Designer Career Pyramid

November 18th, 2005 by Jeremy Johnson
Tagged with: design, self promotion.

career_pyramid

I went to Richland College last week to speak to a portfolio class about some things i’ve learned in the past 5+ years in the design field. Titled “10 things I wish they told me” (pdf) I went over things that I noticed students “missing” when I was in school.

One new slide i added (i also gave this talk at ATI earlier this year) was a model I call the “Designer Career Pyramid” (pdf). I wanted to show what I think is a somewhat typical growth/career chart was for a designer.

Starting at the bottom, in school you learn may different types of design – from video to print. As you move “up” the pyramid you start to narrow your skills to a particular design area that interests you. As you continue “up” you move from doing these things to thinking and directing these things, until at the “top” you become a expert at whichever part of the design field you’ve decide you enjoy most (hopefully!). I also added a pay scale to this model, more for the students, as I think college kids really want to know what they can make someday – these numbers were not really researched, but I think it’s possible.

I’ve had this idea in my head for awhile, but have never put it down on paper before. Download the Designer Career Pyramid and see for yourself.

8 Responses to “Designer Career Pyramid”

  1. Patrick says:

    Have you ever heard or or read Berger’s Ways of Seeing? I found it to be a very interesting read regarding how we look at things and see the world around us, a topic I’d never really considered.

  2. Designer Career Pyramid

    A neat little diagram mapping out a designer's career. I do not know if it is really fitting for most but I can see it work for me (after adjusting it a bit). One must notice that (this being a pyramid and all) it gets rather thin towards the top….

  3. Marla Erwin says:

    Well, that’s depressing. I should be making a LOT more money by now ….

  4. Yegor Gilyov says:

    Hey, my hour rate is $40, but my annual revenue is much less than $80K… Do you really work 9 productive hours each day?

  5. Someone out there is making $40 a hour for a 40 hr work week – I’m sure not, but I’m sure someone is ;-)

    Traditionally if you’re freelancing you would charge much more then a “hourly salary”, your freelance rate could be as high as $150+ if you’re an expert in your field. Plus – you could be put on a 2+ month 8 hour a day project – and then bookend with another project if you’re skills are in demand.

    Again – these dollar amounts weren’t really researched in depth…

  6. Georg says:

    Well, I am sure, that noone of those, who charge 40 dollars per hour, is working 40 hour a week. They would either burn by now, or, what’s more likely, begin to charge more. I mean, if they are already smart enough to load themselves with 40 hours of work…

  7. Min Tran says:

    I’m 5 years experienced web developer, but still 15$/month. Oh my eastern salary :(

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