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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think dh should tell dd age 11, interior design is not a proper job

105 replies

Lardlizard · 22/02/2019 23:45

It quite rude really

OP posts:
PinkHeart5914 · 23/02/2019 12:03

Well it’s not a proper job as in skilled really is it? You know like being a doctor or engineer

However some people are daft enough to pay for the service so it is a job.

Hopefully your dd will decide against it anyway...

CostanzaG · 23/02/2019 12:05

pink really?
All jobs require some skill. How rude!

I didn't have the skills of a nurse or an engineer. Does that mean my job isn't a 'proper' job?

This thread is a perfect example of why careers advice should be left to actual professionals .

Aprilshowersarecomingsoon · 23/02/2019 12:07

Tell him he is a qualified twat.

MatildaTheCat · 23/02/2019 12:08

A good designer with good contacts can earn excellent money and is very much a proper job. You also need good IT skills, numeracy, a diplomatic disposition and endless patience.

DolorestheNewt · 23/02/2019 12:08

I'm sure someone will come on to correct me, and my "research" - I use the term lightly - was on a Design Council website, which has an obvious vested interest in talking up the UK - but from what I have gathered, design and the creative industries generally are a huge economic sector in the UK, it's growing, and it's set to grow further. OK, interior design is only a small part of that, but I fondly imagine (not least because my son is an art student) that excellence in design and creative fields generally will lead to prestige being conferred on those who are seen to have cut their teeth in the UK market.

Interior design definitely has a niche area where well-connected and wealthy people (often but not exclusively women) work for wealthy contacts without necessarily having any formal training. No-one who's pointed that out is wrong. It's just very far from being the whole story.

BrizzleMint · 23/02/2019 12:12

Are you being deliberately goady bizzle? Or just rude and misinformed?

Neither. It is a lot of money to spend on a degree and I'd rather spend 60k on something else than being an interior designer - I'd be inclined to say to any young person wanting to do it to look at an apprenticeship instead. Not everybody needs to go to university and not all jobs need it.

As for the NHS using interior designers, well that's a good use of money isn't it?! Shock

Purplecatshopaholic · 23/02/2019 12:15

Came on this thread late, so maybe missed something, but why on earth is interior design not a real job? Just ask Kelly Hoppen - she seems to do ok! I have a friend who runs a business doing it and does very well indeed. For those of us with no creativity at all, having someone on hand who does is very beneficial, people pay good money for that skill

DolorestheNewt · 23/02/2019 12:15

As for the NHS using interior designers, well that's a good use of money isn't it?
What did the NHS use interior designers for? I doubt it was to make a mood board with Nina Campbell curtains. I imagine, though obviously I can't prove it, that they probably used an interior designer to rationalise space and fittings, and organise them in a way that worked efficiently and for the best good of the service. Did you think interior design is only about what's pretty?

Quintella · 23/02/2019 12:15

Well it’s not a proper job as in skilled really is it? You know like being a doctor or engineer

What a doltish way to look at the world.

DishingOutDone · 23/02/2019 12:20

Is it namby pamby Pink and Brizzle? Eh? Messing about?

FFS. I am sure there is a porthole to the 1950s here. Hmm

greendale17 · 23/02/2019 12:20

I wouldn’t pay for my DS to study interior design at university. Those sort of occupations don’t need a degree

Loopytiles · 23/02/2019 12:23

Roles often require a degree and are very skilled. The issue is the (relatively) small number and high competition for roles. Hence unpaid “internships” and other poor practice.

DolorestheNewt · 23/02/2019 12:24

Loopytiles Thank you! I knew someone would come up with something. That's a brilliant resource.

DolorestheNewt · 23/02/2019 12:27

Loopy I used to work in arts management and it was really noticeable that it was overpopulated with people who didn't really need to rely on earning a great salary. I have no idea if it's changed, but interior design, I think, suffers partly - and I do emphasise partly - from an overabundance of people whose parents clearly have the funds for their kids to work unpaid to get into the industry. It really does shape an industry, partly because of perception but partly because perception tends to end up as fact, if you see what I mean! and I agree, it's wretchedly poor practice.

TheDarkPassenger · 23/02/2019 12:28

I worked with a girl who’s now an interior designer and she makes so. Much. Money!

HairyToity · 23/02/2019 12:29

I know an interior designer. She specialises in the interiors of hotels and works for a multi national architectural firm. I always assumed its very difficult to get into,but not impossible.

Butchyrestingface · 23/02/2019 12:30

I wouldn’t pay for my DS to study interior design at university. Those sort of occupations don’t need a degree

Assuming you're in the UK, you wouldn't have to pay for anything.

IncrediblySadToo · 23/02/2019 12:31

Irrespective of whether it’s ‘a real job’ or not, he’s being a total dick telling an 11yo it’s not. Tell him to STFU and encourage her in her interests. It’s bloody years before she’ll get to decide what courses she wants to do at SCHOOL let alone afterwards. Let the kid be FGS.

LoisWilkerson1 · 23/02/2019 12:33

Ah it's not nice to be so dismissively. I wanted to be a nursery worker when I was a teen. I was scoffed at, that's a waste of your brain etc. After years going from job to job I'm now, at 40 years old, really considering it again. Sometimes you just have a feeling for something. If I'd been left to my devices back then I could be running a nursery by now.

LoisWilkerson1 · 23/02/2019 12:33

*dismissive

CostanzaG · 23/02/2019 12:34

The NHS use interior designers and spacial consultants to design living areas, care homes etc for the elderly....quite important since we know have an aging population.

TwinkleTits70 · 23/02/2019 12:36

How's the hangover OP?

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 23/02/2019 12:37

*For some it is a real job of course.

It's also a pretend job for women with rich husbands.*

Very true. Could this be what your DH was getting at? Was he talking about a particular individual who dabbles but doesn't work real hours or make a real living?

Sanguineclamp · 23/02/2019 12:39

I imagine it's the sort of thing that the affluent cut back on when there is any sort of down-turn so you would have to be exceptionally good at it to make a living.

totally frustrated I'm intrigued! If it's not too nosey, may I ask if your clients are super rich private individuals or do you work in corporate settings? Is there a lot of scope at all levels of the market to make a go of it, or do you have to be exceptionally talented and driven?