Why you shouldn’t try to become a car designer
By: Matteo Licata
Tags: Design Thinking, Career Advice, Life Lessons, Automotive, Industrial Design

Before this year’s events, “pilot shortage” used to be a thing.

Over the years, the job of an airline’s pilot lost its allure, and fewer people were interested in actually pursuing that career path. It seems the same has yet to happen with automobile designers, and I think it’s about time.

Currently, there are more than fifty academies around the world that offer bachelor courses in vehicle design. Of course, there are exceptions, but most of them are private, for-profit institutions charging exorbitant fees.

Trouble is, the world doesn’t need many car designers.

They have no trouble finding students, though. After all, being paid to shape tomorrow’s cars is an irresistible proposition for many young car enthusiasts, and who am I to judge? I was one of them!

The imagery associated with car designers, shaped by some of the great masters of the past and the current glitzy design directors’ presentations at motor shows, is one of glamour and success. When asked about my job, answering “car designer” never failed to impress my dates… But I digress!

Trouble is, the world doesn’t need many car designers. Although there aren’t reliable estimates around, my business experience places the number of active automobile designers between 1500 and 3000 units worldwide.

Considering the around 50 academies mentioned above, we can estimate that 500 newly-graduated vehicle designers hit the job market every year… And I think you’re starting to see the problem.

Nowadays, the effort and expenses needed to get a bachelor in automobile design just aren’t worth it

This chronic oversupply of fresh graduates has driven the market value of so-called “junior designers” into the ground, with little hope of recovery anytime soon. These days, even getting an OEM manufacturer internship is a privilege, and young designers would do anything to get noticed. Manufacturers know this, and hosting a design competition is an excellent way to get hundreds of ideas for free.

Nowadays, the effort and expenses needed to get a bachelor in automobile design aren’t worth it from a purely monetary standpoint, as the chances of a long and successful career in the business keep getting slimmer. But, If reading this article up to this point hasn’t dampened your resolve and being a car designer still is your dream, there’s hope for the future.

The satisfaction of witnessing a vehicle taking shape never gets old

As this excellent piece eloquently explains, the transition to electric vehicles will dramatically change automobile manufacturing. Whether legacy car companies like it or not, electric vehicle hardware will become a commodity, placing design and user experience firmly as the ultimate product differentiators.

Not all the legacy automobile companies we now know will survive. Still, today’s huge barriers to entry to the automotive sector will become significantly lower, opening opportunities for new companies and multiplying once again the possibilities for the many talented young designers out there.

I’ve “lived the dream” for over ten years myself and I remember that I used to enjoy the creative process immensely. The satisfaction of witnessing a vehicle taking shape never gets old, regardless of the ever-present nuisance of corporate politics.

Automobile design may be going through a messy, ugly transformational period, but it’s not done yet.