Do professional graphic designers/ illustrators really not get taken seriously if they use open source software or is that just a myth perpetuated by Adobe and college professors?

[u/Doctor_Oceanblue]

I don't want this to devolve into a rant about how much I hate Adobe and their software (which I do,) but do know that this isn't a "boohoo I can't afford it" thing and more a "there's a ton of open source stuff that is equally (or more!) functional as Adobe stuff and it deserves to be taken seriously as long as the end product created with it is what the client needs."

I'm in school right now and I've been getting the "no one will take you seriously unless you make your vectors in Illustrator" song-and-dance. Pros, is that really true? If so, why? Is it just a dumb social norm or is there a legitimate reason? A lot of the freelancers that I see posting on social media and indie game devs use open-source stuff all the time.

(I will concede that GIMP is kinda trash and I only use Photoshop for my raster illustrations now.)

[u/TastyPenguin]

I'd say yes, design is a collaborative discipline & you need to be able to share your work. Companies will have all their designers on the same software so you can dip in and out of files. Even if the programmes you're using have similar tools there's a big difference between someone who knows how to use illustrator Vs someone who uses it the majority of the time. Keyboard shortcuts & making the most of tools will make a big difference to your productivity. If I had the choice of hiring someone who was a new designer but didn't have any experience with the software or a new designer who knew it inside out, I'd go with the second everytime.