Which option would you recommend?
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0 voters
BACKGROUND:
So I’ve been thinking hard and in desperate need for some advice about what I want to do and have spent a lot of time lately researching a career as an industrial designer and it has really interested me. To give a very brief overview of my background:
- Loved doing art as a kid (up to aged 18), but gave up on that as I didn’t see a career in it
- Strong maths skills and ended up doing MEng in Mechanical Engineering (I’m UK based)
- Have spent a couple of years at an engineering company working as Design Engineer
I’ve recently decided to leave my engineering company and spend a couple of months travelling. I’ll also be moving to London once I return and was intending to buy a house, meaning I’d like to find a decent paying job. However, finding something I love to do comes first and I’m willing to do whatever it takes!
I’ve recently been thinking about what it is that I truly love doing. I’ve found in the brief career I’ve had so far that I’ve always loved designing and sketching, and whenever in my current role as a design engineer I’ve been working on CAD/design work, the time just flies. Therefore, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d like to potentially pursue a career as a design engineer, but not before I reach out for some advice! Obviously the first thing would be to understand what kind of skills I have and experience etc. At present, that would only entail art work from school and some designs from university/work (these more engineering related than pure design). I don’t want my whole engineering career to go to waste so I’d like to use this as a selling point.
QUESTIONS:
- Would I need to get a degree in ID, maybe masters course to build skills/portfolio? Due to financial reasons (there may be funding options), I would like to avoid this as I already have a masters in engineering, but if it’s needed to get the set of skills/thinking required for people to want to hire me then so be it! Are there options for those in a similar boat to me to get into a career like this?
- Is there a way I can see what life as an ID would be like before committing fully? Perhaps work as a design engineer at an ID company?
- I’ll be travelling for a couple of months and bringing a sketch book with me to get some ideas going and create a portfolio. Any other advice for what I can do in this time?
- I would say my sketching skills are good, but probably not on the same level (particularly rapid sketching) as some ID’ers - any advice on how to improve this?
- Any recommended reading/research to help me?
OPTIONS:
I’ve come up with some options on what I think I can do - please feel free to add more!
1 - Move to London, aim to get a job as a Design Engineer at an Industrial Design company. Once in this role, I can see if ID is what I want to do and look to get a role within that company.
2 - Move to London, apply for ID masters programs, develop portfolio in the mean time and eventually secure an ID job.
3 - Move to London, work on portfolio between now and then, apply for ID jobs - but I don’t think this is possibl…
I know this is a long post, but I could really appreciate the advice. I’m positive there must be other engineer turned designers out there so how have you guys managed it? Thank you all!