Totally agree with the side projects. I am in your exact same position, I've had different jobs as a lead or senior designer, but almost every day I worked on side projects too.

Now my portfolio looks really impressive and I can handle different jobs and type of clients without any major issues.

So as an advice for everyone that wants to start working in this field: don't focus only on your daytime job!

As a novice, more info on why you specifically chose html, css, and sketch would be appreciated!

I like your idea for the article Dave. The crux of it is that you should start working on your own side projects if you want to become a product designer, which I think makes sense. I also think there's a lot more to it that you could touch on in the article. Here's some feedback:

• I don't think that the 3 basic skills are quite right (HTML, CSS and SketchApp). Are development skills really necessary? I would instead suggest learning: basic UI design principles and some lean UX principles. Sketch App is just one tool to build a UI (my favourite too).

• Perhaps you could include some more suggestions on how to start a side project and the process involved? How to find a problem to solve? How to find a client that needs help? How to ideate a solution, create a prototype and test whether it works on users. These are the core components to product design which I think are missing from the article.

• What's the best way to start learning Sketch App? There are a few great tutorials out there but I think the best way is to download a nice UI kit and see how it's been put together.

• You mentioned that juniors should try to avoid being generalists to become a product designer. Isn't being a generalist the main strength of a product designer?

Hope that helps. I like that you're emphasising the importance of side projects to build up a portfolio. Definitely makes sense.