John Dave Solitario – Social Media, Logo and Graphic Design

I graduated from the University of Pangasinan with a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality Management.

During my college days, I had friends who are into graphic design and I was amazed with the craft. I tried doing graphics as a hobby and later on was able to make a small amount of money out of it.

I finished my hospitality management course and after I graduated, I applied for jobs in line with my course, but was unfortunate and did not find one. With a brave heart, I tried to apply as a graphic designer despite no formal education.

I was able to land a job in a small printing shop. At first, it was quite hard to keep up the pace compared to my colleagues, but as years went by, I was able to scale up my skills and learned new techniques. Due to compensation issues, I quit my job after two years and looked for another job. Luckily, I was hired in a print shop business again with a higher salary. I stayed with that company for almost 4 years before deciding on another path.

After I quit my job, I started a work from home setup. Without having other skills aside from graphic design, I decided to watch online courses to expand my knowledge and stay competitive in a new world. I did small freelance projects like logo design, book illustrations, and portraits. Four months since I quit my full-time job, I’m still having problems with my finances that’s why I started looking for an internship and later on was hired for a part-time job, but the pandemic came and I lost my job after a month.

Despite the hardships, I still get excited about the vast opportunities that remote employment can offer. There’s a lot of skills that you can obtain just by watching online courses and self-studying. Right now I’m still on my path to honing my craft and upgrading my skills and I believe that if I dedicate myself to continuous growth, I won’t be worrying anymore about obtaining financial stability and I can earn money from doing what I want.

So far my current skills are in graphic design which covers logo design, designing social media content, company pitch deck design, banner ads design, book illustration, info-graphics, print design, and e-commerce product design. I have also basic skills in social media marketing and product listing. I’m planning to study further on e-commerce and make it my own niche and this year one of my milestones is to set up my own drop-shipping store.

For a copy of John’s resume please click here.