38, Just finished MA in Web Design - no prospects, feeling rock bottom. Any tips?

[Zazango]

Hi, all. I've just handed in my last piece of coursework for a MA in web design, and while I was elated to finish, I'm now facing unemployment and no prospects.

I'm not a spring chicken, either. I started the masters relatively later in life because I was feeling very unfulfilled as a library manager, and wanted to change to a more mentally fulfilling career. Before that I was a nursery teacher, which paid terribly. Managing public libraries was a bit dead-end to me, because once you became a manager there wasn't really any further you could go.

The course was great, and I loved working on my designs and my code. I also helped others with their code, and I felt really alive and pleased. But without getting too techy here, the course did not teach web developer levels of coding (only basic JavaScript). That means that I'm now underqualified for full on developer roles, while design roles are EXTREMELY hard to come by. I've only had either flat out rejections to roles I've applied to or silence. During the course I spoke to alumni who said they only got into their web roles through coding bootcamps. What was the point of the degree, then? It feels so futile. Bootcamps are also extremely competitive to get on. I've applied to one, but I'm not sure what my chances are.

Even if I found a job that would only use 1% of what I've learned, I'd feel happy. As it stands now, I don't have any money coming in, so I may have to ask for a part time position at the libraries I used to manage.

I'd love to get into marketing or comms, for example, but my degree isn't relevant. I just want a job that has room for growth. Travel for work would be a dream. I feel so demoralised and low, like I'm meant to stay in low-paying/unfulfilling roles for the rest of my life. I feel like I've wasted my savings on this degree for nothing.

If anyone has any tips or thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Thank you for reading!

@Zazango

Just keep practicing making sites, there's huge demand for it. In WordPress or even squarespace or wix

@Zazango funny I should find your thread after another long and frustrating day messing around with our websites - could we talk? pm me!

I recruit for digital design roles.

Getting a foot in the door can be hard, as there is lots of competition . But there are are also lots of opportunities . Keep trying. Just because you’ve been rejected for one role doesn’t mean you can’t get another. Companies get so many applicants it can be a bit random whether you make it to interview or not.

Agree with others to look at civil service roles in content design, interaction design, and front end development. A lot of departments offer apprenticeships or “graduate” schemes. They should all be listed on Civil Service Jobs https://design-system.service.gov.uk/

The good thing with CS is they are supportive of career changers so you’re not going to be stuck in some tech startup with a bunch of 20 year old lads as peers.

Do some self directed learning on the Gov design system and prototype kit https://prototype-kit.service.gov.uk/docs/ and familiarise yourself with the design system and standards https://design-system.service.gov.uk/ to help your application stand out.

Having a portfolio is really important. Set up a simple website for yourself if you don’t have one - it’s an advert for your skills in itself. Keep practising and developing your design and coding skills. Look at free/cheap Udemy courses to develop your JavaScript skills. Do projects for friends and family, look for free events like hackathons, go to free local meet-ups. Things like that will help set you apart and you will meet people at local tech companies who can help you find roles.

Hi OP, sorry to hear this, that sounds so disheartening. Congrats on getting your MA though, amazing!

I don't know much about this site but may be worth having a look in case there is some short-term work you could access through it.

www.peopleperhour.com/services/design/web-design

Good luck x

sorry to sound abit arsey but shouldn't you have looked j to this before starting the course?

So you said you'd like to get into marketing and comms and you used to work in a nursery so maybe take a look at jobs in digital marketing in the independent schools sector. This is my second career and something that's changed over the last few years is the increase in jobs where your design and tech experience would be helpful, but understanding the sector would give an edge. This is the jobs page of the professional body for the sector AMCIS JOBS and a good place to start- the TES and Guardian are the other places to look.

I agree with PP re civil service or other public sector roles.
It's a very competitive sector and honestly you are competing with software packages as well as people, because a lot of small businesses will just get prepackaged software generated websites rather than custom build. If you can build either UX skills or go down a specialist route e.g accessibility then ypu may have more luck. I recruit tech people and honestly I'd value experience over an MA so you need to do anything you can to get some experience.
There are also some consultancy firms that take people who are switching careers (FDM, Withyouwithme and some others) and train them up and then sell them on day rates to clients. You get a salary etc but you're bonded to them for a couple of years but maybe worth it.

I was about to give the same advice as we always struggle in CS to find good people but see you have been rejected. There can be many reasons for this, CS recruitment is an odd and constrained process, so do ask for feedback. Worth also looking for communications/press office roles with a design element on CS jobs, as there is high demand for this skill set, though these tend to be London skewed.

I work in UX and didn’t realise ‘web design’ was still a thing really as I thought UX design and solution design/development had replaced it. The broad profession is now much more split into the specialisms within it. That’s being said, your degree should give you a strong foundational knowledge of general principles, which will be particularly beneficial for content design roles. For interaction design or product design, you may be competing against a lot of candidates with more relevant degrees or even just courses behind them, which means they’ll have a portfolio.

Content design roles would probably be a good option to explore. They’re becoming more popular with organisations these days so entry-level roles exist far more than they used to. Don’t lean too much into your creative writing background for those though. Whilst it’s good to have some form of writing experience, creative writing can be too far removed sometimes as it’s not user-centred. You need to demonstrate awareness of the user need in your writing examples.

Finally, where are you based? London and Manchester have a lot of digital/UX roles. Bristol and Birmingham also have some opportunities. Not seeing much in the way of full remote opportunities anymore on LinkedIn.