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How can you work as software

engineer and also as a graphic
designer?
7

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5 Answers

Jon Roberts, Principal Product

Designer for FinTech & RegTech
Industries
Answered February 5, 2017

A couple ways.

1. Get a job at a startup or smaller company

that needs its employees to wear
multiple hats.

2. Find a company that doesn't have any

designers that needs a software
engineer. Use design as a value add. (Or
reverse it, use software engineering as a
value add with a design job.

3. Start your own company and become a

consultant. You have to do everything at
first. Build it up around you getting to do
both of these things. You will need a
good network… start with #4 below if
this is the route you are thinking.

4. Freelance or get a job through a

consulting agency. You will wind up
swapping back and forth between both
roles, but you will build a reputation at
being good at both (if you are good at
both). This will build your network.

However, keep this in mind: While having people

on staff that can work the spectrum and can do
multiple jobs, larger companies would rather pay
less and have 2 specialists instead of that one
person that charges more to do everything.

That said, larger companies will cough up big

bucks for consultants for larger projects. The hard
part is learning where/when these projects need
high value consultants. This is where your
network comes into play.
2.9K views · View 7 upvotes

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Ian Hanson, Inventor of Modality

Typing System
Answered February 6, 2017

In my experience, you can’t do both for very long.

One will take over or the other will. It’s just too
hard to do two jobs. So I would recommend
picking the one you like more and making that
happen.

But your best bet is:

1. Get (or keep) a good job as a software

engineer

2. Freelance graphic design at night and on

weekends, hustling on freelance sites or
with people you know or can find

3. When Graphic design is enough, quit the

software job

4. If engineering is the one you like more,

do this same thing in reverse.

Now, there are a few areas that marry the two,

such as app design and development. But even
then, you’ll probably end up going more one way
than the other. Or at least, that’s what I find. My
business partner can do simple designs, and I can
write simple code, but neither one of us is trying
to do both.

But, that’s just my take, for whatever it’s worth.

2.7K views · View 6 upvotes · Answer requested by
Mohammed Othman

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Alberto Olay, 11 years designing.

Answered February 5, 2017

I have not much more to add to Jon Roberts’

great answer but to compliment it with these two
considerations:

It's difficult to be a competitive Software

Engineer and a competitive Graphic
Designer, each one request a
predominant use of different thinking
types: sequential and abstract ,
respectively. Although with great effort
you could be competitive enough in each
one, I think it would be more productive
to find a middle point between those
fields, which could be User Experience
Designer, User Designer, or even
Product Designer.

Also, a Software Developer is generally a

Software Engineer,
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Scotty McCleery, Bachelor of

Science from Lewis and Clark College
(1976)
Answered May 14, 2017

how? you just do it and frankly it’s a good idea

because if you depend on graphic design as your
only income you are going to be very
disappointed.
290 views · View 2 upvotes

Add a comment...

Veronika Bako, Freelance web

designer & graphic design at Bako
Design (1992-present)
Answered May 14, 2018

That is a broad question and there is no easy

answer. It really depends how much time are you
willing to put into either software engineer or
graphic designer. They are very different fields,
although I’ll certainly point out that software
engineering is far more lucrative then graphic
design.

I ‘ll suggest to do graphic design part time and

see how it goes.
607 views · View 2 upvotes · Answer requested by
Demi Morton

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