r/financialindependence • u/fidgit86 • 9d ago

What do you do that you earn six figures?

It seems like a lot of people make a lot of money and it seems like I’m missing out on something. So those of you that do, whats your occupation that pays so well?

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u/harlequinn11 9d ago

High five! Product designer

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u/MrsEaves 9d ago

Creative director specializing in web/UX here!

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u/Ordinary_Emuu 9d ago

Is your username based on the font? 😉

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u/MrsEaves 9d ago

YES! I thought no one would ever ask. 😁

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u/jerks_and_lesbians 9d ago

Another Mrs Eaves fan here, and the story behind its name.

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u/agfabrega 9d ago

That “Q”, yum.

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u/bodaciousblueberries 9d ago

As an industrial (physical) product designer/ student, it always bugs me that app design isn’t called “digital product design” instead of just simply “product design”.

Clicking through the job posts is absolutely maddening lol, some hiring people will put “industrial design” and some put “product design”, but the latter is always 98% for designing apps.

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 9d ago

Hey! Physical product designer here!

I made just over a 100k my first year out of college 2.5 years ago. Now I make 80k a year, but I work 10 - 20 hours a week.

Here are some tips nobody will tell you…

First, while in school, fight tooth and nail to be able to win or at least be honorable mention in competitions like the Braun Design Awards, Good Design Awards, International Design Awards, IDEA awards, Core77 awards, Wanted Design Awards, or more. If you can get those on your resume, you can get paid wayyy more.

Get your day job at the largest privately owned company you can find that isn’t too corporate. Places that are too corporate have tough regulations on salary, even though they pay a mid range salary.

Step two, meet the company owner and demand your salary from them, not the chain of people.

Find a way to work mobile. Deliver good work while working less time.

Do side work that separates your income from your time! This is the number one thing! Find a company that sells a lot of volume that is willing to give you a royalty on what you design. The side hustle I’ve got now, I can make 4% of sales for something utility patentable and my royalties cap out at $500,000. Again, winning those competitions will help you get a foot in the door.

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u/Various_Contact_5672 9d ago

The side hustle I’ve got now, I can make 4% of sales for something utility patentable and my royalties cap out at $500,000.

I love working with people that have that kind of attitude.

From a cashflow standpoint, I much prefer using upfront funds to go towards the initial hardware order (decreasing cost per unit). That increases margins, and the royalties come out of the profits.

In the long run, its more expensive, but I find that experienced people willing to work mostly commission tend to do very good work.

I also used that approach when I was younger to get a foot in the door places that ordinarily wouldn't hire someone my age without a college degree.

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 9d ago

Same here! I get clients because it’s better than hiring an in house designer or consultancy. People don’t pay me by the hour, they pay me if and only if I get them results. Plus, they get high quality design even if they don’t have the initial funds. I only make money from my clients if I’ve already made them a lot more money.

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u/Scwewywabbit 9d ago

really smart advice I wish I'd knew and followed when I was younger!

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 9d ago

Audit a class. Then you’re technically a student. Submit work to the competitions. Start the snowball effect now. Better late than never.

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u/Scwewywabbit 9d ago

thanks for the tips! I'm actually a startup founder now so I've kind of broken out of the career mold, but I should have done more of these things back in the day!

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u/protiux 8d ago

Any suggestions for schools on the west coast?

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u/bodaciousblueberries 9d ago

Thank you for all the tips, and damn earning royalties is the dream, congrats on that! Despite the whole “ID is dying” panic, I’m happy to see that there’s some ID people reporting in on FI. Going in knowing how to negotiate will be invaluable.

I’m going into the junior year and it’s time to find that required internship. I’ll keep all your insights in mind when looking, it’s hard to find specific advice about ID careers sometimes. I’m lucky that I’m located in the bay area, so there’s a wide variety of companies and firms that I could apply to.

I’ll for sure apply to a major contest, I’m looking at testing the waters this year. Been working on changing up my portfolio, I think it falls a little flat in some spots and there’s too much on my pages. My graphic design isn’t the greatest but it’s getting there.

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 8d ago

I’m gonna be real. If you haven’t had internships yet, take the next semester off and intern or freelance. Don’t send into one competition. Send into 10 and hope for honorable mention in a couple.

With no internships and no competitions won, you’re unproven. An employer is taking a much bigger risk hiring someone who hasn’t been vouched for by another company or panel of judges.

You don’t have negotiating power with an unproven portfolio.

I took a semester off and interned. I also had 4 other internships done by the time I graduated. Total of 24 months. Take your time now, then enter the field looking much better on paper than your competition. It’s an investment that will come back to you.

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u/bodaciousblueberries 8d ago

I’m a non-traditional student and will be graduating at 30 years old in 2023, is it worth it to tough out an extra year or so?

My main focus was on finishing school ASAP because I was in college bouncing around majors since 2011 (I have 3 AAs from community lol) but if it’s more worth it to aim for extra internships, then I’ll push for that instead. It sounds like it might be more worth it to grab internships and extend school.

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 8d ago

Oh that’s a hard one. I haven’t walked that path, so I don’t have a ton of experience there.

It might be good to talk to other people who have done that. Or even better, maybe start getting advice from employers now, plus that kind of wanting to learn is a good way to get to know studios around you and make connections.

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u/bodaciousblueberries 8d ago

Thank you for all the advice again. I’ll ask around about people’s experiences and make those connections. I had a couple one on ones with my professors and attended a couple of meetings online with alumni from my school that gave me some insights. I gotta reach out to some employers now.

Previously I studied film and screenwriting, which so far I noticed helps with some of the elements of ID work (like renderings, storytelling, etc.) I put those points in my resume.

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 8d ago

That’s great. Combine them and specialize. Create your own niche. Don’t treat your past experience like it’s vestigial.

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 8d ago

Leverage your former career into your next if you want. It could provide you with a boost of credibility. Meaning, if you want to design for Kitchen Aid, it’s a huge plus if you were a chef before.

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u/protiux 8d ago

Hi, I’m a civil engineer with ~7yrs experience looking to shift careers. . . Any tips on where to start such a transition?

I’m looking to stay in a professional realm but inject more art & creativity into my days. Am I barking up the right tree here?

Thanks!

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u/Agitated_Shake_5390 8d ago

Maybe? Do you want to design products? It’s a hard path that takes a ton of work. It’s hard to do it day in and day out if you’re not fully into it.

But, ID is not a one size fits all path. I know a lot of teams that have design engineers who are a go between for the two departments. A lot of function first places like their designers to be like engineers. A lot of places that are more aesthetics focused want more of an artistry kind of mind.

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u/protiux 6d ago

Fiod for thought. Thanks. I’m starting to think it’s a bit more to bite off than I initially thought

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u/jackieohface 9d ago

Heyyy! Physical product designer here. It is wild isn’t it? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given up trying to explain industrial design. Half my family thinks I’m an industrial systems engineer, the other half an ‘artist’. To be fair, it is engineering + art!

Anyway, in spirit of the OP question, I’m at ~13 years of experience, just getting into design management and should clear 100k this year.

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u/bodaciousblueberries 9d ago

Haha I feel it, people always assume it has to do with architecture, designing factories. It’s basically a little of everything, engineering and art is accurate!

Glad to know the salaries can be in the upper range, despite the low number of actual ID jobs.

Would you mind sharing the climb to where you’re at? Did you start in a firm and climb to management, or do freelance first then switch or something? I’m still not sure which side is better to get into once I graduate, but I’m thinking start out in a firm.

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u/jackieohface 8d ago

Sure!

I got an internship after school (graduated in ‘08, unfortunately). Started as a 3 month contract and I renewed 3 more times, so a full year. Awesome, very collaborative work environment but there was a hiring freeze for full time work so no dice there. $14/hr plus cheap company subsidized housing. Ended up being around $30k for the year.

Did freelance for ~a year while jobhunting. Mostly graphic and web design (simple pages for local businesses) and a few conceptual ID projects. Maybe made $10k, lived at home.

Moved to Phoenix as I had family there and ended up finding a job at an adult novelty company, yes really. Like any of the ‘goodies’ you might find at Spencer’s Gifts or Adam & Eve. Worked there for a year and a half- mostly product photography, artwork and packaging design, a little 3D work thrown in. Also worked trade shows, those were crazy! Started at 40k got a raise to 45k in 2011.

Got a LinkedIn ping from someone I knew from my internship, he was a design manager at a kitchen / housewares company in Seattle. Spent 5 years there. Small company with just a few designers (graphic and product). We had an in-house brand and also did private label and custom products for large household brand names. Got to do everything from client concept pitches to working with tooling engineers in China and product photography. Got hired on at $45k in 2011, left making $65k in 2016.

Seattle was too expensive and I was the most senior designer there. I knew I could grow my skills if I had larger and more experienced team to grow with.

I ended up back (across the country) at the company I had my original internship with, all of the upper management in the design department was still there after 8 years. Hired on as a staff level designer at $63k, bumped to senior ID $70k, lead ID $82k and ID manager $96k (all with annual bonuses and performance bumps). This is at a large power tool company, we do all of our design work in-house. From VBL development, blue sky projects with our advanced engineering team, early concept renders for the sales team, handing off detailed CAD to our production engineers.

All that to say, I’ve only ever worked at small owner-run companies or done corporate work. I think working at a design firm would be exciting in terms of variety of work. I’ve heard from a few colleagues that design teams at some agencies / firms can be ultra competitive. Designers are incentivized to ‘win’ and get their projects picked by a client, understandably makes them hesitant to share their skill set to boost the competency of the group.

More so than the content of the work, I think it’s important to find a group and environment that motivates you personally. Whether that’s through fierce competition or collaboration and mutual sharing of skills and workflow.

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u/bodaciousblueberries 8d ago

Thanks for all the insights and sharing your journey, much appreciated.

It sounds like company and contract work might be more fitting for me than a firm, but I won’t rule it out till I try it! Step 1 is get an internship and try to enter some contests, it sounds like, so I’ll start there.

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u/Strude187 9d ago

I always forget these jobs are paid better in the US. I’m a senior product designer with 10 years industry experience in the UK and am still way under $100k.

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u/pigsbladder 9d ago

$140k + benefits for that role here.

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u/Strude187 9d ago

Oh damn…

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u/one_big_tomato 9d ago

How much holiday do you get, though?

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u/Strude187 9d ago

Benefits are pretty good where I am. 25 days holiday, private healthcare, 10% bonus, flexi-hours, 60-40 WFH…

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u/Various_Contact_5672 9d ago

Holidays are often more negotiable than the salary.

When I went to work for a large military contractor, I had something like 4 weeks vacation, though the salary was capped by pay grade at like $90k.

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u/giaa262 9d ago

I disagree with the range given. 10 yrs experience puts you in the lead/principal range and you’d be making 180+ here. 250+ at a FAANG

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u/Strude187 9d ago

I’ll be lead by end of the year. I’ve checked and I’m about £5-10k underpaid where I am. Crazy how much more I could earn if I moved to the states. I have a few old colleagues who are at Google, sounds like it might be worth me seeing if they can get my foot in the door.

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u/giaa262 9d ago

If you can make it in and last a couple years it's guaranteed jobs for life after that resume item.

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u/Strude187 9d ago

Very good point…

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u/Hawkes75 37M | 33.33% to $3M 9d ago

And you'll likely pay a lot less in taxes over here.

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u/Strude187 9d ago

Yep, 40% tax is a hard pill to swallow.

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u/somander 9d ago

Same here, but far from $100k. Mainly because I like the hands-on stuff too much and have little management skill. And working at a small consultancy with little growth potential. I need to start thinking about alternatives, not sure if I can stay competitive for much longer :(

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u/giaa262 9d ago

Hey mate you can be hands on and make bank. Look for individual contributor roles like Design Lead or Principal designer.