Do I Need a Design Degree to Get a Junior Design Job?

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This is one of the hardest questions to answer as a junior designer who is trying to take the big step into the design industry, whether it be graphic design, web design, digital design or even photography. There are many pro's and con's to the decision of whether or not to attend post-secondary school to get a degree. There are many designers that are completely self-taught and are earning the same, if not more, as other junior designers who have attended design school. Having the right combination of skills and having real-world design experience will help you get a job - regardless of what design courses you have taken. Deciding whether design college is right for you as a junior designer is based on many of the following factors:

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Advantages of Attending Design School for a Degree

There are many advantages for attending design school as a junior designer. When it comes to choosing, it all comes down to what is best for you and your career. There are many attributes that are important to your decisions such as; Are you a quick learner? Do you like working with other students? Do you have a hard time teaching yourself new design skills? Do you enjoy a classroom setting? These factors will have a big determination in whether or not your personality is suited for design school life. Another important aspect is choosing a design program that allows you to build up a portfolio, confidence in yourself and your design work, helps you gain experience through design internships and classwork and points you in the right direction for receiving the best junior job opportunities after you graduate.

Build Up Your Design Portfolio

Building your outline portfolio is vital to having the capacity to get consideration from potential bosses after you graduate. While having an outline degree to move down your abilities can get your foot in the entryway, yet what you exhibit through your portfolio will decide if you're justified regardless of a moment look or not worth their time. Configuration schools gives you certifiable experience through an awesome learning condition that urges to gain from your errors - something that would get you let go from your occupation in this present reality. Ensure that the outline ventures you finish in school are high caliber and can later be utilized as a part of your portfolio. Numerous businesses comprehend that being new out of school you won't have much outline understanding, however in the event that you indicate potential and energy for your field, they will probably give you a shot. Having an executioner portfolio will prevail upon businesses, as opposed to what training you forces.

Gain a Connections Network

By attending design school, you'll often meet like-minded people that you will get along well with. Cherish these connections because after you graduate, you never know who you might land a design job from. Being in design school also allows you a few years to build up your presence online through your design portfolio and other sites like Twitter and Dribbble. Making these contacts with current or other junior designers could open more doors for you and present further opportunities for you as a designer. Design college provides you with a number of options to connect not only with classmate, but mentors and possible employers, which can be an invaluable source later on in your junior designer job. Sending out your resume and portfolio to as many design agencies as possible while you're still taking your degree will be beneficial in solidifying work in the future. youtube background maker | YouTube channel background maker

Gain Experience Before You Graduate

One of the great advantages to attending design school for a degree is the free time that accompanies your studies. Many design courses are not overly demanding, which presents the perfect opportunity to do some extra freelance design work on the side. This not only can help you make some extra cash while in design school, but it will help you gain real-world experience with real clients. This will look great on a resume and also give you real design pieces to include and showcase in your portfolio. Without design experience, it can be difficult to find junior design work and may prove a challenge for you if you don't attend design school.

Disadvantages of Attending Design School for a Degree

Although there are many perks to attending school for a design degree as a young designer, there are also many disadvantages that can detrimental to your success. Design schools across the world have been scrutinized because of their lack of up to date teaching materials, the fact that degrees don't really matter in the design world and that much of the information still in curriculums can't keep up to pace with what's happening in the design industry online. Being taught wrong information can not only greatly affect your career, it can instill bad design habits early on.

Build Confidence in Your Design Skills

Post-auxiliary plan school permits you a cushion of time to help sharpen your aptitudes and trust in your capacity to work with others, meet due dates and enhance your correspondence and introduction abilities. There are not very many youthful architects that have the ideal blend of outline abilities to be effective inside such a brief timeframe outline without some kind of formal plan training or degree. In the event that you aren't positive about your outline aptitudes or you don't have much real plan involvement, you would go out on a limb to not go to configuration school. When you're recently beginning as a lesser, it can overpower with all the data you have to learn. Going to configuration school makes an establishment of learning and an organized course to give you the building squares of abilities you have to know as a lesser creator.youtube background maker 

You Can Learn at Your Own Pace

Rather than being restricted to learning at the pace of others, you can learn at your own comfort level. You can also pick the quality of the resources you are learning from, such as online resources, books, magazines and blogs. If you are disciplined enough as a junior designer, this option is definitely more appealing. Being in an environment like this is an excellent way to improve your skill set by knowing your own strengths, weaknesses and confidence levels in certain disciplines. Taking an online design degree may also be something to consider for young creatives who don't want to attend school.

Do You Really Need a Design Degree to get a Junior Design Job?

youtube background maker  There are many pro's and con's to both side of attending university for a design degree. As a junior designer, it's important to asses what would be best for you in your current situation and for your future as a designer. Using design school to build up a portfolio, your skill set, connections within the design industry and experience even before you graduate is a huge bonus for attending post-secondary design classes, while diving right into the design world can be daunting and overwhelming for many young designers. At the end of the day, you have to understand your personality and what would work best for your design career. Having passion and dedication to what you do will get you far as a designer.

It Costs Money

It's a no-brainer that design school will set you back and it's almost a guarantee you'll leave with a lot of debt in hand. Many junior designers find not going to design school enticing, especially with the promising life of a design freelancer (set your own hours, work with great clients and get paid really well). Instead of attending design school, you can jump right into the workforce and start earning money, rather than spending it. You can gain real-life experience from clients and get to pick which projects you work on, rather than being forced to work on design projects you have no interest in. Many junior designers that take this route are extremely motivated, can adapt to new design  youtube background maker technologies and love to learn new things in not only their field, but parallel fields as well. Although you can expect a steep learning curve if you take this route, there are definitely young designers who are capable if you are passionate and motivated to be successful (while saving money at the same time!). youtube background maker 

Courses Are Sometimes Outdated and Irrelevant

Because the design industry moves forward at such a quick pace, school programs can't often keep up meaning the quality of your education may be at stake. Following the design industry online means you are keeping up to date with current technologies and techniques. Seeking knowledge outside the classroom as a junior will benefit you greatly throughout your enter in the design industry. Having resources such as this website will sometimes prove to be more useful than actually attending a school for a degree. youtube background maker