I have an associate's degree in graphic design and work designing wedding stationery. I've been at my company since 2016, and am now a design consultant - speaking to customers directly and creating custom artwork and designs for them. I know I'm underpaid (50k/year in the SF Bay Area) but I thought the benefits and stability were worth it. I'm now severely burnt out (most of my team is) and not sure which way to go, or how to grow. Any tips/advice?

Thanks!

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Definitely leave. If you’ve been there for 6 years and still on 50K (or worse started even lower) then I don’t think this place really knows the value of what you’re doing. There are however a lot of places that do ❤️

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Skills translate :) I’m sure other people on here that are into design can help you out with the specifics

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50K in SF is crazy, please leave.

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You are severely underpaid. My production designer (who has like 3 years of experience and whose job literally is to swap out images and text in existing templates) makes $90k plus stock options and yearly bonus in-house in tech. I bet you can double your salary with the current skills you have.
PS this information was meant to empower you, not to make you feel bad.

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Not currently, I’m sorry! But seriously, if you’re trying to get a foot in the door somewhere else look for production artist, presentation design, or performance design gigs. They’re not the most glamorous but lots of companies need people to just churn work out by someone who’s not complaining about it - and they’re willing to compensate you well for it. Good luck 💖

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Start looking, my first job out of college paid 50K. Promoted at 1 YOE = 65K and switched jobs at 2 YOE = 87K

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Goodness you could freelance at at least double this rate for your own clients. I constantly see roles open for your company and it’s always been a red flag to me.

Edit: as a hiring manager I don’t care what degree you have if you have the portfolio to backup your skill.

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The customer-facing in-house designers usually stay, which is why it's so scary for the rest of us to leave! Some people finally leave, and end up coming back later for even less pay.

We don't really see anyone who works on branding or UX but I'm sure they're also underpaid. They at least have more options out there. For us it feels like there isn't much we can do with wedding invitation experience lol

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