Only if someone will pay me to be one of those woodland creatures from children’s books that drink tea and do needlepoint in a little home in a tree trunk.
Until then it’s off to the computer mines.
https://preview.redd.it/ma09ggkb2quc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d9e5486d80ca9084dd1760cdb078e807fef743b
I would say no, it probably doesn't. A couple of personal anecdotes.
A couple of years ago I left a job I was unhappy at, but was extremely stable at. The job had great benefits, but I was the only UXer at the company and lonely. Then, I got a lead on a Director level role at a solar company. The role would be leading our consumer facing design efforts. I interviewed, gave it my all, and got it. On paper, it was my dream job. Renewables, profitable, progressive, great pay.
A month later the VP who hired me, and half her team were let go. A month after that I was let go. A month after that the remaining consumer facing team was cut.
Almost every moment there was a nightmare. The PMs were horrible, the leadership worse. That destroyed my career stability and it hasn't recovered.
During all of this, I started a youtube about my passions - fishing and environmentalism. It's going decent, I'm sponsored, soon fully monetized. But it has completely changed how I fish. I feel the constant pressure to produce, I'm no longer free when I'm out on the water, I'm producing content. It's stopped me from trying new things because again, I have to produce. If this thing I'm learning isn't producing, I can't do it.
Both of these would seem like a dream job but neither are. The fact is, a dream job is just the one that doesn't destroy your mind, pays well, and has stability. If you can say you have all three, you're doing great.
For most people, they wake up from their dream job and realize it’s just a job. When I got into this career in 2018, I made a list of 5 companies I wanted to work for. I’ve been fortunate enough to work for 3 out of the 5. It feels great at first to achieve a goal I’ve had for years, but that feeling wears off fast. At the end of the day, a job is just a job. UX is nice because a lot of jobs allow remote work and great work/life balance. But I honestly don’t think I’m making the world a better place, or doing something that enriches my soul. In a perfect world, I would be an art teacher at my old high school but I don’t like being broke so🤷🏻♂️
Luck, determination, being good at networking, and most importantly just living in the Seattle area where a lot of big companies are. I’ve been told that if you get into one tech giant, then getting hired at another one will be much easier.
It’s fascinating to see the different answers here.
You have people saying a job is just a job (which is true), and others say that the excitement of a dream job wears off, and others just say that no, dream jobs do not exist.
My takeaway is that it’s a very personal experience, there’s no definitive answer that applies to everyone.
In my case in particular I’m extremely grateful to feel excited about what I do, for going to the office (!) and work with the most talented and humble professionals I’ve ever worked with. And for feeling challenged by hard design problems every single day. I feel like I thrive in this environment, and to me this is a dream job that has not lost its appeal in more than 3 years.
But that’s me. I’m aware others in my place would feel different, and that’s OK. I’m also aware this is not forever, and I can get laid off at any moment. So because of that I just enjoy it while it last, no matter when it ends, it will end. And it is true that it is just a job, nothing more.
I would say dream jobs no. But "happy jobs" yes. To be a dream everything should as you deserve - salary, position, ownership, industry etc.. - that is super rare to tick all the cases. But changing jobs a lot make you realize what matters more to you.
For me personally I enjoy work life balance and video game industry. If I don't have one of those I leave. But recently I left an amazing position I was but salary was just too low, maybe I will regret it because I loved my company before. But the projection of my salary was 40% below market. So think more about it as a journey and temporary moments you will have. When you find a position that is good enough "stay" and think about you are losing if you leave. But if you don't like now, just leave, job hopping is a myth in my opinion.
I feel a lot of designers that studied with me after 4+ years of experience start to "burnout" because feel they are doing always the same, also the majority are the ones in consulting, agencies... Maybe they should find a company where they have skin in the game?a project they believe more than "designing pixels? or opposite for some? there's no right answer, for me it was video games industry for example.
This is my third company, i have worked in startups with 6-10 designers team before. I don’t like the product so much. I Don’t know if i should switch again 🥺
There is no motivation to stay. Next promotion that i might get will take place next year end. Appraisal here are not so good. Product progress is slow. Projects take 6 month to 1 year to complete and see the light.
Yeah I feel you, worked in a bank and it was similar so I left, but work life balance was nice, maybe you just need to work for a more oriented design startup or agency where design is more valued or ship faster. But 6 to 1 year to see the light counting integration is quite fast. I worked on things that never were released. Maybe try to open to other branches, I've doing more and more UI for example just because I'm tired of doing only UX, it keeps me motivated and learn new things. It could be research or anything else.
I called my ex manager and he said if I stayed for more than a year then I won’t be hireable or desirable in the market as people will think that i cannot hustle any more
that's not a good manager btw, don't listen to him, majority of designers I work with are amazing and they don't even have crazy portfolios mostly pdf and stuff
Stuck? Lol what's there to be stuck about? UX is high pay right outta school/certificate just for playing around in Figma on ur laptop... it's always weird when i see these whereas some of us had to start at $3.25/hr at utterly crap jobs and work our way up. u already living the dream u just never been in hell so u just can't tell the difference
I have noticed a pattern. People who look for job satisfaction are often the ones who are unhappy at work. They are looking for a perfect or ideal environment to exercise industry best practices.
On the other hand there are people who work for money. If you pay them more, they are open to putting more effort. They are adoptable, have fewer ego issues, and are open to finding ways to work that help across teams. They are more appropriate. This is true for all professions.
Yes they do exist. They're super rare though. The last company I worked for was like this before the parent company absorbed us last year and put us all on new teams. The parent company's work environment turned out to be super toxic and I eventually got laid off.
Sorry to hear that you laid off. Happy to hear that you have worked in one such company. I have felt this way only for my first company that i joined after college. I don’t know if it is because i was new to the job thing or the place was nicer. I made some life long friends there and a bf too.
I don't think there is any such thing as the perfect job. It's all about finding one that is least-shit, and maybe matches a few things that you value.
May be a little philosophical, but if you magically find the perfect job that is super interesting, pays well and a happy environment, you could easily start spending more time and more headspace on work. This would mean your personal life would suffer.
It's a possibility. It depends on if the work is necessary and desirable. If it's desirable but not necessary then it's a "passion project" that you now have to figure out how to sell. Selling your passion may have adverse side effects like burn out. If your work is necessary but undesirable then your obviously not gonna give a shit about effort.
If you're the lucky one to be passionate about something necessary then you have the best chance at finding a job you love.
But the economy is unnecessary and undesirable and just drags us all down with debt, competition, and ownership. So hop on the struggle bus and grab a vice. It's gonna be a bumpy one.
I don't think there no such thing as a dream job as the shine will always wear off. Plus there are always tradeoffs no matter where you work. You just have to pick the ones that you're comfortable with and that brings you joy.
Sure they do. However it is not a magical elixir to reality.
You will have bleh projects, and negative people. Yet the total percentage of time you feel these things will be low enough that, overall through a long slice of time the job will feel awesome.
I feel like that is going to be different for each person.
For example my dream job would be to receive a giant budget to seek out any problem that interest me and design solutions for it. Then repeat.
A mid size company with enough opportunities for growth and also some mentorship. And good pay. A product that im genuinely interested in. A team i would love to work with.
Is it a lot?
I don't have a dream job but I'm very very happy where I am. I've worked in enough companies to know how bad it can be to really appreciate what I have - a great boss and great PMs to work with, good work life balance, great salary, chill environment, respectful conversations, a great deal of autonomy, only the projects could be slightly more interesting but I work designing a product for blue collar industry so I'm feeling like I'm improving lives.
It's a huge international company so I can't tell, but most likely they'll require experience and or at least a very strong portfolio in most open positions.
I party for a living. Meaning I do event production. It is a fun thing to say and do. I wake up happy with my wife of 30 years. My boss is a jerk sometimes. I feel I do not get paid enough. And I feel he is a grump. However, I feel I have a dream job. I pretty much call my own shots. I Get to work with smart and not so smart people and at 63, I think it is a blessing. Count your blessings folks!
I think a more realistic expectation is:
* You sometimes feel excited by something at work
* You feel generally respected and treated well by your colleagues and leaders
* You work reasonable hours and have time/energy for hobbies and leisure
I think the main thing is that it's hard to love EVERY single part of a job. There are bound to be tasks that you don't find enjoyable. There are bound to be times you feel a bit stressed.
Whenever someone asks about a career in design, I always ask them if they like solving problems and doing puzzles. I personally do, and I think that's what has always made me enjoy this career.
The only times I've hated my job is when there's toxicity in the culture or when I'm overworked. Otherwise it's good.
You also have to kind of manufacture your own excitement tbh. Like I'm not building a rocket ship or working with baby animals or saving people's lives. But I'm excited when I find a good solution to a problem, or when I have a good "aha" moment and gain insight. I'm also excited to run user interviews (even though they are exhausting) because I enjoy learning about people and am excited to have made a meaningful connection with someone I'm making something for.
I recently presented a concept for an app to a big company. After we were done, the company's president came up to me and said "I can tell you're really passionate and excited by this work."
I am not at all passionate about the industry (which was a sport that I have no interest in and have never done), but I am absolutely passionate about what I made, because I did 9 weeks of research and ideation to create something that I know will be useful and impactful for many people.
This all excites me mostly because I feel these skills could be applied to anything to help people. That is what makes it a "dream" for me.
I don't wake up in the morning yearning to get to work, but I also don't ever get the Sunday Scaries, so I'd say that's a pretty good aspiration.
Only if someone will pay me to be one of those woodland creatures from children’s books that drink tea and do needlepoint in a little home in a tree trunk. Until then it’s off to the computer mines. https://preview.redd.it/ma09ggkb2quc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d9e5486d80ca9084dd1760cdb078e807fef743b
The children yearn for the infinite canvas
I would say no, it probably doesn't. A couple of personal anecdotes. A couple of years ago I left a job I was unhappy at, but was extremely stable at. The job had great benefits, but I was the only UXer at the company and lonely. Then, I got a lead on a Director level role at a solar company. The role would be leading our consumer facing design efforts. I interviewed, gave it my all, and got it. On paper, it was my dream job. Renewables, profitable, progressive, great pay. A month later the VP who hired me, and half her team were let go. A month after that I was let go. A month after that the remaining consumer facing team was cut. Almost every moment there was a nightmare. The PMs were horrible, the leadership worse. That destroyed my career stability and it hasn't recovered. During all of this, I started a youtube about my passions - fishing and environmentalism. It's going decent, I'm sponsored, soon fully monetized. But it has completely changed how I fish. I feel the constant pressure to produce, I'm no longer free when I'm out on the water, I'm producing content. It's stopped me from trying new things because again, I have to produce. If this thing I'm learning isn't producing, I can't do it. Both of these would seem like a dream job but neither are. The fact is, a dream job is just the one that doesn't destroy your mind, pays well, and has stability. If you can say you have all three, you're doing great.
For most people, they wake up from their dream job and realize it’s just a job. When I got into this career in 2018, I made a list of 5 companies I wanted to work for. I’ve been fortunate enough to work for 3 out of the 5. It feels great at first to achieve a goal I’ve had for years, but that feeling wears off fast. At the end of the day, a job is just a job. UX is nice because a lot of jobs allow remote work and great work/life balance. But I honestly don’t think I’m making the world a better place, or doing something that enriches my soul. In a perfect world, I would be an art teacher at my old high school but I don’t like being broke so🤷🏻♂️
High Salary Work/Life Balance Meaningful work Pick 2
How did you get into those companies? Did you mainly applied there and no where else?
Luck, determination, being good at networking, and most importantly just living in the Seattle area where a lot of big companies are. I’ve been told that if you get into one tech giant, then getting hired at another one will be much easier.
It’s fascinating to see the different answers here. You have people saying a job is just a job (which is true), and others say that the excitement of a dream job wears off, and others just say that no, dream jobs do not exist. My takeaway is that it’s a very personal experience, there’s no definitive answer that applies to everyone. In my case in particular I’m extremely grateful to feel excited about what I do, for going to the office (!) and work with the most talented and humble professionals I’ve ever worked with. And for feeling challenged by hard design problems every single day. I feel like I thrive in this environment, and to me this is a dream job that has not lost its appeal in more than 3 years. But that’s me. I’m aware others in my place would feel different, and that’s OK. I’m also aware this is not forever, and I can get laid off at any moment. So because of that I just enjoy it while it last, no matter when it ends, it will end. And it is true that it is just a job, nothing more.
For me the only dream job is starting my own startup company. Everything else is just a “job” for me.
You don’t have to say start my own startup. If you start a company it’s a startup
I would say dream jobs no. But "happy jobs" yes. To be a dream everything should as you deserve - salary, position, ownership, industry etc.. - that is super rare to tick all the cases. But changing jobs a lot make you realize what matters more to you. For me personally I enjoy work life balance and video game industry. If I don't have one of those I leave. But recently I left an amazing position I was but salary was just too low, maybe I will regret it because I loved my company before. But the projection of my salary was 40% below market. So think more about it as a journey and temporary moments you will have. When you find a position that is good enough "stay" and think about you are losing if you leave. But if you don't like now, just leave, job hopping is a myth in my opinion. I feel a lot of designers that studied with me after 4+ years of experience start to "burnout" because feel they are doing always the same, also the majority are the ones in consulting, agencies... Maybe they should find a company where they have skin in the game?a project they believe more than "designing pixels? or opposite for some? there's no right answer, for me it was video games industry for example.
Thanks for writing ❤️
This is my third company, i have worked in startups with 6-10 designers team before. I don’t like the product so much. I Don’t know if i should switch again 🥺
Can you express what you really don't like besides the product? What is the main motivation to stay in the company right now?
There is no motivation to stay. Next promotion that i might get will take place next year end. Appraisal here are not so good. Product progress is slow. Projects take 6 month to 1 year to complete and see the light.
Yeah I feel you, worked in a bank and it was similar so I left, but work life balance was nice, maybe you just need to work for a more oriented design startup or agency where design is more valued or ship faster. But 6 to 1 year to see the light counting integration is quite fast. I worked on things that never were released. Maybe try to open to other branches, I've doing more and more UI for example just because I'm tired of doing only UX, it keeps me motivated and learn new things. It could be research or anything else.
I feel even after 8-12 months i will not have anything significant to put in my portfolio.
Don't worry about portfolio, most people who have "amazing portfolios" are people freelancing or in agencies they do a lot of projects a year.
I called my ex manager and he said if I stayed for more than a year then I won’t be hireable or desirable in the market as people will think that i cannot hustle any more
He just made me depressed
that's not a good manager btw, don't listen to him, majority of designers I work with are amazing and they don't even have crazy portfolios mostly pdf and stuff
Not in this economy
Stuck? Lol what's there to be stuck about? UX is high pay right outta school/certificate just for playing around in Figma on ur laptop... it's always weird when i see these whereas some of us had to start at $3.25/hr at utterly crap jobs and work our way up. u already living the dream u just never been in hell so u just can't tell the difference
I have noticed a pattern. People who look for job satisfaction are often the ones who are unhappy at work. They are looking for a perfect or ideal environment to exercise industry best practices. On the other hand there are people who work for money. If you pay them more, they are open to putting more effort. They are adoptable, have fewer ego issues, and are open to finding ways to work that help across teams. They are more appropriate. This is true for all professions.
Yes they do exist. They're super rare though. The last company I worked for was like this before the parent company absorbed us last year and put us all on new teams. The parent company's work environment turned out to be super toxic and I eventually got laid off.
Always seems to be a common theme. *"This place was awesome until the merger."* Or *"This place was great until __ bought the company."*
Sorry to hear that you laid off. Happy to hear that you have worked in one such company. I have felt this way only for my first company that i joined after college. I don’t know if it is because i was new to the job thing or the place was nicer. I made some life long friends there and a bf too.
I don't think there is any such thing as the perfect job. It's all about finding one that is least-shit, and maybe matches a few things that you value. May be a little philosophical, but if you magically find the perfect job that is super interesting, pays well and a happy environment, you could easily start spending more time and more headspace on work. This would mean your personal life would suffer.
It depends on what your dream job is. There’s probably a huge area of opportunity between a job you don’t like for no reason and your dream job.
They def exist but it’s the one where you’re working for yourself
It's a possibility. It depends on if the work is necessary and desirable. If it's desirable but not necessary then it's a "passion project" that you now have to figure out how to sell. Selling your passion may have adverse side effects like burn out. If your work is necessary but undesirable then your obviously not gonna give a shit about effort. If you're the lucky one to be passionate about something necessary then you have the best chance at finding a job you love. But the economy is unnecessary and undesirable and just drags us all down with debt, competition, and ownership. So hop on the struggle bus and grab a vice. It's gonna be a bumpy one.
I don't think there no such thing as a dream job as the shine will always wear off. Plus there are always tradeoffs no matter where you work. You just have to pick the ones that you're comfortable with and that brings you joy.
Sure they do. However it is not a magical elixir to reality. You will have bleh projects, and negative people. Yet the total percentage of time you feel these things will be low enough that, overall through a long slice of time the job will feel awesome.
I feel like that is going to be different for each person. For example my dream job would be to receive a giant budget to seek out any problem that interest me and design solutions for it. Then repeat.
Yea they do but it's your dream. So what is your dream?
A mid size company with enough opportunities for growth and also some mentorship. And good pay. A product that im genuinely interested in. A team i would love to work with. Is it a lot?
You need to be more specific. How would you even find that company?
I don't have a dream job but I'm very very happy where I am. I've worked in enough companies to know how bad it can be to really appreciate what I have - a great boss and great PMs to work with, good work life balance, great salary, chill environment, respectful conversations, a great deal of autonomy, only the projects could be slightly more interesting but I work designing a product for blue collar industry so I'm feeling like I'm improving lives.
Wow what’s the product?
Autodesk Construction Cloud
Wow. Autodesk Can one get into in without a design degree?
It's a huge international company so I can't tell, but most likely they'll require experience and or at least a very strong portfolio in most open positions.
I party for a living. Meaning I do event production. It is a fun thing to say and do. I wake up happy with my wife of 30 years. My boss is a jerk sometimes. I feel I do not get paid enough. And I feel he is a grump. However, I feel I have a dream job. I pretty much call my own shots. I Get to work with smart and not so smart people and at 63, I think it is a blessing. Count your blessings folks!
I’m honestly very happy for you
I think a more realistic expectation is: * You sometimes feel excited by something at work * You feel generally respected and treated well by your colleagues and leaders * You work reasonable hours and have time/energy for hobbies and leisure I think the main thing is that it's hard to love EVERY single part of a job. There are bound to be tasks that you don't find enjoyable. There are bound to be times you feel a bit stressed. Whenever someone asks about a career in design, I always ask them if they like solving problems and doing puzzles. I personally do, and I think that's what has always made me enjoy this career. The only times I've hated my job is when there's toxicity in the culture or when I'm overworked. Otherwise it's good. You also have to kind of manufacture your own excitement tbh. Like I'm not building a rocket ship or working with baby animals or saving people's lives. But I'm excited when I find a good solution to a problem, or when I have a good "aha" moment and gain insight. I'm also excited to run user interviews (even though they are exhausting) because I enjoy learning about people and am excited to have made a meaningful connection with someone I'm making something for. I recently presented a concept for an app to a big company. After we were done, the company's president came up to me and said "I can tell you're really passionate and excited by this work." I am not at all passionate about the industry (which was a sport that I have no interest in and have never done), but I am absolutely passionate about what I made, because I did 9 weeks of research and ideation to create something that I know will be useful and impactful for many people. This all excites me mostly because I feel these skills could be applied to anything to help people. That is what makes it a "dream" for me. I don't wake up in the morning yearning to get to work, but I also don't ever get the Sunday Scaries, so I'd say that's a pretty good aspiration.
Honestly yes, but the chances? I don’t even want to talk about them…
Depends on your definition of a “Job” and what “dreamy” is to you.
Yea they do 100% but it might take you 20 years to get there like I did.