Career Corner Life as a... LEGO designer
As the saying goes, you should work hard and play hard, but in some rare cases, you CAN just play hard! There probably isn't a single person in the world who's ever played with LEGO and not wanted to dedicate their entire time to these colourful little building blocks. It's not an easy profession to get into, but there are steps you can take towards becoming a full-time LEGO builder... and getting paid for it. Follow our guide below for tips and advice.
Hey, Ho! LEGO!
Here, we walk you through the stages you can take towards becoming a professional LEGO builder. Better wear socks though, eh...
It might seem like an obvious point, but if you want to become a professional LEGO builder, you're going to have to play with LEGO, A LOT! There probably isn't a single person working for LEGO who wasn't obsessed with it as a child, and for some jobs, you'll even be required to compete with other applicants over who can build the most advanced designs... so it's never too soon or too late to get those blocks out.
Being a LEGO builder requires engineering skills, and there are a lot of LEGO models for sale with some very technical parts. Don't just stick the the basic blocks - advance your abilities with some harder sets. Mindstorms are particularly complex and allow you to programme some amazing devices. They can be purchased here.
The LEGO digital designer is an application that can be downloaded to your computer and used to design absolutely anything! Although it's all virtual, the process is very realistic and it's good practice for creating actual designs in future. In the past, you could even order your creations to be manufactured as hard copies, but unfortunately this isn't a possibility anymore. Download the LEGO digital designer here.
The subjects most likely to help you become a professional LEGO designer include Maths, Science, Software Design, and Engineering. If there's a robotics class you can take, bonus! To be considered as a candidate for LEGO, you will also be required to have done a bachelor's in a relevant field, such as mechanical or computer engineering. Get good grades, and you're sure to be irresistible to any future LEGO employers.
LEGO is an international company and its headquarters are based in Denmark, so Danish would be the best language for you to learn. It takes a while to be fluent in a language, so the sooner you start, the better! Although we are focusing in this article on how to get a design position in LEGO, there are other LEGO-related jobs in English-speaking countries, such as in business and management.
If you want to work for LEGO, you'll need to work on getting noticed first. A good way to do this is to submit your designs to robotics competitions. It's also a good idea to build a social media presence, and tag LEGO into any posts on Facebook and Twitter. If your creations are impressive enough, they might notice your posts and start interacting with you. Also, as obvious as it seems, always keep you eyes peeled for job listings on their website and apply to positions of relevance to you!
