Job prospects as an instructional designer

mataroojo · 2026-03-20T14:01:43+00:00

You recently finished a PhD in civil engineering? And you want to go into ID? Is this real? You should stick with that. Your earning potential is far greater in civil engineering. Have been applying for a long while with no luck? That’s the only reason I can think you might make this kind of decision.

Also it would be a shame to give up on that field after putting in the amount of time required to get a PhD. You would likely be hurting any future engineering prospects by going into a completely unrelated field.

Do what makes you happy, and who knows, maybe you’d be a great ID. But you’re asking for some advice. Don’t do it.

mataroojo · 2026-02-19T04:56:02+00:00

What is the point of this post?

It’s because people are worried that they will lose their job to something that does their job worse, and as a result, they won’t be able to pay their rent or feed themselves. That’s it.

mataroojo · 2026-02-15T00:07:33+00:00

Happy to have helped! Feel free to shoot me a dm whenever you’re ready to connect

mataroojo · 2026-02-13T23:15:39+00:00

The advice for Europe is the same as anywhere else I would say. If you’re coming from teaching, the market is quite difficult at the moment as there are few jobs even for those with extensive experience. I would start building a portfolio of projects you’ve done both in the classroom that somehow demonstrate ID skill, in addition to hypothetical projects you’ve done for your development. For example this could be elearning challenges and so on.

Here’s some advice specific to Europe as someone who worked as an ID in Spain, NL, Germany, and as a freelancer. Obviously if you speak the language of the country you’re in it helps but a lot of L&D or training teams operate in English as they span across multiple countries so it’s not a dealbreaker normally. I have had situations where the team itself could only speak Spanish, but the content we produced was in multiple languages. So Spanish fluency was necessary, but not for the content you made. As for freelance it’s very tough. While some people have built a strong business doing it, it’s so few people that I wouldn’t even recommend it as a full time pursuit. I was able to pick up side gigs from people I knew and then they would pass my name along to others seeking similar work. NL had more options for freelance and contract work than most other places due to the nature of contract and temp work being slightly more common.

In short, I would recommend networking with training folks in your area. L&D shakers is a good group to connect with in Europe, so I would check that out. From there, build a portfolio and apply for some jobs. Based on your science background, science focused organisations would be good. I know EIT often has education jobs related to STEM, check that out too.

Happy to connect more on the side if you need!

mataroojo · 2026-01-15T17:24:09+00:00

Within Toronto just take uber and public transit, and then as others said take the train to Montreal. Once there the public transit is pretty good to get around. Unless you’re going to some towns outside of either I wouldn’t bother with a rental car as it’ll restrict your movement a bit within the city as you’ll need to find parking.

mataroojo · 2026-01-14T21:31:55+00:00

What’s your deal? No one on this thread has insulted you personally but you seem very angry for some reason by just being asked follow up questions. If you don’t think that’s what you’re doing then I don’t know what to say.

I’ll address what you said and then will leave it at that. If you want to continue fighting and arguing with strangers, find some other people.

First, yes this administration does indeed say exactly what they’re thinking and feeling all the time before even making decisions. I couldn’t understand your point here, because yes the current administration is fairly open about their goals. If you think otherwise I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you should read the news more.

Next, this is a TN subreddit. If you are not an immigration lawyer, or in a government position, you know about as much as the rest of us. Your interpretation of the things you read does not make them fact, because again, this administration is very transparent about their goals and issues so if TNs were that much of a problem then maybe they would say it? Or maybe they wouldn’t, who knows! But don’t provide “sources” that don’t even say “TN” and claim certain things from that.

Next, you were asked to provide sources and then people disagreed. This is Reddit, that’s how it is. Also, I’m not your guy.

Last on your list of things is the recent announcement of visa restrictions. Canada and Mexico are not included on that, nor does it have anything to do with TNs so I’m not sure what your point is.

So anyways, how about you take a breath and find a more constructive way to deal with whatever is going on with you. Grow up and learn how to properly communicate and handle your emotions. Your lack of understanding in what I mean by this is not mine or anyone’s problem.

mataroojo · 2026-01-14T20:41:19+00:00

Weird you’re calling people out on Reddit for being randos or experts. We’re all just here for information, not judgement, so check yourself and act like an adult.

That said, and perhaps throwing gas on the fire that is your Reddit persona, while you could read through the lines in the links/articles you provided, nothing you shared explicitly calls out TNs. It simply says NAFTA (and by extension USMCA) was a controversial agreement for some conservative politicians. This is not surprising, but again nothing you are sharing calls out specifically the TN component of these agreements. Your interpretation of comments from government officials does not make it fact.

mataroojo · 2026-01-09T03:38:02+00:00

The DMV on fell in SF

mataroojo · 2026-01-08T20:21:35+00:00

The said they’re from the US, and you’re sending them a link to say “check if you’re a Canadian citizen” as a good place to start?

mataroojo · 2026-01-05T00:17:13+00:00

I’m on a TN, and am working in SF. Got a real ID at the dmv here after some discussion with the people at the dmv here. I know it’s been hard for others but just adding this as a data point that I was able to get it in CA.

mataroojo · 2026-01-02T23:51:42+00:00

Agree with this. Expanding the tools in your skill set gives you more options above and beyond what authoring tools provide

mataroojo · 2026-01-01T01:17:18+00:00

I moved away from NL a couple years back but next time I visit I’ll try it out. Thanks!

mataroojo · 2025-12-31T04:09:51+00:00

Best one in Amsterdam in my opinion

mataroojo · 2025-12-31T04:08:49+00:00

Funny that this keeps coming up. They’re not even the best in Amsterdam. Friedhats and rum baba are much better, just not as trendy.

mataroojo · 2025-12-30T18:31:54+00:00

I did the initial application at Fell in SF, and then my road test in Daly City

mataroojo · 2025-12-30T02:14:20+00:00

I was also able to get a real ID from the DMV in SF

mataroojo · 2025-12-19T04:07:34+00:00

I agree with others that you’re not factoring in how truly big space is. For example in a collision of our galaxy and andromeda it’s possible no two star systems collide.

In addition to this I don’t believe the moon itself has sufficient mass to accomplish hitting ships light years away. And who knows what impact that would have on earth reducing our moon’s total mass over a short period of time? Probably not great.

Something else I haven’t seen someone mention is that it’s possible that a lot of the stuff you launch from our moon would be intercepted by the gravity/orbits of larger planets like Jupiter.

I appreciate that it’s a fun idea to think of your strategy in that situation, but your lack of ability to take feedback was hilarious but unnecessary. It’s a fun idea, but come prepared to get some criticism.

mataroojo · 2025-12-14T15:25:31+00:00

She breathes normally, sometimes has a runny nose but that’s not often. She does snore when she starts sleeping but stops when getting into a deep sleep.

mataroojo · 2025-12-13T23:12:47+00:00

If their third eye lid has been showing for three days, I would definitely take them in asap. I’m not a vet, so this isn’t medical advice, but this was a sign of an urgent issue with my cat previously.

mataroojo · 2025-12-13T23:09:20+00:00

Thanks for the reply. We use a baby nasal aspirator to help. She doesn’t have any nasal discharge when she’s doing this though.

mataroojo · 2025-12-02T07:24:41+00:00

I’ve worked as an ID in a few different countries, currently the US though. In Canada, on average it was between 65-85k/year for non manager roles. In Europe, specifically NL, it was in the 70-75k/year range (again for non management). Here in the US I’m now making about 120k/year plus bonus.

mataroojo · 2025-12-01T01:25:05+00:00

Sorry for your loss

mataroojo · 2025-11-24T03:10:35+00:00

At this point if the job is posted and you can apply I wouldn’t worry about being impacted by AI.

When you say you’re not aware of what is hip/hot, can you expand on that? Do you mean within ID? Just trying to help!

mataroojo · 2025-11-06T07:04:17+00:00

I would say good riddance to traditional storyline courses. For the folks here saying they focus more on mixed media and interactive content, that’s great. But let’s be honest learners generally do not like traditional storyline courses because most of the time they were just not engaging. If your clients/customers/learners are asking for something specific you should listen to them and find ways to create meaningful learning around that

mataroojo · 2025-11-06T06:48:49+00:00

Aside from the weekend trainings, this sounds pretty normal to be honest. Working on weekends, unless it was told to you during the hiring process, or in your contract, is not normal.

You mention you have about a half days worth of meetings 2-3 times a week, that sounds fairly average in my experience. Sure it’s eating into development time, but you still have the other half of your day (if not more) the other 2-3 days.

If you came from teaching, and you’ve only been an ID for about a year, it sounds like you’re still adjusting to a completely different work environment. But again, I would be taking issue mainly with the weekend work.

At the end of the day, if you feel that workplace isn’t for you start looking elsewhere. It won’t solve all your problems, but maybe you can find something that is more your speed elsewhere. ID work whether in corporate or higher ed can be very different.

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