知道他们是如何做到的以及他们的过程是否可以复制。 我与之交谈的所有人都有不同的创业理由，而且他们采取不同的方法。 对于某些人来说，这从来都不是计划的一部分。 它通过运气和偶然机会合谋。 对于其他人来说，这是一种愿意存在的东西，他们根据自己的生活情况调整了职业。 这是他们开始的原因的细分。

安德鲁斯(RJ Andrews) (RJ Andrews)

RJ is the founder and Data Storyteller at Info We Trust. He got his start by doing freelance graphic design work. The work had a heavy emphasis on design and marketing. The start of Info We Trust was when RJ’s friend asked him to work on an ambitious data story project. He thought it would be a good idea if he published this work online and that was when he built his website for Info We Trust. In 2014, he made Creative Routines which helped his website gain a lot of interest.

RJ是Info We Trust的创始人和数据讲故事的人。 他从从事自由图形设计工作开始。 这项工作非常重视设计和营销。 RJ的朋友让他从事一个雄心勃勃的数据故事项目时，“ Info We Trust”开始了。 他认为，如果他在线上发表此作品，那将是一个好主意，那是他为Info We Trust建立网站的时候。 2014年，他制作了Creative Routines，这有助于他的网站吸引了很多兴趣。

In the summer of 2015, he moved to San Francisco expecting to look for a corporate tech job. Soon after arriving, RJ received two unsolicited requests for freelance projects, one promised $20K and the other $30K. He saw these two jobs as signals that he should “forget working for a big company, keep chasing this dragon.”

2015年夏天，他移居旧金山，期待寻找公司技术工作。 到达后不久，RJ收到了两个自由职业者项目的主动要求，一个答应2万美元，另一个答应3万美元。 他认为这两项工作是他应该“忘记在大公司工作，继续追逐这条巨龙”的信号。

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艾丽·托班(Alli Torban) (Alli Torban)

Alli is the host of Data Viz Today podcast. Before Alli transitioned into data visualization, she was a software tester and data analyst for government clients. She had kids several years later and stopped working. Inspired by Work PAUSE Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career, she thought that this would be a good opportunity to pivot into a job she liked better. During her exploration, she realized data visualization design would be a good career path for her. With no background in data visualization or design, she thought the best way to build her skills and knowledge was to start a podcast. Her podcast focused on the craft of data visualization design. She interviews designers to understand how they build their pieces and she designs something using their process.

Alli是“ Data Viz Today”播客的主持人。 在Alli过渡到数据可视化之前，她是政府客户的软件测试人员和数据分析师。 几年后，她有了孩子，并停止了工作。 受工作启发暂停蓬勃发展：如何在不影响职业的情况下暂停为人父母 ，她认为这将是一个很好的机会，可以转变为她更喜欢的工作。 在探索过程中，她意识到数据可视化设计将是她的理想职业道路。 由于没有数据可视化或设计的背景，她认为建立自己的技能和知识的最佳方法是开始播客。 她的播客关注数据可视化设计的技巧。 她采访设计师以了解他们如何制作作品，并使用他们的过程进行设计。

Alli currently works remotely for the American Institute on a part-time basis. She hosts her podcast and blogs daily on her site. Through her podcast, she built a workflow that helped her build a network while applying the skills she learns from people she interviews. On her podcast, she earns money from affiliate marketing which accounts for 5% of her income. She uses this income to cover the costs of running the podcast.

目前，Alli兼职为美国研究所提供远程服务。 她每天在自己的网站上托管播客和博客。 通过播客，她构建了一个工作流程，可以帮助她建立网络，同时运用从访谈对象那里学到的技能。 在播客上，她从联属营销中获利，占其收入的5％。 她用这笔收入来支付播客的运行费用。

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马特·贝克 (Matt Baker)

Matt is the founder and designer at UsefulCharts. Matt spent almost a decade teaching English in Sri Lanka. After returning to Canada and getting a divorce in 2009, Matt found himself unemployed and needing a way to make money while raising his young family. He made a website and put up ads through Google Adsense. This allowed him to work from home while raising his children. He realized he needed a more sustainable income and started making small cheat sheets to sell online. This evolved into a business where he creates and sells large history posters. He initially sold exclusively on Amazon to get traffic for his business. In 2018, he shifted his online shop away from Amazon to his website with Shopify. This allowed him more control of his business and customer base. For each poster he sells, he earns 40% of that in net profit. He also makes ad revenue from YouTube and re-invests that into the narrator and animator he hired to create his videos.

马特是有用图表的创始人和设计师。 马特在斯里兰卡教了近十年的英语。 返回加拿大并于2009年离婚后，马特(Matt)失业，需要养家糊口的一种赚钱方式。 他创建了一个网站，并通过Google Adsense投放了广告。 这使他可以在抚养孩子的同时在家工作。 他意识到自己需要更可持续的收入，并开始制作小型备忘单以在线销售。 后来演变成一家公司，他在那里创建和销售大型历史海报。 最初，他专门在亚马逊上出售商品以吸引业务。 2018年，他通过Shopify将其在线商店从亚马逊转移到了他的网站上 。 这使他可以更好地控制自己的业务和客户群。 对于他出售的每张海报，他将获得纯利润的40％。 他还从YouTube获得广告收入，并将其重新投资到他雇用的旁白和动画制作人中以创建自己的视频。

安·埃默里(Ann K.Emery) (Ann K. Emery)

Ann founded Depict Data Studio and trains her clients to create compelling reports. Before she started her business, she was deep in the evaluation world working with foundations and non-profits. She worked on the full project cycle from survey design to data communication. Ann went to grad school at night while working at Innovation Network. After graduating, people asked her: “What’s next?”. She didn’t have any plans to change careers but started to think about it as a possibility. During the summer of that year, she went on a trip with her husband. They met an older couple living in an RV, and learned that the husband was still working while consulting on the side. She turned to her husband and said that someday when she was retired, she wanted to train others on data visualization. Her husband responded with “Why not now?”.

安建立了Depict Data Studio，并培训她的客户创建引人注目的报告。 在开始业务之前，她与基金会和非营利组织一起深入评估世界。 她从事从调查设计到数据通信的整个项目周期。 安在创新网络公司工作期间，晚上去了研究生院。 毕业后，人们问她：“下一步是什么？”。 她没有任何改变职业的计划，但开始考虑将其作为一种可能性。 那年夏天，她和丈夫一起旅行。 他们遇到了一对居住在房车中的老年夫妇，并得知丈夫在一边咨询时仍在工作。 她转向丈夫，并说退休的某天，她想对其他人进行数据可视化培训。 她的丈夫回答“为什么不现在？”。

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Ann left her job and went off on her own. She tried many things in the first year and found that teaching was something that she enjoyed and was in demand.

安离开了工作，独自离开。 在第一年，她尝试了许多事情，发现教学是她喜欢的并且是需求的。

他们如何开始创业 (How they started their venture)

Everyone I talked to started small. They took small steps to build their skills and network. Nobody found success overnight. Through hard work, patience, and luck, they found their clients and customers.

我与之交谈的每个人都从小开始。 他们采取了一些小步骤来建立自己的技能和网络。 没有人在一夜之间找到成功。 通过努力，耐心和好运，他们找到了自己的客户和顾客。

揭露他们的想法 (Exposing how they think)

When someone sees your work, they have started the process of building a relationship with you without ever meeting you. Unless you were a public figure, this was nearly impossible a decade ago. Back then, the only way to build a relationship was through active means such as email, calls, or meeting in person. You can now build this relationship passively as well by creating content.

当某人看到您的工作时，他们已经开始与您建立关系的过程，而从未见过您。 除非您是公众人物，否则十年前几乎是不可能的。 那时，建立关系的唯一方法是通过积极的方式，例如电子邮件，电话或亲自见面。 现在，您还可以通过创建内容来被动地建立这种关系。

Ann started blogging in 2012. She blogged about various topics on evaluation, communication, and design, which was the field she was working in at the time. Without realizing, she built a public-facing body of work that served as a portfolio. She had a lot of traffic from her website which helped build people’s interest in her skills. A blog isn’t the only way to do this, you could share work on Behance, or maybe upload your work to Github. The main point is to show it off. Let people see how you approach problems and how you execute on an idea.

Ann从2012年开始写博客。她在博客上发表了有关评估，沟通和设计的各种话题，当时她就是这个领域。 没有意识到，她建立了一个面向公众的作品集，作为作品集。 她的网站吸引了大量访问者，这有助于提高人们对其技能的兴趣。 博客不是做到这一点的唯一方法，您可以在Behance上共享作品，也可以将您的作品上传到Github。 重点是炫耀它。 让人们看到您如何解决问题以及如何执行想法。

It’s never too late to start a blog, podcast, or a video channel. Here’s a great recommendation by Alli on how what she would do if she was starting her podcast all over again:

开始博客，播客或视频频道永远不会太晚。 这是Alli的一个很好的建议，如果她重新开始播客，她将如何做：

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得到他们的第一个客户：一件事导致另一件事 (Getting their first client: one thing leads to another)

“Build a network” was advice I was terrified to hear when I was in school. I’m an introvert and I struggle to meet new people. After so many years out of school, I look back and I surprise myself with how many people I do have in my network. A network consists of family, friends, people you volunteered with, teachers, co-workers, and so on. Essentially, if you sent them an email, you know that they will likely respond. It’s important to tap into our network as we build them, they become ways to reach new opportunities.

“建立网络”是我在上学时听到的可怕建议。 我性格内向，努力结识新朋友。 放学了这么多年，我回头一看，我对网络中有多少人感到惊讶。 网络由家人，朋友，与您志愿服务的人，老师，同事等组成。 本质上，如果您向他们发送了电子邮件，则知道他们可能会回复。 建立我们的网络很重要，因为它们成为获取新机会的方式。

RJ started working for people he knew. One of his early jobs was with his professor at MIT. This professor later recommended him to a professor at Harvard for another job. One thing leads to another; the industry is small and people will refer you if you do good work. Similarly for Ann, her first clients were from people she knew. She didn’t send a proposal for her work. She told people in her network about her new business and started to get requests.

RJ开始为他认识的人工作。 他的早期工作之一是在麻省理工学院任教授。 后来这位教授将他推荐给哈佛大学的另一份工作。 一件事导致另一件事； 这个行业很小，如果您做得不错，人们会推荐您。 与安类似，她的第一个客户来自她认识的人。 她没有为她的工作提出建议。 她向网络中的人们介绍了她的新业务，并开始收到请求。

Being self-employed, it’s important to start with people you know. Tell people your career goals, they might know someone who can help you. Maybe they know a good accountant or career coach. A good analogy of this comes from how Facebook Pages was designed. When someone creates a new Facebook Page, Facebook encourages them to invite their friends and family to like the page, even if they aren’t their target audience. Why? The reason is that someone in your family/friend’s network could be part of your target audience. The social media feed was designed so that when someone you follow likes a post, you can see that post. If your friend follows a gardening page and liked one of their posts, you could see the post she liked even if you don’t follow that page. This is how social media posts can extend far beyond one’s own personal network. Similarly, this is how we grow our professional network. I told people about my new venture and although they may not have leads for me at that time, they might have them in the future. Investing in a network is a long-term game and it takes a lot of time for the seeds to blossom.

作为自雇人士，重要的是要从认识的人开始。 告诉别人您的职业目标，他们可能会认识可以帮助您的人。 也许他们认识一个好的会计师或职业教练。 一个很好的类比来自Facebook Pages的设计方式。 当某人创建新的Facebook页面时，Facebook鼓励他们邀请自己的朋友和家人喜欢该页面，即使他们不是目标受众。 为什么？ 原因是您的家人/朋友网络中的某人可能是您的目标受众的一部分。 社交媒体供稿的设计使得当您关注的某人喜欢某个帖子时，您可以看到该帖子。 如果您的朋友关注园艺页面并且喜欢他们的其中一个帖子，即使您不关注该页面，也可以看到她喜欢的帖子。 这就是社交媒体帖子可以远远超出自己的个人网络的方式。 同样，这就是我们发展专业网络的方式。 我向人们介绍了我的新事业，尽管那时他们可能没有吸引我的机会，但将来可能会有机会。 投资网络是一项长期的游戏，种子需要很多时间才能开花。

涉猎许多事情 (Dabble in many things)

The career choices we have today can be paralyzing because we have so many options to choose from. When I asked Matt and Ann about this, they recommended that people should try different things. There are two criteria to look for in this exploratory phase: (1) if this is something you would enjoy, and (2) if this will make money.

我们今天拥有的职业选择可能会瘫痪，因为我们有很多选择。 当我问Matt和Ann时，他们建议人们应该尝试不同的方法。 在这个探索阶段需要寻找两个标准：(1)如果您喜欢这种东西，(2)是否可以赚钱。

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Ann called her first year in business her “dabble year.” She designed dashboards, reports, slideshows, infographics, held various types of training and offered broad consulting services. She noted that this process could take several months or several years.

安将她创业的第一年称为“愚蠢的一年”。 她设计了仪表板，报告，幻灯片，图表，进行了各种类型的培训并提供了广泛的咨询服务。 她指出，此过程可能需要数月或数年。

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At some point, it’s important to specialize and find a niche. Being a generalist makes it hard to stand out. I go to a popular Korean restaurant in Toronto that has one page on their menu. They were known for making sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew). This place is always busy and service is incredibly fast. There are several advantages to running a restaurant like this: (1) It’s efficient—with a small menu, they have less inventory to work with and fewer appliances to maintain; (2) They can maintain high quality—if all they make is sundubu, you can bet that it will be a lot better than other places; (3) they become top of mind for sundubu. The next time I want to eat sundubu, I will likely think about this restaurant. Of course, there are many restaurants that are successful without specializing. But the point remains that there are advantages to specializing. When you develop expertise, something that not everyone has, you become more valuable and thus can demand a higher fee for your work.

在某些时候，专业化并找到合适的位置很重要。 成为多才多艺的人很难脱颖而出。 我去多伦多一家受欢迎的韩国餐厅，菜单上只有一页。 他们以制作sundubu jjigae(软豆腐炖)而闻名。 这个地方总是很忙，服务非常快。 像这样经营一家餐馆有几个优点：(1)效率高-菜单小，他们可以使用的库存更少，需要维护的电器也更少； (2)他们可以保持高质量-如果他们制造的只是sundubu，您可以打赌它将比其他地方好很多； (3)他们成为sundubu的头等大事。 下次我想吃sundubu时，我可能会考虑这家餐厅。 当然，有很多没有专门知识的成功餐厅。 但是重点仍然是专业化有优势。 当您开发出并非所有人都拥有的专业知识时，您就会变得更有价值，因此可以要求更高的工作费用。

创造价值 (Delivering value)

The Data Visualization Society (DVS) held an online video call for early-career folks on Feb 11, 2020. Elijah Meeks, Susie Lu, and Jason Forrest were on the call to answer career-related questions. The call was joined by students, new grads, and young professionals looking for advice on how to build their portfolio. During the call, Elijah brought up an interesting point on why a data visualization jobs exist:

数据可视化协会(DVS)于2020年2月11日为早期职业者进行了在线视频通话 。Elijah Meeks，Susie Lu和Jason Forrest参加了电话会议，以回答与职业相关的问题。 学生，新毕业生和年轻专业人士参加了此次电话会议，以寻求有关如何建立自己的档案袋的建议。 在电话会议中，El​​ijah提出了关于为何存在数据可视化作业的有趣观点：

Five or 10 years ago it was very challenging to make some of these diagrams and some of these maps, and now there’s an enormous number of extremely well designed and extremely powerful tools, and you hear quite often engineers or data scientists say: ‘Well why should you do that, why simply have a position that does that, when I can make a chart in Tableau/Superset/Plotly in five minutes? Why have an entire job for data visualization?’ I would challenge all of you as you consider this as a career, to answer that question. Not necessarily answer it in the skills you have right now, but answer it in this sort of way ‘what are you building toward,’ why is it that you think someone like myself, Jason, and Susie can be successful in these kinds of careers … Because it does take more than the technical skills to build one of these things, and it does hit on all of these ideas of design, collaboration, and being able to bring some sense of systematization addressing questions by stakeholders … That’s a classic answer why design is a real profession, and not just something that automated tools can take care of. Because I’ll tell you something, they are not going to get less automated and less sophisticated by the time you’ve spent 10 years in data visualization. They will be 100 times better than they are now. And that question will become a 100 times harder to answer.

五到十年前，制作其中一些图和其中一些图非常具有挑战性，现在有大量设计精良且功能强大的工具，而且您经常听到工程师或数据科学家说：“为什么？当我可以在五分钟内在Tableau / Superset / Plotly中制作图表时，为什么要这样做呢？ 为什么要完成整个工作以进行数据可视化？ 在您认为这是一种职业时，我会向大家提出挑战，以回答该问题。 不一定以您现在拥有的技能来回答，而是以“您正在朝着什么方向发展”的方式回答，为什么您认为像我自己，Jason和Susie这样的人可以在这些职业中取得成功…因为构建这些事物之一不仅需要技术技能，而且确实触及了所有这些设计，协作思想，并且能够带来一些系统化的意识，以解决利益相关者的问题……这就是经典的回答设计是一个真正的职业，而不仅仅是自动化工具可以处理的事情。 因为我会告诉您一些信息，所以在您花了10年的时间在数据可视化上之前，它们不会变得自动化程度降低，也不会变得复杂。 它们将比现在好100倍。 这个问题将变得难以回答100倍。

Elijah’s comment made me think about “value proposition.” The value proposition describes what can be offered to the customer/client/audience. It’s the fundamental reason why a service or product exists. There’s a great book that goes into detail on this concept: Value Proposition Canvas by Strategyzer. In summary, a value proposition creates gains and removes pains for the client/customer/audience. We can apply this concept to a person: How can someone use their skills to create gains and remove pains? Perhaps it’s their ability to diagnosis a problem and develop a solution with the client. Or they can effectively communicate insights with the appropriate charts. These are just some examples of how someone could bring value.

以利亚的评论使我思考了“价值主张”。 价值主张描述了可以提供给客户/客户/受众的内容。 这是服务或产品存在的根本原因。 关于这一概念，有一本书非常详细：Strategyzer的《 价值主张画布 》。 总之，价值主张可以创造收益，并减轻客户/客户/受众的痛苦。 我们可以将这个概念应用于一个人：某人如何利用自己的技能来创造收益并消除痛苦？ 也许是他们诊断问题并与客户制定解决方案的能力。 或者他们可以与适当的图表有效地传达见解。 这些只是某人如何带来价值的一些示例。

Back to Elijah’s point, what is the value of having a role for data visualization design if a software can make that chart? Why does this job exist? When I asked RJ what he thought his value was to his clients, he talked about the soft skill of coordination.

回到伊莱贾的观点，如果软件可以制作图表，那么在数据可视化设计中扮演角色的意义何在？ 为什么这项工作存在？ 当我问RJ他对客户的价值是什么时，他谈到了协调的软技能。

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Ann gets hired because organizations are struggling to get the most out of their data. The big pain point she is solving is making it easier for staff to do their jobs. I asked Ann what she thought her value was to her clients.

Ann被聘用是因为组织正在努力最大程度地利用其数据。 她要解决的最大难题是使员工更轻松地完成工作。 我问安，她认为她对客户的价值是什么。

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Dealing with the complexities of data is hard, and it can be daunting. I’ve learned that people like RJ and Ann are working to make the process easier. Whether it’s focusing on bringing a team to the same page or making someone’s job easier to do, they involve addressing the human side of the work. When I got hired as a Data Designer at Kantar several years ago, I was told during the interview that more than 70% of my job would involve project management. I worked on teams with moving parts and my role was to coordinate that.

处理数据的复杂性很困难，而且可能令人生畏。 我了解到RJ和Ann这样的人正在努力简化这一过程。 无论是将团队带到同一个页面上还是使某人的工作更容易完成，它们都涉及解决工作的人性方面。 几年前，当我被聘为Kantar的数据设计师时，在采访中被告知我70％以上的工作将涉及项目管理。 我曾与具有活动部件的团队一起工作，而我的角色是进行协调。

These stories from Ann and RJ point out that their biggest value comes from working directly with their clients. They take the time to listen to their clients and work with them to resolve their challenges. And what I learned was that it’s very important to develop these skills when you are a business owner. Knowing how to work with data isn’t sufficient. It’s important to know how to work with people.

Ann和RJ的这些故事指出，他们的最大价值来自直接与客户合作。 他们花时间倾听他们的客户，并与他们一起解决挑战。 我了解到，当您是企业主时，发展这些技能非常重要。 仅仅知道如何处理数据还不够。 知道如何与人合作很重要。

How does one go about finding the value they can deliver? A good starting place is looking at the market. Observe what hasn’t been done yet. Try several things and see what people ask for. Matt started making posters for the humanities targeted at adults because he saw that no one else was making them:

如何去寻找他们可以提供的价值？ 着眼市场是一个很好的起点。 观察尚未完成的工作。 尝试几件事，看看人们的要求。 Matt开始为针对成年人的人文学科制作海报，因为他看到没有其他人在制作它们：

I have found that in early grades, visual materials tend to be incorporated often. However, once a person reaches the higher grades, learning becomes almost exclusively based on reading texts and listening to lectures. There is often very little visually-based material available on more advanced subjects, particularly in the humanities. … Obviously, one cannot learn everything they need to know about a subject simply by looking at a chart. However, I find that charts often work well as both a starting point and an overall framework that can be continually returned to as one incorporates new material.

我发现在早期的年级，视觉材料往往会被合并。 但是，一旦一个人达到较高的年级，学习将几乎完全基于阅读课文和听讲座。 在更高级的学科上，尤其是在人文学科上，通常很少有基于视觉的材料。 ……显然，仅靠查看图表就无法了解他们需要了解的所有主题。 但是，我发现图表通常既可以作为起点，也可以作为一个整体框架，可以很好地配合使用，因为可以结合使用新材料。

-(taken from www.usefulcharts.com)

-(取自www.usefulcharts.com )

Matt initially wanted to make posters on all topics, not just history. He started making posters on science because he loved science. But, there was a lot of material out there for science classrooms. This made it hard for him to compete. He realized that for history classrooms, there were fewer visual aids.

Matt最初想制作有关所有主题的海报，而不仅仅是历史。 他因为喜欢科学而开始制作科学海报。 但是，那里有很多用于科学教室的材料。 这使他很难竞争。 他意识到，历史教室的视觉教具较少。

It can be challenging to find market gaps. It takes time, creativity, and resourcefulness to figure out the problems that people face and how we can convert them into business opportunities. Similar to the advice given on how to choose a career, finding a market requires trying many things and learning as you go.

找到市场空白可能是具有挑战性的。 要弄清人们面临的问题以及我们如何将其转化为商机，需要时间，创造力和机智。 与关于如何选择职业的建议相似，找到市场需要尝试许多事情并随身携带学习。

是什么驱使他们 (What drives them)

Owning a business isn’t all fun—it’s very hard. It’s feast or famine. Sometimes, there won’t be income for many months. Other times, you could make several thousand dollars in a day. Despite these challenges, everyone I talked to continues to pursue this line of work. They are eager to explore, try things, break things, bend the rules, and have fun. Just like anyone, they had hesitations and fears about their ventures.

拥有一家公司并非一帆风顺，这很难。 这是盛宴还是饥荒。 有时，很多个月都没有收入。 其他时候，你一天可以赚几千美元。 尽管面临这些挑战，但我与之交谈的每个人都继续从事这一工作。 他们渴望探索，尝试，打破，改变规则并从中获得乐趣。 就像任何人一样，他们对自己的事业有犹豫和恐惧。

Alli embraced the unknown and didn’t let having no background in design stop her from pursuing it.

Alli拥抱着未知的事物，并没有让没有设计背景的人阻止她继续前进。

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Matt never planned to have his current career. Entrepreneurial by nature, he took an iterative approach to his career.

马特从未计划过现在的职业。 天生就是企业家，他对自己的职业生涯采取了迭代的方式。

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I believe data visualization can do a lot of good for the world. RJ’s motivation for his work resonated with me as it was a mission I strongly believed in.

我相信数据可视化可以为世界带来很多好处。 RJ的工作动机引起了我的共鸣，因为这是我坚信的使命。

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I occasionally get messages from people asking for advice on how they could start their career in data visualization. When I talk to them, I sense a lot of hesitation and doubt. I did my best to answer their questions, but didn’t know how to help ease their hesitations. I forwarded this question to Ann. Ann responded with a conversation she had with Jon Schwabish.

我偶尔会收到人们的信息，要求他们提供有关如何开始数据可视化职业的建议。 与他们交谈时，我感到很多犹豫和怀疑。 我尽力回答他们的问题，但不知道如何帮助他们缓解犹豫。 我把这个问题转发给了安。 安回应她与乔恩·施瓦比什(Jon Schwabish)的谈话。

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向前进 (Moving forward)

After interviewing everyone, I was struck by how everyone was forging their own lives in their own unique way. Ann, for example, traveled with her young family as she ran workshops in Asia during the latter half of 2019. Everyone was making their career viable, they were all shaping their own future.

在采访了所有人之后，我为每个人如何以自己独特的方式锻造自己的生活而感到震惊。 例如，安妮(Ann)在2019年下半年在亚洲举办工作坊时与她的年轻家庭一起旅行。每个人都在使自己的职业生涯可行，他们都在塑造自己的未来。

I had a very narrow outlook on what a career in data visualization design was supposed to look like and that made me feel stuck. So, I purposely chose folks who were all different from each other to understand the various approaches people can take when it comes to data visualization. Taking a step back, it’s amazing to observe how people make their living nowadays. Someone can build their entire career on YouTube and that was not possible a decade ago. We can build an online course and work from home full time. It’s mind-blowing.

对于数据可视化设计的职业应该是什么样子，我的看法非常狭窄，这让我感到困惑。 因此，我特意选择了彼此不同的人，以了解人们在数据可视化方面可以采取的各种方法。 退后一步，观察当今人们的生活是多么令人惊奇。 有人可以在YouTube上建立自己的整个职业，而十年前是不可能的。 我们可以建立在线课程，并全天候在家工作。 真是令人难以置信。

As I interviewed everyone, I asked for advice on my own career path. I learned that I am still very early in the process. I was trying hard to find my niche but I quickly became frustrated. I didn’t know where I wanted to go or how. I have general ideas on what I want to do, so I am taking small steps to try them. At one point, I asked myself this question:

当我采访所有人时，我都在寻求自己的职业道路方面的建议。 我了解到我仍处于起步阶段。 我一直在努力寻找自己的利基市场，但很快就感到沮丧。 我不知道我要去哪里或怎么去。 我对自己想做的事情有一般的想法，所以我正在采取一些小步骤尝试它们。 有一次，我问自己这个问题：

If you were allowed to dream big and not let anything distract you, what would you be doing? What would that look like?

如果您被允许做大的梦想，并且不让任何事情分散您的注意力，那么您会做什么？ 那会是什么样？

I’ve never interviewed people in this way before. This was my first time doing this and I’m glad I did. I hope this article has been insightful on how people build their own careers in data visualization design. This field is relatively young and continues to evolve. There’s a lot of potential on what could happen and how we can continue to push the boundaries of communicating data.

我以前从未以这种方式采访过人们。 这是我第一次这样做，我很高兴自己做到了。 我希望本文对人们如何在数据可视化设计中建立自己的职业生涯具有深刻见解。 这个领域还比较年轻，并且还在不断发展。 在可能发生的事情以及我们如何继续突破通信数据的界限方面，存在很大的潜力。

资源资源 (Resources)

本文参考的材料 (Materials referenced for this article)

Complex Curiosities by Info We Trust (2016) — How RJ navigated his career from an engineer to a designer.

《 Info We Trust的复杂好奇心》(2016年) — RJ如何将他的职业生涯从工程师转移到设计师。

10+ Tips from an International Dataviz Trainer (2019) — Insights on Ann’s practice and how she works with international clients.

国际Dataviz培训师提供的10多个技巧(2019) —深入了解Ann的业务以及她与国际客户的合作方式。

UsefulCharts and his life’s pivot by YouTube History Podcast (2020) — Explores Matt’s career transitions and the niche of history content on YouTube.

YouTube历史播客(2020)的《有用的图表及其一生的关键点》 -探索Matt的职业生涯转变和YouTube历史内容的利基市场。

3 Core Concepts of Data Viz by Designed Today (2020) — Alli reveals how she entered data visualization and shares three core concepts in data visualization.

《今日设计》(2020年)的 3个数据可视化核心概念—艾莉( Alli)揭示了她如何进入数据可视化并分享了数据可视化中的三个核心概念。

入门资源 (Resources for those starting out)

Data Vis Consulting: Advice for Newbies by Lynn Cherny (2013) — A classic blog post that covers the details on consulting in data visualization.

数据可视化咨询：Lynn Cherny的《新手建议》(2013年) —经典博客文章，涵盖了数据可视化咨询的详细信息。

My first year as a data visualization freelancer by Maarten Lambrechts (2018) — A look at how Maarten started his career freelancing.

我是Maarten Lambrechts担任数据可视化自由职业者的第一年(2018) —看看Maarten如何开始他的职业自由职业。

Our Advice to Data Viz Designers Just Starting Out by Data Viz Today (2020) — Alli compiled advice from various interviews to help people who are starting out.

我们对Data Viz设计师的建议(今天，Data Viz刚刚起步)(2020年) -Alli收集了来自各种采访的建议，以帮助刚开始的人们。

Shirley Wu — How To Be A Successful Niche Freelancer (2020) — Shirley Wu talks about how she built her portfolio and network.

Wu Shirley Wu-《如何成为一名成功的利基自由职业者》(2020年) -Shirley Wu谈到了她如何建立自己的作品集和网络。

Advice for Early-Career Data Visualization Freelancers: Ann’s Interview with Jane Zhang (2020) — This was the video call I had with Ann to help write this article. There are more insights on how she develops her business in this video.

早期职业数据可视化建议：自由职业者：安对张靓颖的访谈(2020年) —这是我与安进行视频通话的内容，以帮助撰写本文。 在此视频中，有关她如何发展业务的见解更多。

How to Get Your First Data Viz Freelance Project — Featuring Dr. Stephanie Evergreen (2020) — A fantastic interview with great tips on running a small business. My favourite tip was the three main criteria for every project: 1) Fun; 2) Lucrative; 3) No assholes.

如何获取您的第一个数据Viz Freelance项目-Stephanie Evergreen博士(2020年) -一次精彩的采访，其中包含经营一家小型企业的绝妙秘诀。 我最喜欢的技巧是每个项目的三个主要标准：1)乐趣； 2)赚钱； 3)没有混蛋。

I am a Data Visualization Designer based in Toronto, Canada. I studied sciences and design strategy. After graduation, I worked at a start-up during the day and began exploring my interest in data visualization in the evenings. I later joined Kantar as a Data Design Specialist. Currently, I work as a freelancer in both design and social media strategy.

我是加拿大多伦多的数据可视化设计师。 我学习了科学和设计策略。 毕业后，我白天在一家初创公司工作，晚上开始探索对数据可视化的兴趣。 后来我加入了Kantar，担任数据设计专家。 目前，我是设计和社交媒体策略的自由职业者。

To see my work, check it out on my website at www.janezhang.ca.

要查看我的作品，请在我的网站 www.janezhang.ca上查看 。