1. Andrew Koenig
Industrial designer
Dear Bill,
I have finally started my first job as an Industrial Designer in Arizona. An Industrial
Designer is someone who designs a wide variety of items. I design anything from ballpoint pens
to electronics to automobiles. I also prepare sketches of ideas, detailed drawings
and many more things. But we also redesign products to make them better like
the old mop to the new Swiffer Sweeper. I direct and coordinate
the fabrication of creations. What we design or redesign will
depend on the industry that you are in, for example, if your in the
auto industry, you would concentrate on things like the interior or
the headlights of a car, where in a power tool company you would
work on better parts for the
different tools, I work for a
company called General Electric
or GE , my department generally
works on lighting.
In order to design or redesign a product you
have to do many things like meet the clients, decide
how safe it has to be, talk to the users, and many
other things, These are some of the boring parts of
being an industrial designer because it’s a lot of desk work, one of the better
things of being an Industrial designer is the actual designing of the product.
In this job you will need creativity, technical knowledge, keen eye for color and detail,
know how to use a computer, good at sketching, and know how products work. All you need is a

2. bachelors degree for this job but I have noticed that there is good competition for most jobs,
that’s why I went back to college.
After I have actually worked at this job I have found out that I only have one or two
things on that list and there isn’t much I can do to get better at all that this means I might be
hanging out with you again soon. The good part of this
career is the pay, you could make anything from
$31,400 to $97,770 but will probably make around $41,550
to $76,700 I personally am making $92,459 a year which
makes me very happy. In the next ten years the experts say
the average money made will increase from
$44,300 to $48,300, when you take account of inflation
that is about a $2,700 increase, or around 9%, this
increase is slow but steady. This is significant compared
to Wisconsin’s average at $29,000 but, I would much
rather have a job that I love with a low salary than a job
that I hate with a high salary because it is a very practical
job due to the fact that you design items, we will keep creating new things so it is unlikely for
companies with industrial designers to go out of business.
After all of this research and actually working I have decided I do not want to continue
my career in industrial design because I am not creative, I basically don’t even think about
thinking outside of the box, this decision pains me but I will accept the fact that I just can’t be an
industrial designer and will be returning home soon.
Sincerely,
Andrew Koenig
Sources:
"America's Top 10 Best Jobs - Careers Articles." Jobs, Careers, and Job Listings - AOL
Find a Job. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. <http://jobs.aol.com/articles/photos/best-
jobs/1434464/>.
Development., the National Center for O*NET. "O*NET OnLine." O*NET OnLine. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. <http://online.onetcenter.org/>.
"GetEntrepreneurial.com: Small Business Tips, Resources and Ideas for the Aspiring
Entrepreneur." GetEntrepreneurial.com: Small Business Tips, Resources and Ideas for
the Aspiring Entrepreneur. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2010.
<http://GetEntrepreneurial.com>