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Many instructional designers have great work-life balance, relatively relaxed work environments, and decent salaries.

So, if you like writing, working with tech, working with people, and helping people learn, then instructional design will likely be a good fit for you. You then use this knowledge and skill to design and develop engaging learning experiences that help people do their jobs better (or learn something new more efficiently and effectively). If you're learning about instructional design for the first time, then you're likely wondering whether it's a good fit for you.Īs an instructional designer, you're constantly learning. You're mastering new technology, learning about new industries, or diving deep into a subject matter expert's expertise. If you're interested in learning more about freelancing or growing a small agency, then you should join the ID community to discuss this with hundreds of successful freelancers (myself included). This article focuses exclusively on developing the skillset necessary to work as an instructional designer and land your first instructional design job. Self-employed instructional designers must market their services, pay self-employment taxes, pay for their own healthcare, negotiate contracts, manage client expectations, invoice for their services, and so much more.įull-time instructional designers do not need to worry about the "running a business" side of things, but they often will not experience the same degree of freedom or earning potential as their self-employed counterparts. However, when you're self-employed, you're running a small business. This arrangement allows them to choose which projects to take on and set their own schedules.

Other self-employed instructional designers work remotely for multiple clients at any given time on a freelance basis. Some self-employed instructional designers take up long-term contract work, so while they're technically "self-employed," they may be expected to work 40 hours per week for a single company. The daily tasks of a self-employed instructional designer may look quite different from those of a full-time instructional designer. When working in-house, instructional designers are often expected to wear all of these hats (and sometimes more, such as LMS administration and program evaluation). Performance consultants may conduct the analysis, instructional designers may design the instruction, and eLearning developers may convert the instruction into an interactive online experience. Examples of vendors are AllenComm, SweetRush, and Kineo.Īt external vendors, instructional designers are more likely to have differentiated roles. Instructional designers who work for eLearning vendors will help develop eLearning for the vendor's clients. Imagine working at Apple, Amazon, Walmart, or any other company with a purpose other than to design and develop training for a range of clients. In-house instructional designers support either the employees at their company or their company's customers. eLearning Vendor IDsĪnother way to distinguish between the daily tasks of an instructional designer is to consider whether they work in-house for a single company or for a vendor that serves multiple clients. Government IDs often perform tasks similar to corporate IDs, but note that an ID's tasks will depend on the role and the organization. They may also help faculty maintain their existing courses.Īlso, rather than using rapid eLearning authoring tools, higher education instructional designers develop and modify courses in a learning management system (LMS), such as Blackboard or Canvas. In higher education, instructional designers spend much of their time in meetings and helping faculty members convert face-to-face courses into online offerings.

Turnaround times are quick and processes are likely well-documented. In the corporate world, instructional designers (IDs) spend much of their time using eLearning authoring tools to build interactive eLearning courses.Īlmost every large corporation has their version of a corporate university filled with eLearning courses, and they need instructional designers to help create these courses. Let's consider some of the most common ways to differentiate between the tasks that instructional designers perform. However, instructional designers at different organizations can have vastly different workloads or job tasks. They may also develop job aids, facilitator guides, slide decks, and other learning deliverables. Most often, instructional designers interview SMEs, write instructional content, create storyboards, and then develop the storyboards into interactive eLearning experiences. In today's world, the position "instructional designer" has come to represent a wide array of job tasks and responsibilities.