: What job can help bridge me over to graphic design while I study? I would like to have some kind of creative job role while I teach myself graphic design. I currently work in a factory

@Mendez620

Any job is about having a strong CV and a good portfolio, more-so for creative jobs like design. Make some mock-ups, make them good, maybe some templates that you sell or give away. Then get some freelance work.

From there the choice is freelance or an actual job. whatever you choose you'll need to be able to show examples of good work and explain what you did. at any level.

I taught myself design whilst having a job as a developer then after a few freelance gigs (business cards, wordpress sites, car decals) looked at jobs in front end development and got a few offers as a junior at around £26k

If that isn't enough to keep you going, and the assembly line pays better then i'd suggest keeping it as a hobby and doing freelance work at the weekends or something

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@Nimeshi706

From my own perception, the market is flooded. You'll be hard-pressed to get an actual job designing without any experience.

There are hundreds if not thousands of graduates looking for employment every year in addition to the hundreds or thousands of self-taught people looking for employment.

Your best bet is to study, work as much freelance as you can and learn as much as you can on your own for a couple years. Once you have a solid portfolio in the field you'd like to enter, then contemplate looking for employment.

I'm not aware of any company who would hire merely based on the desire to be a designer. There are far too many looking for work who have at least some experience.

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@Nimeshi706

Unfortunately without any experience you're rather limited. Places require you to know things before they trust you with a job. Inexperience costs a company money that they usually aren't willing to pay for, not when they could hire someone who already learned what they need to know.

In the beginning you're best off working any job you can while going to school. You can shift your focus to something more creative as your education progresses. Maybe start with some night classes -- see what's out there. But you can't be too picky to start.

I didn't go to school for Graphic Design, I did Computer Science. I worked two part-time jobs while going to school -- neither which were related to programming or even computers (one was security and the other was at a restaurant). It wasn't until two years into my degree that I landed an internship at a software company.

Likewise my girlfriend has been going to school for graphic design for a couple years now and just landed a job at a print shop. I don't think she could have gotten that job before she started her studies.

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