Graphic Design&nbsp;from Oklahoma State University&nbsp;is Oklahoma's&nbsp;only graduate program specializing in a unique combination of Interaction Design, Motion Design and Visual Communication.&nbsp;&nbsp;

master degree in graphic design Career Path | See the Career Paths People Really Take

teaching assistant

graphic designer

art director

designer

senior graphic designer

senior software engineer

An adjunct assistant professor is a part-time university lecturer on a contract with a specific end date. In the hierarchy of college instructors, they occupy the middle of the bottom rank. They have similar responsibilities to other professors such as teaching classes and seminars, creating and grading assignments and exams, and monitoring students' progress.

Discover the journey to becoming an assistant professor, from earning a PhD to managing postdoctoral research, and uncover valuable tips on expanding your academic network. Learn about the unique challenges and rewards of this passion-driven career, including the opportunity to shape young minds and witness their growth firsthand.

adjunct assistant professor

<h2>Assistant Professor Requirements&nbsp;</h2><p>I am a teaching and research assistant professor. I've always loved teaching, and becoming an assistant professor was my dream job. When you graduate from high school, you go to college and university to earn your degree but you need a higher degree. A PhD is the minimum requirement for securing an academic job. If you decide just to teach, obtaining a PhD should be enough. However, if you plan to have your own lab, manage PhD students, or pursue postdoctoral research, you need to complete postdoctoral positions as well.&nbsp;</p><h2>Degree Tip</h2><p>It is advisable to get your PhD from one university and pursue postdoctoral opportunities at other universities to expand your network and enhance your knowledge.</p><h2>Salary</h2><p>Salaries for assistant professors in the US vary between $100,000 to $200,000 based on the location and depending on experience and funding.&nbsp;</p><h2>Things to Know&nbsp;</h2><p>This is not a 9 to 5 job like a typical industry job. There are times when you need to respond to emails, prepare presentations for classes or meetings, or work on weekends or nights. It is important to be aware of these requirements.</p><h2>Pros and Cons</h2><p>This job is not easy; you need to be passionate about your work and love what you do. If you don't, academia might not be the right fit for you. However, one of the great benefits of academia is being in constant touch with the younger generation. I work with five to ten undergraduates each year, and I learn a lot from my students. At the same time, I have the opportunity to witness the growth of others, which makes this job wonderful for me.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

The Aircraft Maintenance Technician conducts inspections, repairs and performs scheduled maintenance to aircrafts.  Their role is keep maintenance and repair logs, use power and hand tools, maintain system equipment, and use gauges and diagnostic tests to detect malfunctions.   Their responsibilities are repairing or replacing broken aircraft parts, performing troubleshooting, understanding and applying guidelines from manuals and blueprints, ensuring compliance with regional safety regulations, and collaborating with other mechanics and electricians.

aircraft maintenance technician

The Art Director creates the visual aspects of a specific campaign and oversees a staff to produce the related designs.  Their role is to provides work direction to a team, assign schedules, coach employees, and meet art department work standards by following production, productivity, quality and customer assistance regulations.  Their responsibilities are to resolve operational queries, identify work process changes, meet art department cost measures by monitoring expenses and implementing cost-saving actions, formulate art concepts, select and secure illustrative stock by forming basic layout design concepts and conducting research, produce layouts for printing by marking-up, pasting-up, and finishing layouts, obtain client approval by offering final layouts, storyboards and models, and improve the results by studying, evaluating and re-designing processes.

An Associate Veterinarian examines animals and checks their health.  Their role is to advise pet owners on nutrition, preventive healthcare, and general care, prescribe medication, perform dental, ophthalmic and orthopedic surgeries, dress wounds of injured animals, and diagnose illnesses.  Their responsibilities are to update client records, conduct home visits, spay and neuter cats and dogs, and determine the best course of treatment.

associate veterinarian

An Auxiliary Operator controls and maintains auxiliary equipment.  Their role is to monitor compressors, condensers, feedwater heaters, filters and chlorinators that supply water, fuel, lubricants, air and auxiliary power for turbines, generators, boilers and other power-generating plant facilities.  Their responsibilities are to tend portable or stationary high-pressure boilers for engines, turbines and steam-powered equipment, open and close valves and switches in sequence when signaled by other workers to start or shut down auxiliary units, tighten leaking gland and pipe joints, report needs for major equipment repairs, lubricate equipment, and collect oil, water and electrolyte samples for laboratory analysis to prevent equipment failure or deterioration.

auxiliary operator

The Clinical Instructor supervises all clinical activities and administers all content.  Their role is to oversee all activities of patient care and ensure an optimal level of care in a clinical setting as well as participate in various education programs to ensure compliance with lesson plans.  Their responsibilities are to  assist all student nurses, train all students to minimize infection and contamination, coordinate with students and manage all communication, prepare all student assignments, ensure compliance to all academic course programs and evaluate the performance of all trainees in classroom clinical training, organize various group conferences, assist all instructors to prepare appropriate classroom instructions, develop and maintain good professional relations, collaborate with academic programmers, and facilitate all post conferences on clinical training.

clinical instructor

A Designer creates visual trends through media like typography, illustration, photography and layouts.  Their role is producing excellent visual work, generating a host of ideas, selecting the best ones, and selling them to other members of the team and to clients.  Their responsibilities are staying up to date with industry trends, encouraging others to share their ideas, communicating productively with management and clients to keep them up-to-date with project milestones, creating a direction for projects, and guiding team members.

An electrician is responsible for installing, maintaining, and repairing electrical systems. This includes wiring, circuit breakers, outlets, switches and other components of an electrical system. Electricians may also be tasked with inspecting existing electrical systems to ensure they are up to code and safe for use. Additionally, electricians may install new lighting fixtures or appliances such as air conditioners or refrigerators in homes or businesses. They must also comply with all local building codes when working on any project involving electricity.

electrician

The Electronic Technician maintains electronic components and systems.  Their role is to install, service, repair and update existing electronic systems.  Their responsibilities are assembling, installing, repairing, troubleshooting, sourcing and fabricating replacement parts for electronic systems, liaising with supervisors and clients to discuss work schedules and deadlines, estimating material costs, providing training and supervision to new technicians and apprentices, conducting scheduled preventative maintenance and servicing of equipment, performing equipment demonstrations, and drawing up training manuals.

electronics technician

The Graphic Designer uses hand tools or computer softwares to create posters, websites, logos, pamphlets, magazines and other materials to communicate opinions and information.  Their role is planning concepts by studying relevant information and materials, demonstrating concepts, and preparing finished art by operating necessary equipment and software.  Their responsibilities are coordinating with outside agencies, art services, web designers, marketing, printers and co-workers as needed, contributing to team efforts by performing tasks, communicating with clients about layout and design criteria, creating a wide range of graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos and websites, and reviewing final layouts and advising on changes.

Audrey shares her career journey as a successful graphic designer. She shares the importance of a strong portfolio, how to showcase your skills with performance metrics, and tips for advancing your creative career while staying inspired and fulfilled. 

<h2>Graphic Design Necessary Skills</h2><p>Color theory, drawing, and a sense of composition. I think a college or a vocational program just gives you the opportunities and the teachers to help you learn how to do that and to have the opportunity to practice it.</p><p><br></p><h2>How to Start in This Role</h2><p><br></p><p>To get into this role, I would say have a strong portfolio. Whether the portfolio is actual client work or work that you've created on your own, like case studies or made-up brands, having design examples is key. It’s important for whoever's looking at your book—whatever prospective employer that might be—to see your design sense, your skill level, and what you excel at.</p><p><br></p><h2>Portfolio Tio</h2><p>One thing I wish I’d done more in my own portfolio is include numbers. For example, showing how an ad got a certain number of views or how a social post received a particular amount of interaction. Those numbers really tell the story people want to see. It’s not just about making great visuals but demonstrating performance.</p><p><br></p><h2>Pros and Cons</h2><p>Working professionally as an artist is a huge benefit. Some cons, however, include understanding that the work is for a client, which means it won’t always be what you personally envision. I feel privileged to have a full-time career as a designer. Salary varies based on location and the company. Tech companies, for example, often have bigger budgets compared to smaller ones.</p><p><br></p><h2>Graphic Designer Salary</h2><p>As a graphic designer, you can expect a wide range of salaries—anywhere from $50K to $70K, depending on the market. I started as an intern at a magazine, learned on the job, and then became a graphic designer. From there, I moved up to junior art director, art director, senior art director, and now associate creative director. Perhaps a creative director role is next.</p><p><br></p><h2>Career Advice</h2><p>The biggest piece of advice: don’t stay in one job too long. When opportunities arise, move around for both creative and financial growth. They say the best way to get a raise is to get a new job.</p><p><br></p><p>For inspiration, I need to get out and see things. It’s essential to put myself in a place to be inspired so I can do my best creative work. It’s easy to check the box and fulfill the job, but true creatives want to feel creatively fulfilled. You don’t want to end up unsatisfied with the work you’re doing.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

A Material Handler oversees the movement and storage of various materials.  Their role is to contact vendors for pickups or returns, and load and unload inventory from loading docks, delivery trucks, storage areas, and production areas.  Their responsibilities are to operate various machinery including booms, cameras, cranes, and forklifts to handle materials and inventory, manage inventory by identifying, cataloging and recording the location and movement of inventory, record the number of units handled and moved every day using production sheets, analyze pickup sheets based on client's orders and pull the appropriate products for each order, track supply levels and regularly submit purchasing recommendations, and comply with all safety and health regulations.

material handler

A Network Manager oversees the network team to lead and support all aspects of the network systems and sub-systems.  Their role is to design, implement and manage the network infrastructure, supervise the company’s  support staff, and perform strategic planning based on the company's objectives to keep in line with new developments in IT.  Their responsibilities are to manage technologies, maintain existing systems, oversee operational support for internal employee computer systems, provide project management for major sites moves and new system implementation, manage the relevant IT budget, and provide costs for all future developments and upgrades.

network manager

A Nuclear Operator regulates the flow of electricity that is produced from a nuclear power plant.  Their role is to maintain the plant's machinery, implement procedures that regulate the start-up or shut-down of the facility, and respond to abnormalities by taking appropriate action.  Their responsibilities are analyzing numerous nuclear operator jobs include directing, starting, stopping, adjusting, testing and operating pumps, valves, switchgear, controls and other components of the system, performing routine tests, incidental maintenance, electrical switching and other activities, and collecting, sorting, segregating and packing radiological waste.

nuclear operator

The Process Technician monitors and improves the manufacturing processes for a business.  Their role is identifying and monitoring production machine parameters, reviewing and testing product and batch quality, and ensuring the production processes run smoothly and efficiently.  Their responsibilities are identifying machine faults and production rate errors, maintaining production logbooks, reporting faults and breakdowns to supervisors and production engineers, and ensuring all service personal adhere to safety protocols.

process technician

The Senior Graphic Designer uses hand tools or computer softwares to create posters, websites, logos, pamphlets, magazines and other materials to communicate opinions and information.  Their role is planning concepts by studying relevant information and materials, demonstrating concepts, and preparing finished art by operating necessary equipment and software.  Their responsibilities are coordinating with outside agencies, art services, web designers, marketing, printers and co-workers as needed, contributing to team efforts by performing tasks, communicating with clients about layout and design criteria, creating a wide range of graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos and websites, and reviewing final layouts and advising on changes.

A senior project engineer's responsibilities include schedule preparation, pre-planning and resource forecasting for engineering and other technical activities relating to the project. They may also be in charge of performance management of vendors. They assure the accuracy of financial forecasts, which tie-in to project schedules. They ensure projects are completed according to project plans. Senior project engineers manage project team resources and training and develop extensive project management experience and expertise. The project engineer should be knowledgeable enough to be able to speak intelligently within the various disciplines, and not purely be a liaison. The project engineer is also often the primary technical point of contact for the consumer.

senior project engineer

Senior software engineer is a professional who applies the principles of engineering to the design, development, maintenance, testing, and evaluation of computer software. Responsibilities of a software engineer include gathering requirements, defining system functionality, designing systems software website and applications, and writing code in various computer programming languages.  A senior software engineer may have additional responsibilities compared to software engineer, such as people management or varying project oversight.

Learn about being a Software Engineer from someone with 25 years of experience. He shares that not everyone needs a degree in Computer Science, but it is the most common path. If you enjoy technology and breaking down problems, this might be the path for you.

https://image.jobtrees.com/static/role-video/Software Engineer Subtitles.srt

<h2 dir="ltr">Engineering Career:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">I spent 25 years being a software engineer, mostly on the server side. I was working with APIs, backend development databases, SQL.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Software Engineer Requirements:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Most people are expected to have a computer science degree. It's not 100% true. Some of the best engineers do come in with a different type of degree. But more often than not, people are expected to have gone to college and work in computer science.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Career Skills:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">I feel like people need to have both strong communication skills and also a good amount of humility, because we all have pros and cons. We all have things that we're good at. We have things that we're not the best at, but maybe there's somebody else on the team to do a better job. So the better that you are at knowing what your strengths and limitations are, the better it's going to be for the team. The ones who really want to improve their skills will seek out people who are better than they are and learn from them.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Career Tip:</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Make sure that you enjoy breaking problems down, implementing the behavior of the system and code, talking to other people about technology, about pros and cons, all those kinds of things. It's going to help you be a much more successful software engineer.</p>

A System Operator controls systems at service companies and non-utility generators that access the power grid to regulate the flow of electricity through transmission lines from industrial plants.  Their role is to monitor and operate current converters, and observe the status of transmission circuits and connections with substations and industrial plants for any irregularities.  Their responsibilities are to monitor voltage transformers and circuit breakers, communicate with power plant operators, energy traders and local utilities, anticipate changes in power needs causing by weather, and operate and monitor the equipment to increase or decrease voltage as needed.

systems operator

A teaching assistant (TA), or teachers aide, helps a teacher or professor with instructional responsibilities. Teaching assistants are present in all levels of schooling, and teaching assistants who are graduate students often teach classes on their own.  In some cases, teaching assistants may help a teacher during class by supporting students with learning disabilities, such as ADHD, Autism, or even physical disabilities, such as blindness or deafness. They also help teachers prepare lesson plans, track student attendance, and set up necessary material for classes.

This teacher, is creating a fun teaching environment that he didn't get in his early education. It was the inspiration of one of his own teachers who shaped him in to who he is today. This teacher has the profound opportunity to inspire, empower, and shape the future leaders of tomorrow. 

<h2><strong>Why I Choose Teaching</strong></h2><p>I hated school with a passion. Teachers were mean to me. Then junior year of high school, I was in a class, an American history class, and the teacher of that class was also a track coach and ended up loving running and ended up starting to like school because this teacher just brought it alive and was really passionate about it. And I could tell and made me want to learn more and more. So after my junior year, instead of Ds, Cs, Ds and Fs, I was getting As and As, which was wonderful. And I never thought I'd go to college, but I ended up going to junior college to complete, continue running. And then after that, I had all these units and got transfer agreements to a university. And in that university, I ended up finding out that I loved kids and I loved teaching kids and being with kids and watching them learn and grow and just having a good laugh every day. And I just reflected back, said, you know, I'm going to make school fun and exciting for kids in a way that was not for me.</p><p><br></p><h2><strong>Early Career Tips</strong></h2><p>Make sure that you set aside money for retirement every month starting from the beginning, even if it's just a little. I know you don't make as much in the beginning as a veteran long term teacher, but it's really important to be prepared for the end of your career, even though you're just starting. Don't date anyone at work. It's the worst thing. It bites in the butt every time and from personal experience. Ask for help whenever you need it. Make sure that you get in good with your team, your grade level team, and always be nice. The custodian and the staff that work in the office, they work really hard and they pretty much run the school.</p><p><br></p><h2><strong>Teaching Requirements</strong></h2><p>You have to obviously have a bachelor's, some sorts of people now have a master's education and then you have to have a teaching credential program. Most universities have them. You have to get fingerprinted, you have to have TB tests. You have to have to have kind of a general like of children, you know, and kind of just asking for education and wanting to pass on your filters of life and how you see the world onto your own mind and what you need to be seeing.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

A Veterinarian examines animals and checks their health.  Their role is to advise pet owners on nutrition, preventive healthcare, and general care, prescribe medication, perform dental, ophthalmic and orthopedic surgeries, dress wounds of injured animals, and diagnose illnesses.  Their responsibilities are to update client records, conduct home visits, spay and neuter cats and dogs, and determine the best course of treatment.

Master Degree in Graphic Design Career Path