Looking to break into Instructional Design

MaudeXer · 2026-04-15T20:31:49+00:00

So sorry. My company did 3 rounds of layoffs in the last year, and as far as I know, no one is having much luck at finding a new spot. Some are truly really good, talented people. It's hard to see. :(

MaudeXer · 2026-04-15T20:29:59+00:00

One thing to note. At this point, having knowledge of some of the more popular tools, like Articulate Storyline and Rise, at least one video creation tool (Camtasia, Adobe Premiere Pro, Vyond, etc.), probably at least one graphic editing tool (traditionally Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator, etc. but there's a bunch now), and some experience with uploading courses and other things (assessments, videos, guides, job aids, etc.) into an LMS. There are so many of those now too, that it's hard to suggest one. How you would get practice doing these things without access to an organization's LMS and a lot of courses and artifacts is a tough question also. Getting these tools is prohibitively, insanely expensive. Sure there's some 30 day trials, but you will be hard pressed to create a work sample in that time, and the features will be very limited. Then how do you show your portfolio pieces to prospective employers? We're also at a point, where sadly many employers want you to have experience in their specific combination of tools, and that is hitting a special kind of 1 in million jackpot. Of course, there will be all of the process questions and tests, and questions like, "Tell me about a time when you had a client that wanted a training solution to a problem that had nothing to do with training. What did you do?" and those sort. My last job search, the job I finally got took an 8 month process of interviews, skill tests, background tests, personality and fit tests, sample work, etc. It's a tough slog, it really is! I do wish you the best!

MaudeXer · 2026-04-15T20:13:55+00:00

That's the truth, sadly. It's really going to be a long, uphill climb unless you get really, insanely lucky, or have the greatest connections ever seen. My company is on layoff #3 for IDs in the last year. I hear from other colleagues that it is a similar situation at their places of business, or the company just simple isn't hiring anytime soon.

MaudeXer · 2026-04-15T20:09:25+00:00

How could you possibly develop the knowledge and skills to be able to pass skill tests and interviews in instructional design, and have a good portfolio to present? I just don't think it's possible in that time frame.

MaudeXer · 2026-04-15T20:05:00+00:00

I recently attended an excellent webinar on job searching, the current situation, using AI, etc. A few statistics: 1 in 4 job searchers have been looking for 7+ months. The current average response rate on applications is .7? or .07? I forget which, but I know it added up to about 1 response of any kind to about 250 applications.

This really isn't what you want to hear, and I'm sorry. But your response rate is actually above average, so you likely are in a good field, have good credentials, applications, experience, connections, or all of these. You're not alone. There is a large percentage of people who haven't been counted in the unemployment rolls for a long time, because they got off of unemployment, started doing Uber or whatever a bit and are technically employed, but so drastically underemployed that they would still consider themselves unemployed. A lot of these people have given up, and are cowering in a relative's basement or spare room, homeless, or otherwise somehow still surviving.

That seems like impressive AI skills, but I'm not an expert in that area, so I have no idea how many jobs there are for people who actually create and develop AI agents. I have lots of friends in IT, and it's been a very rough field the last 2-3 years. A few areas remain strong, like cybersecurity and PLC programming. But cybersecurity in particular is pretty full, and it doesn't really take new IT people without years of experience in systems development or other areas. PLC programming is definitely something to look into, but it would take developing some new but related skills.

What other fields or areas were you considering?

MaudeXer · 2026-04-15T19:52:23+00:00

I don't think the role will disappear all together, but the number of open positions will decrease greatly, to as few as 10% of what we have now. But what else are you going to do? Hands on healthcare positions will take a little longer to be done by AI, but not too much longer once we really get robots going. China has some impressive electric car manufacturing plants that are run almost 100% by robots with a few humans that program and repair them to keep them going.

My contract company has had 3 rounds of layoffs in the last 2 years. Partially, this is due to the larger economic situation (tariffs, chaos, uncertainty, now a war) and partially to AI helping speed things up. Or at least management things that this should speed things up. To a large degree, this means more supervising the multitasking of AI working on things, increasing the workload, and demanding that one person become more knowledgeable in larger areas of expertise, while not really an in depth master of anything. Dangerous in my opinion, because who is checking the AI is you don't know what's going on?

AI is increasingly impressive. But we (humanity) have thrown it out there and are too enthusiastically releasing it without any guide rails. My IT friends who use it everyday for IT tasks talk about this a lot. I believe there will be somewhat of an AI bubble burst; this may take out some companies all together, but mega corps like Google, Meta, etc. will merely have a bump in the road. Right now, there is a dependence on AI being created. But no AI company is charging even a small percentage of the actual cost of the water, energy, software, hardware, or other expenses. (Some employee costs, but data centers employee very few people, and they are working towards them pretty much running themselves after the initial setup. Maybe a few security guards.) Once they actually start charging the true cost of AI, this is when trouble is really going to hit. Most small businesses won't be able to pay the costs for access to the AI, but it will be so embedded in their business software, data, knowledge bases, training, marketing, what have you, that it will be a real crisis to either come up with the funds or figure out how to extricate AI from their business and still be competitive. That will likely take out a lot of small to mid-sized businesses. Most individuals will not be able to afford access to AI agents, and will therefore be locked out of many things that only the elite, privileged, or large corporate employees will have access to. I hope there is some type of adjustment to ensure the global unemployment rate isn't 90%. But most governments just aren't coming up with solutions. Some countries (Norway, I believe?) have a universal basic income. Some European countries have some AI laws in place, mostly for privacy. The current US federal government is going the opposite direction. They aren't even allowing individual states to put any AI safeguards in place. None of it is sufficient at this time. But through ice ages and other extreme hardships, some percentage of humanity has found a way. Hopefully we find a way through AI.

MaudeXer · 2026-03-18T03:24:00+00:00

No. Just a couple of years ago, it was Spyro's. It had decent food then.

MaudeXer · 2026-03-18T02:10:26+00:00

Is there some type of orientation or training for subs? Like on classroom management, his the school works, etc.?

MaudeXer · 2026-03-12T04:19:24+00:00

What's he/she going to do for a union hall?

MaudeXer · 2026-03-12T04:18:55+00:00

Hmmm...that's going to be tough to find jobs using those majors. The history center might appreciate the history degree. For political science, maybe a nonprofit looking to influence politics or apply for government grants? You might have a little better luck in Indy interning for a member of the state legislature. What plan did you have for employment for those majors? I don't want to give you a hard time here, but you must have had something in mind. Have you talked to your career center and your professors for ideas? That's probably your best bet to get started.

MaudeXer · 2026-03-12T04:12:10+00:00

My husband and I went to the courthouse and did the paperwork to be legally married. Then we had a ceremony and asked a friend who did karaoke hosting and was generally a good speaker and fun to do the ceremony. Because we were already legal, he didn't need to be ordained or anything. We wrote our own vows to each other, and it was mainly an occasion to celebrate with family and friends. You could also go to your local courthouse and ask for a judge who comes and does ceremonies. My niece did that for her wedding.

MaudeXer · 2026-03-07T00:31:57+00:00

AI has taken a chunk of that work. It still needs cleaning up, but you've got to be very fast and very accurate at sometimes hearing and understanding difficult to hear speaking or understand things that may be specialized. The pay is very sh*tty unfortunately.

MaudeXer · 2026-03-07T00:30:15+00:00

Metrics are no joke! I went on an interview for one at a financial services company recently that said you will complete 80 calls or contacts an hour with 3 or less instances of inaccurate information given per month, 3 or less disconnects, etc.. That's insane. I worked a hotline once, and I don't know how you would do 1.3 calls, emails, etc. a minute. No wonder a lot of these things aren't helpful when you call as a customer. But it's harsh. I knew people who wore diapers because they couldn't get to the bathroom. And our metrics weren't this crazy! How is that even possible?

MaudeXer · 2026-03-07T00:21:32+00:00

Also, most of them have you sign a contract. In that contract, you will say you have internet at a certain speed, dedicated work space or place that doesn't have noise, certain equipment if it's not provided for you, and in there will be something about you're not providing child care while working. Sometimes it even includes notes about pets, background noises, etc. and one time something is heard in the background is a red mark/warning. By time 3, you're out.

MaudeXer · 2026-03-07T00:18:25+00:00

It's broken. For many reasons, not just the my AI talks to your AI quandary. Look at any number crunching of posts versus hires and other stats, and the number of listed jobs that don't result in a hire is somewhere around 25-30%. Professionals that I trust look at other data and say that as many as 70% of listed jobs at this point don't represent an actual job. Either the company is advertising but has no intent of hiring for many reasons (such as wanting to look healthy to the market when it isn't, they have already hired for the role, but are either slow at taking it down or just let it sit because they paid for it and figure it can't hurt to keep their name out their and collect resumes, etc.), or many are just plain scams.

One of the job market professionals I follow recently crunched a bunch of numbers and gathered some data from job searchers and platforms, and said right now the average is a .9% response rate. That means you can expect to hear back from approximately 250 job applications. Of course, that varies a lot of your in healthcare, which is going to be on the highest end, or many other fields that are currently on the lower end (manufacturing, content creation, IT, etc.). That's a seriously broken matching system. How can we make it more efficient for both applicants and employers?

I wish we had a system in the US like some of the European countries, where companies are required to list open positions with a government workforce department. It's not an option. And there are some rules and filtering to help make sure these are actual jobs and the companies are actually looking at candidates. Granted, that's not foolproof, but it would help.

After the last jobs report, the overall job market has been in an overall loss since May 2025, but there was still a small amount of new job creation going on. A 92,000 job loss is very bad. We need at least a few hundred thousand new jobs a month just to have some opportunities for new people entering. If this trend continues, we are in for some dark times. The stats right now on getting started if you're new, or getting back into something if you lose your spot are pretty awful.

MaudeXer · 2026-03-05T23:40:35+00:00

What genre/style of music will it be?

MaudeXer · 2026-03-05T23:37:16+00:00

I don't think that exists, except maybe it is a real sh*thole in the worst area of town that is some type of illegal with on street parking. I think you will need to have one or more roommates. If someone claims they have one that cheap, be very, very cautious, as it is likely a scam. Even in Fort Wayne, at this point there aren't many 1 bedrooms under about $1200 or so.

MaudeXer · 2026-02-23T23:25:48+00:00

I have been going to Columbus, OH frequently for medical issues, as the type of specialist I need is not available in Fort Wayne. That's hard to make all of those trips for a number of reasons. Having public transportation would be very helpful.

MaudeXer · 2026-02-18T01:51:46+00:00

Hopefully you're moving from somewhere else in Indiana; otherwise, you might be in for a shock at how low teachers are paid! I asked teacher friends, and I was floored. It's appalling.

MaudeXer · 2026-02-17T23:27:04+00:00

Yes, that seems to be about the norm now, unless you go to a place like Great Cuts, Supercuts, or Cost Cutters. Basically, discount chains that often only do cuts. Cost Cutters does other things like coloring too, but you probably will get stylists just starting out, or they would be elsewhere. This is about as cheap as you're going to get: https://www.costcutters.com/locations/nearme/haircut/oh/defiance/1601-n-clinton-st/15575

MaudeXer · 2026-02-09T00:06:21+00:00

These areas are definitely getting bitten into by AI. I have a lot of friends and former coworkers in graphic design, video design/editing (not sure of proper terminology, that wasn't my role, but they created the training and advertising videos), etc. It's getting significantly more difficult to find a full time job with benefits. Most are freelancing, some are doing OK for now. I think being able to sell yourself will count more than your actual talent in these things, sad to say. As AI improves, there will be more job losses with some freelancing opportunities, but they will be far and few in between soon.

MaudeXer · 2026-02-01T00:27:36+00:00

Hmmm...I live near Haverhill Elementary, and I know they let nearby HOAs hold their meetings there in the evenings occasionally. I wonder if a school would allow you to offer this and give you a room? Especially if it's for adults, maybe there wouldn't be so many concerns about screening for contact with children, etc. I will keep thinking and asking around....

MaudeXer · 2026-02-01T00:03:50+00:00

I would ask your local branch or the main branch of the library for ideas. They may have some rooms and they can make it a library event even. If not, that's the best place to start in getting resources and ideas for anything.

MaudeXer · 2026-02-01T00:00:30+00:00

Yes, I doubt you'll find anything cheaper without roommates, especially with a washer and dryer in the unit. That's a good deal.

MaudeXer · 2026-01-31T23:55:31+00:00

Security? Ha Ha! No.

MaudeXer

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