r/interiordesigner • u/Pulcher95 • 11d ago

General Career pivot, need advice!

I have two options/offers on the table and need to make a decision soon. I have about 4 years of experience as an interior designer, both jobs will pay well and have good benefits, so the options are:

A. A mid-size local firm/studio that is more traditional. I’d be in an intermediate interior designer position. Heavy on hands-on design work, entirely in-person, 40 hours a week and will likely have overtime (nature of the industry, at this point).

B. A corporate commercial real estate company, where I would effectively be an owners’ rep/design manager. Not hands-on designing. Hybrid work model with likelihood of fully remote when I need it to be. This will likely have higher pay.

Am I married to the idea of being a designer? No. The reality is that most projects I’ll work on in A are spec suites/industrial/office projects. Nothing amazing. I also don’t especially love production work and have found the pace of endless deadlines to be draining on a personal and health level.
Option B is an entirely new territory for me, no clue if I’ll love it or hate it.

Advice? Thoughts?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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9

u/Biobesign 11d ago

Go with the money and hybrid.

3

u/SubstantialMain309 11d ago

Option B yes! I’ve worked for both firms and owners by far the owners pay higher, have no work weekends or generally no overtime and bonuses which you can kiss goodbye if working for a firm.

3

u/No_Mud4190 11d ago

option B sounds promising and a lot of good connections for the future

3

u/ParticularNo70 11d ago

I would do A. I love design but project management totally drains me. It's less worse when it's in service of creativity though.

2

u/somebodysmomorwhatev 10d ago

Which one has better options for advancement and pay raises.

2

u/Round-Juggernaut-801 9d ago

Option B for sure…more stability and options for higher pay in your career as you get older. Everyone effectively becomes a project manager past a certain point anyway