Great question to consider,I'm not as old (lol don't know how to phrase this without sounding rude) and don't have as many years as you guys seem to have but it's something I've considered myself.
I got into the industry really early at 18 with no formal education and just pretty threw myself into taking on side projects and things to learn. Having done this for 8 years, I do see younger and "hungrier" designers who are getting into the field through bootcamp experience and such.
My end goal as a designer has always been to open my own agency, working with client projects to fund my own side projects. I haven't stopped freelancing and doing short-term contracts every now and then to gain the experience and network, and work on my side projects in the evenings and weekends so hopefully that allows me to get to where I want to be about 10 years or so from now.
Great question to consider,I'm not as old (lol don't know how to phrase this without sounding rude) and don't have as many years as you guys seem to have but it's something I've considered myself.
I got into the industry really early at 18 with no formal education and just pretty threw myself into taking on side projects and things to learn. Having done this for 8 years, I do see younger and "hungrier" designers who are getting into the field through bootcamp experience and such.
My end goal as a designer has always been to open my own agency, working with client projects to fund my own side projects. I haven't stopped freelancing and doing short-term contracts every now and then to gain the experience and network, and work on my side projects in the evenings and weekends so hopefully that allows me to get to where I want to be about 10 years or so from now.