Career Pivot to something more lucrative for working Mom

[Anonymous]

I'm a full-time working mom and I'm thinking about going back to school for better job opportunities. What field should I be looking at that would have the best trade-off (cost of program/expected salary)? I'd like to find something that will help better support my family - My husband works full time too..

[Anonymous]

That's too broad. What do you do now? What do you like about it? what is your current degree in?

[Anonymous]

And how old are you - unfortunately, that’s relevant too.

[Anonymous]

OP here - graphic design, i'm also feeling a little burnt out by the demand on creativity. I feel like I wouldn't mind literally doing anything else - if a factory worker paid 200k a year, i'd do it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - graphic design, i'm also feeling a little burnt out by the demand on creativity. I feel like I wouldn't mind literally doing anything else - if a factory worker paid 200k a year, i'd do it

Spoiler: It doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - graphic design, i'm also feeling a little burnt out by the demand on creativity. I feel like I wouldn't mind literally doing anything else - if a factory worker paid 200k a year, i'd do it

Spoiler: It doesn't.

yeah that was just an example for dramatic affect. I'm mid-30s

[Anonymous]

Graphic Design is a tough field right now. There is a glut of designers on the market that are working freelance and the costs are being driven way down by them.

You need to look at something that is adjacent to what you like to do. If you like Graphic Design, maybe look at publication management or working in sales for a print shop. You could also look at event management and design.

I'm not sure you need to go back to school to change to these jobs.

You need to think about what you want to do and what you will be happy doing for 8 hours a day. I can't see a graphic designer being happy doing project management.

[Anonymous]

You don't need to go back to school. Agree with finding something adjacent. How about UX Design? A ton of job and good money.

[Anonymous]

Sales.

[Anonymous]

Start a business.

I did that at 29yo working mom of 2 and it's been really really great.

What about becoming a recruiter for graphic designers

[Anonymous]

Uspto is hiring design examiners. Your background should qualify as long as you can read schematics. Salary starts low but ramps up quickly. Hours are flexible and it’s fully wfh. It’s not exciting work but the wfh and flexible hours options are great for parents. Also know some graphic people who went into law firm work (for exhibits) and that seemed good pay.

[Anonymous]

Do not waste money going back to school. Agree with the PPs who say to find something adjacent to what you do now. UX Design would be lucrative, particularly if you can get into FAANG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start a business.

I did that at 29yo working mom of 2 and it's been really really great.

What about becoming a recruiter for graphic designers

Probably not a big increase in compensation there but you wouldn't need to go back to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do not waste money going back to school. Agree with the PPs who say to find something adjacent to what you do now. UX Design would be lucrative, particularly if you can get into FAANG.

I'm a UX designer. UX pays much better than graphic design. You can look at Comparably and multiple UX salary surveys online to get an idea of salaries. Many companies want UI/UX designers, meaning that they want someone who can do usability research, knows usability best practices, and can do the UI design work too. Other companies separate UX researchers from UX designers. UI design would be a natural progression from graphic design. UX design would take more training.

Ideally your current company would pay for training (Nelson Norman is pretty good). Does your company give you access to LinkedIn Learning or Coursera?

UX is a competitive field and so many people are trying to get into it. Folks on the UX slack channel will have lots of advice about transitioning to the field: mixedmethods.slack.com.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sales.

Only if she's hot.