Should I do graphic design? Plz gimme your advice! I implore of you!

[Roarzan]

Ok, got done with university freshman year in engineering, but I think I want to better do Graphic Design now.

My mom is so against me switching majors (not that she decides for me or anything). She says that graphic designers don't make good money and that I don't have nearly as good a future as a Graphic Designer than as an engineer.

The things I've always been good at are math and drawing. But engineering is boring the living hell out of me. And Graphic Design seems so much cooler, and college won't be hell.

But how much do you make as a Graphic Designer? Do you have stable jobs or do you always have to be looking? I heard there were Senior Graphic Designers, how do you become one of those?

I know it might be too much, but whatever advice or whatever you can give me helps. Thanks!

[hewligan]

I'm a graphic designer. I make about the same as my friend who's an engineer.

He made better money than me when we were straight out of University, though.

[Roarzan]

ok, that's good to hear

can you be a freelancer AND work in an office? (new question, but plz don't ignore the other ones!)

[drawingguy]

If you are looking for money stay with the engineering. You are more likely to make a great living as an engineer. As with anything, you still have to be pretty good to make the big bucks.

I have a friend that is an engineer. He is very smart and very good at his job. He makes a very very comfortable living. I will probably never hit that pay scale in my lifetime.

I don't do it for the money though. I do it because it's a better life for me than sitting around doing engineering type stuff. I could've been an engineer. I have the smarts, but I am happy with my career choice.

Just do what you want. I switched from GD to illustration in college and my parents hated that. Heck do both.

[WannaBrie]

If you are good at math and drawing, what about architecture? Have you ever taken a mechanical drawing course? Just something to think about. The GD market is pretty oversaturated and if money is your motivation, you will probably be dissappointed, esp. fresh out of uni.

[drawingguy]

You could go into an interdisciplinary degree program.

Carnegie Mellon has some good ones
http://www.cmu.edu/interdisciplinary/

I'm sure that other schools have these types of programs. CMU just does a lot of it.

[Yossarian]

I switched from engineering during my freshman year and instantly felt better about life in general. On average you'd most likely make more as an engineer, but there is a whole gamut of salaries for both professions. No matter what you choose, you've got to consider your personal happiness before blindly chasing the dollar.

You can always freelance outside your regular gig. Just be sure you don't step on the toes of any non-compete agreements you may have signed with your employer.

P.S. Graphic design isn't always fun and sexy either.;)

[salsa]

I make enough money to pay the rent, fly home to see my parents on the holidays, and put away enough savings to perhaps retire on when I'm 75, provided I only live until I'm 80. :-) But I like what I do and one of my favorite things about graphic design is that there's always something new and there's tons of variety.

The thing about college, though, is that the work you do in class does not necessarily reflect real life. So before you write off engineering because your first year classes are boring, I suggest maybe doing an internship or job shadow with engineers this summer to find out what the job is really like. And Graphic Design might not be what you think it is either. I have a friend whose teenage daughter wants to be a graphic designer because she likes to grunge up photos of her friends for MySpace. My reality: I'm a nerd who sits in a cubicle and right now I'm working on a nutrition facts label.

[PrintDriver]

Be advised, GD is not about YOUR art. It's about what the client needs and the best way to represent that. Far too many students don't learn this until it's too late. Be sure you aren't trading boredom for something worse.

[Ned]

I'm a graphic designer. I make about the same as my friend who's an engineer.

He made better money than me when we were straight out of University, though.

Yeah, I think that's a very good comparison, Hewligan. Straight out of school you're more likely to get a respectable job right away as an engineer, but if you stick with it and work on it you can make just as much in either career.

In my opinion, I think the limits are much more restrained as an engineer. My father was a professional engineer who worked for the state for something like 25 or 30 years. He quit because he realized that in the end it's just another dead-end job, and you'll never get any further working for somebody else. This is true, because there is always a plateau in those kinds of jobs, even though the money is more stable.

Personally though, I would never choose a career with money as the deciding factor. I work for 5 days a week and only take 2 off. Of those 5 out of 7 days, I spend at least 11 or 12 hours at the office or commuting to the office. That gives me maybe 4 or 5 hours on my own before I collapse of exhaustion. Now, I don't know exactly what percentage of my life I spend doing work-related activities and what percentage I have of my own time besides eating and sleeping - but I can easily say that a huge majority of my life is spent working.

So I'd better damn well like what I do! :rolleyes:

[OTEM]

Try looking at (information) illustration instead of graphic design. If you have an engineering background you will have a great advantage - and your maths skills will also help you. of course, your decision will be made upon the availabilty of courses. I am an illustration student myself.

[petchy]

You've been given a lot of good advice here, just chiming in to say that I'm not a graphic designer for the money. I am a graphic designer because I love what I do and could never imagine doing a job just for the money. I spent two years working my butt off in crappy temp jobs and freelancing on the side after earning my degree, but patience paid off in the end :)

[tZ]

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos090.htm
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

[Pensiur]

Sounds to me like you're just a designer by nature ;) If you're that good in math, learn engineering, freshman year is always boring, stick it out for one more year. Get those skills down while you can, in your Junior year if you still want to switch do it. Your engineering skills will make you a better designer whichever way you go.
I'm voting with Mom :)!

[CkretAjint]

Careers aren't about the money. Go with what YOU want to do.

As for becoming a Senior Graphic Designer, it happens just like in any other career. A person with more experience and than a beginner but less that a master (Art Director).

[YNOT]

I've gotta say, I don't feel that I make 'great' money, but I am able to pay the bills so I'm happy. I started in mechanical engineering at school and ended up with a career in graphic design after graduating.

But, I will say that along with doing graphic design full-time and doing it as a side job too...I truly enjoy what I do and to me, that is worth more than any dollar amount. I truly look forward to going to work every day and I especially look forward to coming home and doing my car related design in the evenings.

Make sure that whichever career path you choose, you'll be happy doing it day-in and day-out. ;)

[drawingguy]

I'm not sure where you guys live, but where I live engineers greatly out-earn graphic designers. It wouldn't be uncommon for an engineer to make over 100,000/yr while most graphic designers would be lucky to make half of that.

[WannaBrie]

I'm not sure where you guys live, but where I live engineers greatly out-earn graphic designers. It wouldn't be uncommon for an engineer to make over 100,000/yr while most graphic designers would be lucky to make half of that.


agreed. My dad was an engineer (retired) and he made enough coin to put 5 kids through private school while my mom was a homemaker. I barely make enough money to raise my one child with no spouse.

[Ned]

I can't compare, because I never worked as hard as my dad. ;)

[Broacher]

Careers are about money. Not just money, but it's certainly a key thing-- and there's nothing wrong with being motivated by it.

I just wish we wouldn't all be so quick to always respond to these kind of queries with "it's not just the money". Sure. But that's true about just about any job. And stuff like "I'm paying the bills" might be a basic generalization, but doesn't it depend on what 'the bills' really are?

But the interesting math is the return of happiness for the portion of your life that you put into a career. And income IS connected to happiness. As is free time. How do they balance in a graphic design career as compared to others?

What do you have to personally sacrifice?

What skills are transferable to other career market choices if it doesn't work out?

Which ones are not?

How cash-valuable are these skills these days?

Will they hold this value over time? If yes, how long? If no, why not?

Are skill upgrades necessary, and if so how frequently and what's the ROI of this investment?

Does technology threaten the shelf-life of gained skills?

Who pays or supports skill upgrades?

What is the average lifespan of this career? Does income/authority/opportunity increase or decrease after a certain achievement level?

What's the effort it takes to move from the middle to the top as compared to other professions of equal skill and/or skill building investment?

Where are most sitting in the scale from top to bottom? How does the median income compare to other skilled professions?

Which way is the market value moving-- for whom? Is the median income up or down and how does that rate compare with other professions?

Is the value of the skillset threatened by offshore competition? Steady or increasing/decreasing?

Are there professional organizations that protect and mainatain industry standards and/or certification? How effective are they?

Is projected future demands for these skills for the low/medium or high end of the skill market?

And so on...

The other thing that we risk when we say things like "money isn't everything" is that we propagate, however unintentionally, or even subtle and subconsciously, a growing perceptional skew to non-designers who hear or read this--that designers don't really care about money, too much. That we're willing to get paid less if the work is satisfying and/or interesting. Is that what we want them to think when we're facing them across a negotiating table? Is that what other professions practice?