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Job outlook for operating system designers in the United States
Are operating system designer jobs in demand?
Operating system designer job and salary trends over time
Operating system designer jobs over time
Operating system designer job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 139 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 137 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 147 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 148 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 148 | 0.00% |
Average operating system designer salary over time
Operating system designer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $58,414 | $28.08 | +2.4% |
| 2024 | $57,024 | $27.42 | +3.5% |
| 2023 | $55,120 | $26.50 | +3.4% |
| 2022 | $53,293 | $25.62 | +2.2% |
| 2021 | $52,133 | $25.06 | +1.6% |
Operating system designer jobs by state
Most common states for operating system designers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 321 | 46% |
| 2 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,412 | 17% |
| 3 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,210 | 16% |
| 4 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,099 | 16% |
| 5 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 632 | 15% |
| 6 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 205 | 15% |
| 7 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 854 | 14% |
| 8 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 698 | 12% |
| 9 | Vermont | 623,657 | 74 | 12% |
| 10 | California | 39,536,653 | 4,508 | 11% |
| 11 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 346 | 11% |
| 12 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 573 | 10% |
| 13 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 110 | 10% |
| 14 | Delaware | 961,939 | 98 | 10% |
| 15 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 72 | 10% |
| 16 | Alaska | 739,795 | 71 | 10% |
| 17 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 56 | 10% |
| 18 | New York | 19,849,399 | 1,709 | 9% |
| 19 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 503 | 9% |
| 20 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 310 | 9% |
Most common cities for operating system designers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rancho Cordova | 1 | 1% | $87,793 |
| 2 | Santa Clara | 1 | 1% | $85,896 |
| 3 | Atlanta | 1 | 0% | $51,903 |
| 4 | Boston | 1 | 0% | $68,610 |
| 5 | Chicago | 1 | 0% | $54,134 |
| 6 | Denver | 1 | 0% | $56,402 |
| 7 | Minneapolis | 1 | 0% | $53,174 |
| 8 | Orlando | 1 | 0% | $50,238 |
| 9 | Phoenix | 1 | 0% | $58,709 |
| 10 | San Francisco | 1 | 0% | $87,203 |
| 11 | San Jose | 1 | 0% | $85,629 |
| 12 | Santa Ana | 1 | 0% | $72,469 |
Operating System Designer job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of operating system designer experts
Highline College
Eastern Illinois University
Mississippi College
California State University - Stanislaus
Kansas City Art Institute
AIGA, the professional association for design
YKMD Visual Communication
Weill Cornell Medicine
Mansfield University of Pennsylvania
What soft skills should all Operating System Designers possess?
Diana Boyd: -Collaboration/Teamwork
-Interpersonal
-Reliability
-Ethical behavior
-Self-starter
Samantha Osborne
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Owner, Samantha Osborne DesignEastern Illinois University
Art + Design
What skills stand out on Operating System Designer resumes?
Samantha Osborne: Soft skills are equally important to hard skills. Graphic designers are visual communicators. Visual communication is a universal learned skill, vs. a linguistic capability. This means that graphic designers must learn to recognize and effectively utilize mood and tone in their own visual compositions in regard to color theory and psychology, gestalt principles, and font or lettering design. Essentially a well-skilled graphic designer becomes part psychologist in working through design problems and deciphering client direction, part problem-solver in developing an effective solution to the design problem, and part artist in bringing astonishing and original visual communication and graphics to reach a solution.
What type of skills will young Operating System Designers need?
Benjamin Ivey: Employers want to know that you are a good problem solver. New software, social media platforms, and computers are always coming down the pipe, so younger generations are expected to understand those needs and trends. If you are the kind of employee who can suggest better/faster/cheaper ways of working, then you are a golden investment for any company.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Operating System Designers?
John Ferry: I believe so - how can we have something this significant happen and not have it affect our lives in a noticeable way. I actually think there are advantages to having this happen . . . If you look for the positives you'll find them . . . if you look for the negatives you'll find them . . . I can't speculate on what that impact will be - but, we'll all be impacted, Professors and Students. At the very least we are all a lot more familiar with how to navigate virtual meetings.
What type of skills will young Operating System Designers need?
Bennie F. Johnson: Our Design Futures research from 2018 covered this topic in some detail. Some highlights of needed skills include an understanding of business models, complex systems, and data. One of the seven Design Futures trends is "Bridging Physical and Digital Experiences," which has become even more important in a COVID world. Of course, mastering craft and specific tools remain important, especially for entry-level work, but so is a general ability to "learn how to learn," as the rate of technical change (and obsolescence) is only getting faster.
In May of 2020, AIGA conducted an industry pulse check survey around the impact of COVID-19 on the design community and found, not surprisingly, that adaptability skills continue to be the most critical for design professionals, and collaboration made the list of top five skills for the first time.
What type of skills will young Operating System Designers need?
Yanique DaCosta: Young design graduates need to have three simple things: portfolio diversity, critical thinking skills, and humility.
A diverse portfolio of various deliverables (print, web, interactive, experiential, etc.) Will give any recent grad a bigger opportunity to break into the market as a professional. Unlike seasoned professionals, recent grads have not had the opportunity to find their design "voice" or identify their niche. It's best to show a range of styles and deliverables until you have enough professional work experience to discern your path forward.
Critical thinking skills, often referred to as design thinking, is an integral part of elevating the design profession as well as building your reputation within it. The design thinking process consists of observation, empathy, problem formulation, solution deduction, testing, alteration, and reiteration. You must be able to use these skills to create design solutions, so your colleagues understand you are not the "pretty color" "Photoshop fixer" person, but an informed research-based problem solver. In implementing design thinking, new grads must seek to understand how their design solutions affect; environmental sustainability, social equity, cultural diversity, inclusivity, public safety, and accessibility.
Even with a great portfolio, supported by detailed design justifications, there is no room for designers that lack humility. We do not design for ourselves; we create to solve problems for those around us. We must be able to remove our feelings about ourselves and create from a human-centric place. Without this, a new grad may find themselves frustrated before they have even started to run the first race.
How do you envision technology impacting Operating System Designers in the next 5 years?
Yiye Zhang Ph.D.: We all realized, more than ever, the importance of healthcare and public health through this pandemic. We need fair and actionable analytics, based on accurate data and reliable and scalable informatics platforms for delivering virtual care. Advances in technology will help us achieve these goals.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Operating System Designers?
Michelle Lockwood: Oh, yes! There will be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on graduates, and all of us. It has already changed so much about how we interact, do business, socialize, learn, love, and just plain live. There is no way that it could not impact the future of this field, or any area, in my opinion. I think the job market will look very different in the months and years to come. We will adapt, and there will be more opportunities for creativity, more problems to solve, and more chances to engage and inform. But those practicing will need to remain flexible, adapt gracefully to changing circumstances, and find pockets where they can solve problems, and use their unique skillset to illuminate, inform, and delight -- just as we have always done -- only differently.