This isn’t the answer you’re looking for, but it’s an honest answer … I’d consider a different career field.
As a self-taught freelancer, here are some of the obstacles you’ll need to overcome:
- Competing against designers with a formal education.
- Competing against a boatload of self-taught designers.
- Competing against designers, both domestic and foreign, who are willing to work for pennies on the dollar.
- Would-be clients using contest and crowdsourcing sites.
- Would-be clients adopting a DIY approach (cheap software, templates, “good enough is good enough”).
- Would-be clients using AI to generate design.
Yes, I think there will always be a need for highly skilled designers. No, I don’t think AI will totally replace every designer. But I don’t see graphic design as being a growth field. Neither does the World Economic Forum. Take a look at this report from the WEF. They rank graphic design as eleventh from the bottom in terms of job growth / decline for 2025-2030.
I have three young-adult children, and I am glad none of them decided to follow in their dad’s footsteps. I’m not saying you can’t make it, but I am saying there are tremendous hurdles you’ll have to overcome. A wise person would do the research and ask the right questions up front.
I don’t think asking about courses is the right question. I think the right question would be, “Is graphic design a viable career path for me for the next 10, 20, 30, whatever number of years?”