<p>While financial aid covers my rent and tuition and most of my basic needs, I want to start earning my own money so I can support the lifestyle I want to live and start saving. I have a choice between going for a traditional, entry-level job or a picking up a skill like graphic design and doing freelance work. I would like to do the second option and work freelance, since I love design, could be paid based on what I put into it instead of a flat rate for my time, and could work into what I do for a future career (front-end web developer). But there's no job security and it's dependent on me spending a lot of time upfront learning graphic design.</p>
<p>On the other hand I wouldn't be happy working a "real" job since there will be little opportunity for me to move up, a really competitive job market, and possibly not being happy with where I work. I would like some outside opinions.</p>
<p>Find a traditional job that will pay you an hourly wage (or salary), especially if it’s only a part time job. If you’re serious about freelance work, spend some time learning graphic design and becoming proficient at it. When you’re good enough to charge, get some freelance work or projects. Since you already have paying work, then you have the luxury of taking less pay than you would like for these beginning projects while you build up a portfolio, and then you can start to charge for more. If you’re making enough money off of it, you can always quit your job and use your freelance work to supplement whatever lifestyle you want.</p>
<p>This way you are still making money while you get good at graphic design, and in the event that you don’t get the type of money you would like from freelance work, you still have money to fall back on.</p>
<p>Why can’t you get a job as a graphic designer at a firm and freelance on your own time as well? I had the same idea to get a typical job and freelance but I would be so incredibly bored if that typical/stable job was not creative (As I do not know what I would do outside a creative field), so I chose another area of arts that I am interested in and am being trained in. I plan to graduate with a bfa in interior design, get a job at a design firm, and freelance in illustration (I’ve already started that this summer).</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you can’t do both. I wonder if I am weird in thinking this lol.</p>
<p>@naueth: OP might have to check with his/her employer to see if that is ok. For instance, if his/her job and his/her freelance work are in very similar fields, his/her company may have a clause in their contract forbidding the outside work. Basically they don’t want your freelance work to compete with the firm’s work and stealing clients/profit. But I’m not familiar with graphic design at all, so I could be wrong.</p>
<p>@naueth: I was also concerned that the OP made it sound like they still needed to learn graphic design, so that would make it much more difficult to get a job in the field. Not all part time jobs have to be soul sucking work either. I’m sure the OP could find something that interests them, if they really can’t stand the thought of working somewhere random. If the OP can find an entry-level graphic design job, then that’d be great, but they probably need experience first.</p>
<p>@Seirsly I didn’t know companies people work for could limit your freedoms like that. That sounds horrible ;;</p>
<p>@OP&baktrax Oh, I guess I read it wrong. Are you on the verge of finishing your degree and are you in the midst of deciding whether to get a normal job based on that degree or to simply freelance in Graphic Design? If so, I think baktrax’s suggestion is correct. Either that or if you feel it is necessary you can go back to school for a master’s in GD (although I’m not sure if that’s necessary or to the extent of your interest).
If you have no skill set yet, do not just jump headfirst with no backup into a field like GD. You will most likely (but not 100% or anything) crash and burn with no experience (sorry if I sound harsh, but design and art fields are extremely competitive even among graduates)</p>
<p>@Naueth: I should mention that that’s what I’ve heard about civil engineers, so obviously there are large differences between engineering and graphic design!</p>
<p>I am also getting the notion that you need to learn graphic design still like another poster? If so, many entry-level jobs don’t give too many hours… probably around 15-25 average. It’s plenty of time for you to learn graphic design on the side, then once you are ready, you can freelance.</p>
<p>Also, freelance jobs aren’t exactly stable so if you’re looking to “support a lifestyle” as you said, I’d recommend doing entry-level with freelance on the side. Plus the entry-level jobs usually offer some universal work skills!</p>
<p>I’m currently doing an entry-level position while doing some freelance on the side and I think it works very well even with school. Since you can stop any time for freelance, you can control how/when your “second job” is but still make money with the first.</p>