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Podcast

S1

E15

40 mins

Mar 30, 2026

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

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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."

LINKS

Chapters

00:00 - "You have to demonstrate high slope"

01:53 - Coming out of the Interface Craft launch

04:03 - Goblin mode & going dark to build

08:22 - Phantom competency & AI as apprenticeship

12:32 - Uncommon effort vs. uncommon taste

19:18 - "AI native" is just the new "mobile designer"

21:50 - High slope: what it looks like

25:47 - What to do with the anxiety

29:31 - Uncommon care: just give a shit

37:30 - Product design is not art

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