From ID degree to IT industry and back to ID after a year?

Design Discussions students and schools
1

I’m applying for ID jobs. I’m going to graduate in June 2011 and I live in Ireland. Ideally, I want to work in an area which combines styling with some mechanical design - areas such as smart packaging solutions, automotive accessories, and architectural installations.

My financial situation would not allow me to apply for an unpaid internship. Also, I may not be able to work with contacts that I’ve made in US and Canada, because Canadian government has to make a labour market opinion whether I’d be better in my field than a native Canadian industrial designer. This process may take up to 6 months and I can’t wait for this amount of time, and I doubt if I would get preference over a native designer.

However, the best I can do is to take on work such as software testing or a technician role in an IT company that has links with an ID studio. I can produce a good portfolio while working in those jobs. These roles are similar to what I’m doing in my thesis project - I’m writing a simple piece of software as well as doing traditional product design.

So my question is, if I take on that kind of work for a year, will it be looked at negatively by employers in traditional ID areas? Will they think that I was not working hard enough to get ID jobs?

Any of your opinions would be greatly appreciated and I’m looking forward to your replies.

2

I think you’ll find it hard to jump from an actual IT job into a linked ID area.

If you are looking for a job doing interaction design, that might be one thing, but IT guys don’t get to design stuff and vice versa.

Taking on a job of any kind is never really looked negatively, especially if you outright state that you needed to support yourself while continuing to look for an ID position.

If you have the ability to land a decent IT position (or any job for that matter) then you can still pursue your ID in your spare time to refine and improve your portfolio while looking for an ID job.