Career decision/Avoiding the pigeon hole

To those with experience in career do’s & don’ts:

I’m the 1st & only packaging designer @ a family owned distribution company.
Been here 1 year, boss likes me so much they’re renovating a new studio for me.
I think he assumes I’ll stick around for 20 years, but I’m leaving in 2-3 years after my fiancée graduates here.

  1. Should I tell him I’m not staying long term?
    Could that jeopardize my job? Is it bad if he builds the studio and then I leave?

  2. Ultimately I want to design products, not packaging.
    Am I putting myself in a pigeon hole staying for another 2-3 years?
    The projects here are not good btw, have managed adding portfolio pieces only by freelance…

Thanks for any advice :smiley:

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  1. No. It is none of his business on how you live your life. He can fire you tomorrow. Giving him 2 weeks notice is more than enough.

  2. Design is problem solving, packaging/product/UX/whatever. For me it’s the core skill that matters. If your boss likes you so much, you should be able to interface with customers and make your job more than “just” packaging design.

I think there are some sound perspectives being offered on this, but I’ll add that the biggest thing to remember is that at the end of the day, you are your own business and as such, you need to make decisions from that perspective. I’ve worked at companies that I know had management that cared for its employees, but when times got back and the budget needed to be scaled back, made the business decision to lay people off. It wasn’t personal, it was business. I’d wager the company you currently work for would do the same if it needed to.

Same should go for you - when the time comes, two weeks notice is a perfectly professional and reasonable amount of time to give. If it would make you feel better, when you submit your resignation, offer to stay a little longer in order to help facilitate the transition. If they accept that offer, great. If not, at least you tried.

Great advice.

Thank you all for the help! Some really great points that clear up whats been on my mind.