Great discussion. I totally agree that as y’all are young and have no family to tie you to one place, you should go wherever you can find work. Get out of Atlanta. Now, the only reason why I say this is because the market here is just too depressed right now. You will have better luck in other regions. I have a friend, an architect, who lived in San Francisco when the market dropped. He moved back here (a Tech grad) and found NO work. He moved back to SF six months later (in 2010) and has been gainfully employed ever since.
So, do your research, but move where there is work. Nothing looks better on a resume than a real job.
Chris Smith Reply: August 31st, 2011 at 9:11 pm
I completelt agree with you Frankie! I think that if it is at all possible, relocating to a region where gainful employment is easier to obtain, as a new designer we need as much job experience as possible. I wonder though with the industry becoming more global and wired in, if working from home or somehow telecommuting out of state is an option?
Brody Shores Reply: September 1st, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Thank you for your comments, Frankie. Sometimes we have to be reminded that life is never too short and gaing experience in other cities and markets is definetly needed. We all need to decided what is best for us in the long run, but in the beginning experience is gonig to be key in gaining a job in a location you want to settle down in.
Come to Hong Kong if you are not concern by smaller apartments and longer working hours. I have to agree with Frankie, definitely look at a location where you feel confident in and where the jobs are. I also believe money and taxes are other big factors when deciding on location.
I think it would be more convenient for a designer to have a job experience in more than one city because you’ll be familiar with more habits and traditions. As chris said last week designers need to be psychologists and familiar with everything!
I think this topic is very interesting and I also think your approach to the podcast was very clever. When listening I felt like I just wanted to jump right into the discussion. Great job. This got me thinking about what the pay is like in an array of cities. I turned to indeed.com to look at the approximate salary of interior designers in multiple cities. I looked at LA, San Francisco, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Denver, and Myrtle Beach. San Francisco was among one of the highest paid salaries and its no wonder based on the cost of living however I was astonished by the similarity in salary between Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, Myrtle Beach and LA. These five cities all were around the same pay annually. It’s quite shocking because the cost of living is definitely different in all of these cities. An Interior Designer getting paid approximately 55K in Los Angeles over a Interior Designer in Myrtle Beach also getting paid around 55K would have a huge difference in their quality of life. You all brought up a strong point. Sometimes for a designer to flock to a larger city is not always the smartest choice. I do find that the larger urban cities have a need for more innovation because of the struggles that come along with high density and larger populations but It really is all about where a designer can fit in and produce work that abides by their specific design goals and style and desired lifestyle.
Great discussion. I totally agree that as y’all are young and have no family to tie you to one place, you should go wherever you can find work. Get out of Atlanta. Now, the only reason why I say this is because the market here is just too depressed right now. You will have better luck in other regions. I have a friend, an architect, who lived in San Francisco when the market dropped. He moved back here (a Tech grad) and found NO work. He moved back to SF six months later (in 2010) and has been gainfully employed ever since.
So, do your research, but move where there is work. Nothing looks better on a resume than a real job.
Chris Smith Reply:
August 31st, 2011 at 9:11 pm
I completelt agree with you Frankie! I think that if it is at all possible, relocating to a region where gainful employment is easier to obtain, as a new designer we need as much job experience as possible. I wonder though with the industry becoming more global and wired in, if working from home or somehow telecommuting out of state is an option?
Brody Shores Reply:
September 1st, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Thank you for your comments, Frankie. Sometimes we have to be reminded that life is never too short and gaing experience in other cities and markets is definetly needed. We all need to decided what is best for us in the long run, but in the beginning experience is gonig to be key in gaining a job in a location you want to settle down in.
Come to Hong Kong if you are not concern by smaller apartments and longer working hours. I have to agree with Frankie, definitely look at a location where you feel confident in and where the jobs are. I also believe money and taxes are other big factors when deciding on location.
I think it would be more convenient for a designer to have a job experience in more than one city because you’ll be familiar with more habits and traditions. As chris said last week designers need to be psychologists and familiar with everything!
I think this topic is very interesting and I also think your approach to the podcast was very clever. When listening I felt like I just wanted to jump right into the discussion. Great job. This got me thinking about what the pay is like in an array of cities. I turned to indeed.com to look at the approximate salary of interior designers in multiple cities. I looked at LA, San Francisco, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Denver, and Myrtle Beach. San Francisco was among one of the highest paid salaries and its no wonder based on the cost of living however I was astonished by the similarity in salary between Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, Myrtle Beach and LA. These five cities all were around the same pay annually. It’s quite shocking because the cost of living is definitely different in all of these cities. An Interior Designer getting paid approximately 55K in Los Angeles over a Interior Designer in Myrtle Beach also getting paid around 55K would have a huge difference in their quality of life. You all brought up a strong point. Sometimes for a designer to flock to a larger city is not always the smartest choice. I do find that the larger urban cities have a need for more innovation because of the struggles that come along with high density and larger populations but It really is all about where a designer can fit in and produce work that abides by their specific design goals and style and desired lifestyle.