Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : Joining the rat race...
designer_chick
05-19-2006, 09:22 PM
So I just recently graduated with a Design degree, I also have a previous degree in media communications and art...
my question for all you experienced designers out there...how do you get your foot in the door and actually get a job?
Is it true you have to "know" someone to actually get a chance in this career?
How long did it take for a lot of you to get your first paid job?
Can you get a job cold turkey? Just sending in your resume and samples, and calling back to set up an interview?
I've heard so many things, and would love to hear an actual designers point of view instead of from my professors.
Thanks!!
Craig B
05-19-2006, 09:25 PM
I got my job cold turkey. I didn't know anyone in the field (other than fellow students.) It can happen. But don't be discouraged. It won't always happen over night. Be patient, be diligetn and most importantly be confident.
Good luck.
Logo-Mechanix
05-19-2006, 09:26 PM
It took me 2 years to get my first job and that was a pre-press job for a small offset printer. I designed more business cards and letterheads than I care to remember and the place sucked, alot of 10-12 hour days and not very good pay but the experience was more than worth it. I spent 5 years there before I landed my current job as a graphic designer for a prmotional products company working 8 hour days and making great money.
Craig B
05-19-2006, 09:31 PM
I got lucky. I landed a job 5 months out of school. It's not perfect, it's in-house design for a corporation, but there are some moments where your creativity can run rampant. I've been here for 8 years now.
God that's just sad when I typed that out. I can't believe I've been here 8 years.
Logo-Mechanix
05-19-2006, 09:34 PM
I know the feeling I have been at my current job for about 8 years also. It's the longest I have ever been at a job.
defjoe
05-19-2006, 09:34 PM
read this it will give you some idea
http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4322
designer_chick
05-19-2006, 09:41 PM
Thanks for the info. I did actually shadow a few people, and did extensive research before I decided to go back to school. I wanted to make sure this is what I wanted to do, before I sold my plasma to fund my way through school again. :)
how did you all find your jobs?
making cold calls?
ads in the paper?
etc....
morea
05-19-2006, 09:47 PM
some good tips here:
http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7892
reuber1
05-19-2006, 09:51 PM
Graduated two years ago, still not really designing.
Gromit801
05-20-2006, 12:00 AM
I wonder about one thing: In getting a degree in design, how much pre-press training does anyone get? Any candidate we consider, must have a pre-press base.
designer_chick
05-20-2006, 12:05 AM
I know at my school we had two classes on print production.
The first class was learning the basics, line art, resolution, spot color, four color process...etc...
the second class was putting it all basically into practice. after building a project, we would have to hand it over to someone else in the class and go through an entire pre-press list, what to do and look at. what needs to be fixed...it was tedious, but good to learn.
PrintDriver
05-20-2006, 12:08 AM
Little to none Gromit. They are few and far between. I've found kids that graduate from a tech high school have more pre-press training than college students. Of all my art professors, only one had any printed design experience at all. Closest we got to pre-press as students was a tour of a huge offset print company. LOL!
DesignerChick, having another student check your work for press readiness is really not a good exercise in reality. Having them actually output it (or sending it out for print and getting it back in one piece) would have been more useful. The tech student I work with actually had a working print shop in the school that took in outside orders. Students had to learn prepress and how to set files for plate before they could take the design courses. The tech school in my home town was the same way. They had an excellent little print shop going.
Colleges, meh. Some are good, most are bad in the pre-press end of things.
Logo-Mechanix
05-20-2006, 12:10 AM
I learned my pre-press in the trenches which is probobly the best way anyway, hand on and all.
PrintDriver
05-20-2006, 12:15 AM
Yup, me too. And STILL learning.
I wonder about one thing: In getting a degree in design, how much pre-press training does anyone get? Any candidate we consider, must have a pre-press base.
Heh heh, from my vast experience of reading a couple hundred thousand posts in this forum ;) I have determined that the average graphic design education consists of the following elements:
.0001% prepress and other useful skills
.9998% copywriting skills
1% art theory
1% graphic design and layout theory
and
97% how to critique others work :D
Logo-Mechanix
05-20-2006, 12:29 AM
Yeah I often wondered why you needed to be able to critique other peoples work, never made much sense to me.
PrintDriver
05-20-2006, 01:27 AM
LOL @ Kool. So true, man! So true.
But what's the other .0001%?
LOL @ Kool. So true, man! So true.
But what's the other .0001%?
They spend that learning about large format. :D
PrintDriver
05-20-2006, 01:42 AM
::thumbsup::
:D
morea
05-20-2006, 01:51 AM
nice :D
gr7ap2hi0cs
06-02-2006, 01:31 AM
I've only been out of school a few years but it took me 8 months of interviewing after graduating to find my job. I wouldn't say i held out but i did pass up smaller opportunities in hopes to land a job with an agency, luckly i did. But I don't advise it, its a tough industry out there, there was hundreds of designers that applied for my job. I didn't know anyone at the company and they didn't know me and i didn't have pre-press experience but they loved my work and gave me a chance...i'm still there. it was all cold turkey. i just gave it my all and worked my ass of in school, luckly it paid off.