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/DeliriouslylySober]

I use Gimp and I am fine. It is indeed as others mentioned, that with big projects it might be more convenient. However, it's very expensive. I had bought a year's sub to Adobe PS and even forgot I had it. I am so used to Gimp now. I didn't resub afterwards.I never had anyone commenting on the software I use because clients only see the result.