What 4,000+ Job Posts Say About the Design Industry

A collaboration between a data scientist and a design job seeker

Photo: PeopleImages/Getty Images

TL;DR — The design job market is top-heavy

I worked with a data scientist to scrape five popular design job boards for the last four months with global coverage, including Dribbble and Behance. We then classified jobs by seniority and discipline. (See the methodology section for more details.)

Even at a basic first glance, the dataset shows that job posts are heavily skewed toward senior roles, leaving little room for entry-level opportunities.

The hottest disciplines associated with the tech sector are the toughest markets to get your first job:

• Product Design: For every 1 entry-level post there are 29 senior roles
• UI/UX Design: For every 1 entry-level post there are 19 senior roles

More traditional design disciplines have the most entry-level opportunities:

• Graphic Design: For every 1 entry-level post there are 1.3 senior roles
• Visual Design: For every 1 entry-level post there are 3 senior roles