Employment of instructional coordinators is projected to grow 2% from 2023 to 2033. If you’re curious about how to become an instructional designer, now’s a great time to explore a career path that blends creativity, problem-solving, and real impact.

In this blog post, you’ll learn the instructional design skills that matter, the tools professionals use, and the routes that can lead you into this rewarding field. 🎨

What Does an Instructional Designer Do?

Ever wondered who creates those training videos that don’t make you want to fall asleep? That’s an instructional designer. They take boring, complex information and turn it into something people can learn from.
You know that amazing onboarding experience at your last job that made everything click? Or that online course that taught you Photoshop in a weekend? An instructional designer probably built that.
🚨 Fact Alert: Instructional design as a formal discipline emerged during WWII, when the U.S. military developed structured training programs to quickly teach soldiers complex skills like operating machinery and decoding messages.

The role in action

Picture this: A company’s sales team keeps losing deals because they can’t explain the product properly. Marketing says the sales team doesn’t understand the features. Sales says marketing’s materials are confusing.
That’s where you come in.
You’d interview both teams, dig into what’s happening, and discover that everyone’s talking past each other. Maybe the sales team needs hands-on practice or quick reference cards they can use during calls.
Your typical day might start analyzing survey results from learners who struggled with last month’s training. You’ll spend the morning sketching out a new course structure, then jump on a call with a subject matter expert who knows everything about cybersecurity but explains it like everyone has a PhD in computer science.
After lunch, you’re reviewing a prototype for an interactive simulation, giving feedback like ‘this button should be bigger’ or ‘learners need more feedback when they get something wrong.’ You might write video scripts for tutorials, create quiz questions that test understanding, or map out learning paths that build skills step by step.

The coolest part? You get to use AI tools that make life way easier. Record a screen capture of a software process with Trupeer, then watch AI turn it into a polished instructional video.
Finally, you’re constantly measuring whether your solutions work. Did people retain the information? Can they apply it on the job? Are they more confident? You tweak and improve based on real data.

Skills You Need to Become an Instructional Designer

Success in instructional design requires a unique blend of creative and analytical abilities. You need to think like both an educator and a user experience designer. Some key skills include:

• Curriculum and learning path planning: You break complex topics into bite-sized chunks that build on each other, like teaching someone to drive by starting in an empty parking lot, not on the highway

• Writing and scripting for clarity: You translate expert-speak into clear instructions that anyone can follow, creating accurate and engaging video content

• Basic graphic or video editing: While you don’t need to be a professional designer, you should understand visuals and be able to create simple graphics or edit basic videos

• Empathy and user understanding: You put yourself in learners’ shoes to anticipate their struggles, questions, and motivations

• Familiarity with tools: The ability to work with learning management systems, AI-powered content creation tools, and various multimedia software

• Knowledge of design theories: An understanding of frameworks like ADDIE and SAM is a definite plus

🎥 Trupeer Insight: Your first few projects don’t need to be perfect. Trupeer makes it easy to create quick drafts you can share for feedback. Record a walkthrough, polish the script later, and update the visuals in minutes without starting over.

Draft, Edit, Update Seamlessly With Trupeer

Educational Background and Certifications

You don’t need a specific degree to break into instructional design, though certain backgrounds provide helpful foundations.
Many successful professionals come from education, psychology, communications, or human resources. These fields teach you to understand how people learn, communicate complex ideas clearly, and manage educational programs. However, the self-taught route works just as well.

Many hiring managers care more about your portfolio and demonstrated skills than your formal education. You can build credibility through targeted certifications that show you understand instructional design models and tools.

The ATD Instructional Design Certificate is probably the most recognized. It covers everything from needs analysis to evaluation, and hiring managers know what it means when they see it on your resume. If you prefer self-paced online learning, Coursera and edX offer solid programs that let you learn around your current job.

The key is choosing programs that align with your career goals and learning style.
Some people thrive in structured academic environments, while others prefer self-paced online learning. Many successful instructional designers combine formal training with practical experience, building their expertise through real projects rather than just theoretical study.

🤝 Friendly Reminder: The instructional design field values continuous learning. Technology and best practices evolve quickly, so you’ll need to keep developing new skills throughout your career, regardless of how you start.

Building Practical Experience

Landing your first instructional design job feels like a catch-22. You need experience to get hired, but you need to get hired to gain experience. Here’s how to break that cycle. 🔁

Start where you are right now

Look for opportunities hiding in plain sight. Does your current company have terrible employee training? Volunteer to fix it. Are you part of a nonprofit that needs better volunteer orientation? That’s your chance to practice. Even creating a tutorial for your family on how to use a new streaming service counts as instructional design experience.

Target corporate internships and entry-level roles

Training and development departments always have more projects than people, and they’re usually excited to mentor someone enthusiastic.
You’ll learn professional tools, work with real deadlines, and get feedback from experienced designers. Plus, internships often turn into job offers when companies realize they’ve found someone who gets it.

🚨 Fact Alert: The instructional design profession expanded in the 1980s and 1990s as corporations realized they could save money and improve results by standardizing training materials for employees worldwide.

Volunteer for meaningful projects

Nonprofits need training materials constantly—staff onboarding, volunteer education, donor workshops. These projects give you creative freedom while building portfolio pieces that show you can work with different audiences and topics.
You’re solving real problems for people who genuinely need help, which makes for compelling portfolio stories.

Start freelancing small

Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr let you build credibility one project at a time. Begin with simple tasks like writing training outlines or creating job aids. As you collect positive reviews, you can tackle bigger e-learning development projects. Even $500 projects teach you client management skills and deadline pressure that classroom training can’t replicate.

🎥 Trupeer Insight: If you want to build a strong portfolio, start with tools that make updates painless. Trupeer lets you edit a video like a doc so you can refine your content over time and show steady growth in your work.

Keep Improving Work Samples Using Trupeer

How to Create a Portfolio as a Beginner

Your portfolio needs to tell a story: ‘I can solve learning problems and create experiences that actually work.’ Even if you’re starting from scratch, you can build compelling portfolio pieces that demonstrate real instructional design thinking.

Start with sample projects that show range

Pick topics you already know well so you can focus on the design process instead of struggling with content. Here are some portfolio-worthy projects to consider:

• Software training: Create onboarding for a complex tool like Salesforce, Slack, or project management software that addresses real user pain points

• Recipe/cooking tutorials: Turn family recipes into step-by-step video courses that teach techniques, not just ingredients (great for showing instructional sequence)

• Gaming tutorials: Teach someone how to play a complex board game or video game, focusing on progressive skill building

• Home improvement guides: Create training modules for DIY projects like tiling a bathroom or building furniture, emphasizing safety and troubleshooting

• Fitness instruction: Develop progressive workout plans that teach proper form and build difficulty gradually

• Financial literacy training: Build interactive videos around budgeting, investing basics, or understanding credit that use real-world examples

🚨 Fact Alert: The rise of computer-based training in the 1990s (and later, learning management systems) transformed instructional designers from mostly print and in-person training creators to digital content developers.

Leverage AI tools to look professional

AI tools like Trupeer can help you polish and diversify these projects.

You can start with a simple screen recording and transform it into a professional-looking instructional video. Trupeer cleans up the raw footage, adjusts pacing, and ensures learners stay engaged.
If you struggle with recording clean audio, Trupeer’s AI voiceovers can help. Suppose you create a training video on building an online quiz. Instead of re-recording every time you trip over a word, Trupeer can auto-generate a natural-sounding narration and cut filler words, so your audience hears a crisp, clear explanation.

To add even more depth to your portfolio, use Trupeer to produce step-by-step guides from your videos. For example, a tutorial on setting up a project in a task management app can be converted into a visual, numbered user guide that learners can print or save for quick reference.

Tell the story behind each project

Here’s what separates portfolio pieces that impress from ones that fall flat: context. For every project, explain:

• Who you designed this for and what problem you solved

• Why you chose video over text, or modules over a single long session

• How you structured content to maintain engagement

• What assessment strategies you’d use to measure success

• Any challenges you encountered and how you solved them

Make it accessible and scannable

Create a simple website using Wix or Squarespace, or showcase everything on LinkedIn and Behance.
Lead with your strongest pieces and make navigation obvious. Remember, hiring managers often review portfolios on their phones between meetings, so keep it simple and fast-loading.
💡 Pro Tip: Include one project that didn’t work perfectly, then explain what you learned and how you’d approach it differently. That demonstrates a growth mindset and real-world problem-solving that textbook projects can’t show.

Career Paths and Job Roles

The instructional design field offers more variety than most people realize. Understanding different roles helps you target your skill development and figure out what kind of designer you want to become.

1. Corporate instructional designer roles are probably what you picture when you think about this career. You create employee training for everything from software rollouts to leadership development. The work is steady, benefits are usually good, and you get to solve real business problems. Salaries typically range from $55,000 to $85,000, depending on company size and location. You’ll spend lots of time collaborating—interviewing subject matter experts, working with HR on compliance training, partnering with business leaders on change management initiatives.

2. eLearning developer positions focus on the technical side. You’re building interactive courses in tools like Articulate Storyline or Adobe Captivate, troubleshooting SCORM packages, and making sure content works seamlessly across different devices. These roles often pay $60,000 to $90,000 annually because technical skills command premium rates. You’ll love this path if you enjoy problem-solving with software and don’t mind spending hours perfecting interactions and animations.

3. Learning experience designers represent the newest evolution in the field. You apply user experience principles to learning, conducting research on how people actually consume training content and designing experiences that feel more like Netflix than old-school e-learning.These positions emphasize design thinking and human-centered approaches. Salaries typically range from $65,000 to $95,000, reflecting the specialized skill set that combines instructional design with UX methodology.

4. Training content strategist roles involve big-picture thinking. You develop content strategies across multiple programs, establish standards and style guides, and ensure consistency in learning approaches organization-wide. You might manage teams of designers or coordinate with external vendors. These roles require several years of experience but pay $70,000 to $100,000 or more because you’re influencing company-wide learning strategy.

5. Freelance and contract instructional designers trade security for flexibility and potentially higher earnings. Successful freelancers often specialize in specific industries like healthcare or manufacturing, building reputations that let them charge premium rates. Income varies wildly: newer freelancers might earn $40 per hour while established specialists command $150+ per hour. You’ll manage your own business development, but you get to choose your projects and work schedule.

🎥 Trupeer Insight: Accessibility is a skill every instructional designer needs. Trupeer cleans up narration and translates your content into 30+ languages so your materials work for more people from day one.

Build Inclusive Learning Materials With Trupeer

Job Search Tips and Career Growth

Let’s get you job-ready with some straight-up, practical advice. 🧑‍💻

Getting your application noticed

Your resume needs to speak instructional design language while highlighting transferable skills from your current background.

❌ Wrong: ‘Created presentations’

✅ Try this instead: ‘Developed training materials that improved team performance 15%’

❌ Wrong: ‘Helped coworkers’

✅ Try this instead: ‘Designed informal learning experiences that reduced onboarding time’

Customize everything for each application. Corporate roles want to see business impact and scalability. eLearning developer positions care about technical proficiency with authoring tools. Learning experience designer roles value user research and design thinking approaches.

💡 Pro Tip: Many instructional design jobs aren’t posted as ‘instructional designer.’ Search for training specialist, learning consultant, curriculum developer, or e-learning specialist roles. You’ll find opportunities other candidates miss.

Networking that works

The instructional design community is surprisingly tight-knit and supportive. Join ATD or International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) for access to local events, webinars, and job boards that aren’t advertised publicly.
Follow industry leaders on LinkedIn and engage thoughtfully in their content—ask questions, share insights, add value to conversations.
Local meetups are goldmines for connections. Search Meetup.com for learning and development groups in your area. Even virtual events during lunch breaks can introduce you to potential mentors or collaborators.

💡 Pro Tip: Don’t network just when you’re job hunting. Help other people, share resources, and build relationships before you need them. The person asking questions in a LinkedIn group today might be hiring next year.

Nailing the interview process

Expect to walk through your portfolio in detail during interviews. Practice explaining your design decisions, the problems you solved, and the measurable results you achieved. Interviewers often present scenarios asking how you’d approach specific learning challenges.

Prepare stories that demonstrate key skills:

• How you’ve handled difficult subject matter experts who think they know best

• Your process for conducting needs assessments that uncover real problems

• Times you’ve used learning theories to guide design decisions

• Examples of how you measure training effectiveness beyond completion rates

Ask smart questions about their current challenges. What training initiatives aren’t working? How do they measure learning impact? What tools and technologies are they considering? This shows you’re thinking strategically, not just looking for any job.

🚨 Fact Alert: In the 1950s, psychologist B.F. Skinner developed teaching machines that presented small chunks of information followed by immediate feedback. This idea became a cornerstone of early instructional design theories.

Your Path to Instructional Design Starts With Trupeer

Learning how to become an instructional designer takes curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to keep learning.
You can read all the tips in the world, but your skills start to shine when you put them into practice and share the results. Every project you create, every tool you try, and every problem you solve brings you closer to the career you want.
Trupeer can make the process smoother and more impactful. It helps you transform simple ideas into polished training materials, turning your trial projects into portfolio pieces that stand out. You can record a quick tutorial, clean it up, add professional narration, and even create matching step-by-step guides—all in one place.

Jeff Miller from nSpire shares: “Trupeer simplified video creation for me, allowing me to create a knowledge library of 20+ videos in just a few days.”

So, why wait? Try Trupeer for free today! ✅

FAQs

1. Do I need a degree to become an instructional designer?

You don’t always need a degree to start an instructional designer career path. Many people enter the field by building instructional design skills through online courses, certifications, and hands-on projects. While some employers prefer formal education, a strong portfolio and practical experience with instructional design tools, e-learning video creation, and learning strategies can be just as valuable.

2. What should I include in an instructional design portfolio?

A strong portfolio should highlight your range of work and your ability to design for learning outcomes. Include sample e-learning modules, video-based learning content, and examples of step-by-step instructional materials. Show that you can use modern instructional design tools and AI tools for instructional designers to create polished, effective content. If possible, include metrics or feedback that demonstrate the success of your projects.

3. Can I use AI to create instructional content?

Yes. AI tools for instructional designers, like Trupeer, can speed up e-learning video creation by automating editing, generating voiceovers, and producing both videos and written materials from the same recording. This allows you to focus more on the learning design and less on the technical production, making your workflow faster and more efficient.

4. Which industries hire instructional designers?

Instructional designers work across a wide range of industries, including education, corporate training, healthcare, technology, and government. SaaS companies, non-profits, and professional services firms also hire professionals skilled in instructional design tools, video-based learning, and content creation. Anywhere there’s a need for structured, effective training, you’ll find opportunities in this career path.

5. How long does it take to become an instructional designer?

The time it takes depends on your background and learning path. Some people transition into the role in a few months through intensive instructional design certification programs and portfolio-building projects. Others spend a year or more developing instructional design skills, mastering instructional design tools, and building real-world examples to showcase their abilities.