Should I leave my comfortable dead-end job?

September 29, 2024 8:52 AM

I've worked as a graphic designer for a very small puzzle company for nearly five years. It's very low stress, and I have a decent amount of creative freedom. I have one boss and three coworkers and I get along well with all of them, and I live right next to the office so I have no commute. I'm autistic, and pretty much every other job I've had has been a nightmare, so I'm very reluctant to give up something so comfortable.

The problem is that I'm basically already the head designer, so there's no scope for advancement. I make £27,000, and I'm not sure that the company could afford to pay me much more than that. I have a master's degree in book design, and my ambition after I graduated was to work as a designer for one of the big London publishers. I had interviews with most of them when I was looking for my current job, and I recently had an interview for an artworker job at Bloomsbury, so I could probably get one of those jobs if I really tried. I'm 37, and I'm worried that if I stay here too long, I'll be too old to get one of those jobs. It also feels a bit precarious to be working for such a small company, which could easily go bust one day.

posted by Chenko to Work & Money (10 answers total)

Would it be possible to work on a project of your own in your spare time? That would give you a path to greater pay and recognition but allow you to keep your comfortable job, and might help if you need to find another position in the future. There are lots of opportunities in this connected world.

I don’t have any experience in your world, I’m just spitballing. Good luck.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 9:07 AM on September 29 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Is there some reason you think you need to decide right now, in advance? Can't you take some interviews and see where it goes? After all, you wouldn't be moving to an abstract Job in London Publishing, you'd be moving to work with specific people and specific expectations and a specific company culture, and you can't have much of an idea of those before you do some interviewing, right?
posted by praemunire at 9:14 AM on September 29 [20 favorites]

Yes. Realistically that salary cap is going to be a problem in terms of saving for retirement. Unless you already have that covered, you really need to take something with higher pay.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:26 AM on September 29 [1 favorite]

I work in a different industry entirely, but similar circumstances (tiny company, nowhere to go in terms of advancement, which has never bothered me b/c I don't care about titles). I've been here for 15 years. Very early on, I had to have a discussion about pay which more or less worked out to "here's how much people with my credentials make, this is how much of a shortfall you have to make up, or it simply doesn't make any sense for me to stay here in the long term."

I don't know what the UK equivalent is (in terms of government departments), but according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual pay for graphic designers here is about $65k. You are making the equivalent of $36k, or roughly half (10th percentile in terms of distribution). Now, raw monetary compensation is not the only factor (for me, for example, not living anywhere expensive makes my money go a lot farther than many in my field who work in far more expensive places). But, on the flip side, you do have to pay attention to how much money you're not not making and how that plays into long-term planning. There's a sense in which you're already behind the curve by 5x29k = $145k, or about £108k. Every year you continue there, you're losing another £21k.

You have to sit down and math out what that means, amortized over time into your retirement as well. Perhaps figure the 'average' London graphic designer (your alternate-job equivalent) and try to work out what the real money terms are in the differences between your situations. For example, they make X more but spend Y more b/c of living in a more expensive place. If you sock away Z% of your yearly income as retirement, with an average growth rate of W%, where does that leave you by retirement age? There are calculators that can help you with this sort of thing if you're not particularly math-savvy. But you don't want to be in the position of robbing your future self because it's the path of least short-term resistance.

All that said, I would point out that I am a big believer that money is not the only important thing in life. I consciously traded off making a bigger paycheck for work circumstances that I like better. If your puzzle company has reasons to make you think it might be precarious, that would be a huge factor in terms of uncertainty about the future. I'm not sure that low pay and an uncertain future is a good trade for a short walk to work.
posted by axiom at 11:37 AM on September 29 [2 favorites]

Best answer: For an autistic person, a job where you're emotionally comfortable is worth its weight in gold. Too many workplaces are minefields for us, and this can go double when we take on more responsibility / higher-titled or higher-paid positions.

Someone else suggested freelancing on the side and that's a great idea if you have the spoons. You can keep current with trends in your field and it's a bit more money in the bank, too.

Don't future-trip about the company going bust. That can happen to the biggest, most stable-seeming companies. You'll handle that situation if / when it comes, God willing.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 12:05 PM on September 29 [14 favorites]

Best answer: The fact that you (1) have a job and (2) are not in a hurry to escape from it puts you in a good position to do some casual-but-serious job-hunting in which you are looking not just for salary but also for a good working environment. Since you're not desperate for a new job immediately, you can even disclose to them and ask directly about the working environment -- the part of the interview where "you interview them".
posted by heatherlogan at 12:36 PM on September 29 [15 favorites]

In the US, book publishers frequently hire freelance designers. If this is true in the UK, getting a few freelance projects would be a good way to test the waters while not giving up the comfort of your current job.
posted by kapers at 4:33 PM on September 29 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Use the job as a safe harbour to explore opportunities in freelance. Build your network, take it slow and easy, and develop your skills. Make a great portfolio.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:34 PM on September 29 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I left a job where I was comfortable but plateau'd 5 years ago and have since regretted it. I've had several jobs since that have been unsatisfactory and more stressful, and I miss a place where I liked and trusted my co-workers and they trusted me. I may have just been unlucky, but the grass isn't always greener, and it's easy to undervalue comfort and mental wellbeing.

That said, your salary is bad for long-term financial stability, so I agree with people who say to explore freelancing and networking. My previous job (the one I left and miss) was the result of moonlighting work.
posted by snarfois at 3:50 AM on September 30 [6 favorites]

I would try and see if you can connect to someone who works as a designer for one of the big London publishers, and have an informational interview with them. I'd ask questions like, "how hard is it to advance up the ranks?" "how stressful is the job at different career levels?" "what characteristics are needed to succeed in this work?" If the London world of publishing is anything like the NYC world of publishing, it's really cut throat with little room for promotion, and many people only survive on the meager salaries because they come from wealth. So I'd make sure you get a good look before you leap.
posted by coffeecat at 5:43 AM on September 30 [4 favorites]