Has anyone taken a big pay cut to pivot out of design?
Been working as an in-house designer for almost 10 years, and at my current company for 6. The money is decent but I think I’m just completely done with design as a full-time career.
I recently got an opportunity to pivot into a more hands-on operations/production role, but it would mean taking a 43% pay cut. Financially, I can afford it, but after spending almost 10 years building this career, giving up that much income still feels kind of crazy.
I’m still a creative person and I still like design. What I’m tired of is how much the scope of being a designer seems to have expanded. My role started out as design, but quickly grew into marketing, events, content, media, etc. I’m exhausted and mentally drained from constantly wearing so many hats, and looking at other creative jobs, it looks like I will encounter the same issue elsewhere.
That’s why this operations role appeals to me. It’s much more hands-on and process-driven, mainly customising products using a UV printer based on set templates. I know it’ll come with its own stresses, but right now the idea of having a more defined scope and process, doing what needs to be done, checking things off and being done for the day sounds really refreshing.
The part I’m struggling with is whether that’s worth giving up 43% of my income for.
Has anyone here left design and taken a pay cut for something more structured/process-driven? Was it worth it, or did you eventually regret leaving the design industry and taking the pay cut?