[lk145]

I have told my designer friends in other areas how well in-house designers are paid in the Bay Area, and their response has always been that they think being in-house would be boring and they strongly prefer agency work (despite, in their experiences, super low pay and horrific management).

I have always wondered if in-house work is legitimately more boring or if the goal of working at an agency has just been drilled into them since design school.

Is it considered a stigma on one's resume to have done in-house work? If not, it seems like designers could go for the programmer model of employment -- work in-house for a few years then switch to a new place for new challenges when you stop learning and growing, unless a new challenge is presented.

[seanmcdirmid]

Design consultancy allows the designer to work on multiple projects concurrently or in succession, avoiding burn out and getting more broad experience (important for their career). In house designers usually are assigned to the same product for a long period of time, though you'd think larger companies could avoid this by moving to an internal agency model.

My wife is just moving from being in-house to an agency, but these are in huge demand for beijing.