Good or Bad?
One piece of advice Mark gave yesterday was to avoid trying to get into a studio via the programming/tools side if you want to be an animator. In fact he said, never ever try this unless there's no other way you can get in, because the switchover is rare. Apparently if you're a great programmer, you become important enough that the department would never let you go. I suppose the rest of that thought, which went unmentioned, is that if you're a crappy programmer then you suck at your job, and well, that's not a really good rap, is it?
So that's the first time I've ever heard this advice. The typical mantra for people like me with computer science backgrounds who want to become animators always figures otherwise. When I visited the ETC (@CMU) back in April this year, the universal tale there was that if you can't get in on artistic merit, at least you can fall back on your software and project experience. Heck, I'd absolutely LOVE to be programming in the animation industry if it means I'd be immersed in an environment surrounded by creative production. The only reason I'm not is because apparently every other programmer out there who's aspiring to be an animator (on top of just all the kinds of programmers) thinks the same thing so studios have the luxury of taking their pickings. Which so far hasn't worked so well for me since they won't even look at my resume unless I have 5-7 years of industry experience (Arrrgh!! At least look at it!!). Throw in the Catch-22 of how to get those years of industry experience when the direct pre-requisite is to already have them and that renders quite a dilemma.
This piece of advice is completely contrary to all the other advice I've received before on this topic so I need some help digesting it. I mean, is this a good thing or a bad thing? It's great that I haven't stepped into that trap, if that's what it is. But it's not so great to think that something I have considered for a significant amount of time as the first step in a roundabout path to get to reach my goals is now tagged with a never ever try that recommendation from someone who's reached my goal. Then again, that may be a good thing that I'm hearing this now.
If I think about it, I see that the multitude of people who have recommended entering the industry through the programming door were people who couldn't get in the animation door. I've been guilty of this myself. Coming upon graduation last year, I applied to a ton of those jobs even though they all specified industry experience as a prime requirement. Of course I was disappointed never to hear back from the void. It's weird when you feel you can't reach your real dream so you try to go around in a circle to ultimately get there, but then you find you can't even get onto the circle.
In this sense, Mark's advice comes as a huge sigh of relief. My brief internship over a year ago at I.G. was an absolutely awesome experience, but going in as a programmer hoping to learn the artistic side proved to be impractical thinking. Though my current job has no relation whatsoever in getting me where I'm trying to go, at least it pays the bills, especially that AM one :) and gives me the time and resources to develop myself outside of work. Then again programming at I.G. was infinitely more motivating and amazing than programming for any other industry I've been in so far and I did get to see a lot of cool stuff. And then again, the tradeoff was that ultimately I ended up spending 150% of my time programming and -50% of my time learning about animation. Hmmm, yet given the opportunity to do programming work at a studio, I'd most definitely jump on it. I guess the important point here is that since it looks like I can't get into the American entertainment industry through programming anyways what with those upfront prereqs HR has and all, I should stop pursuing about that route (or at least understand it's not my current best option). With Mark's advice I guess I now have all the more reason to cut efforts at trying to just get onto that roundabout path and start over completely with the right way ~ return to going for the real goal head-on.
So that's the first time I've ever heard this advice. The typical mantra for people like me with computer science backgrounds who want to become animators always figures otherwise. When I visited the ETC (@CMU) back in April this year, the universal tale there was that if you can't get in on artistic merit, at least you can fall back on your software and project experience. Heck, I'd absolutely LOVE to be programming in the animation industry if it means I'd be immersed in an environment surrounded by creative production. The only reason I'm not is because apparently every other programmer out there who's aspiring to be an animator (on top of just all the kinds of programmers) thinks the same thing so studios have the luxury of taking their pickings. Which so far hasn't worked so well for me since they won't even look at my resume unless I have 5-7 years of industry experience (Arrrgh!! At least look at it!!). Throw in the Catch-22 of how to get those years of industry experience when the direct pre-requisite is to already have them and that renders quite a dilemma.
This piece of advice is completely contrary to all the other advice I've received before on this topic so I need some help digesting it. I mean, is this a good thing or a bad thing? It's great that I haven't stepped into that trap, if that's what it is. But it's not so great to think that something I have considered for a significant amount of time as the first step in a roundabout path to get to reach my goals is now tagged with a never ever try that recommendation from someone who's reached my goal. Then again, that may be a good thing that I'm hearing this now.
If I think about it, I see that the multitude of people who have recommended entering the industry through the programming door were people who couldn't get in the animation door. I've been guilty of this myself. Coming upon graduation last year, I applied to a ton of those jobs even though they all specified industry experience as a prime requirement. Of course I was disappointed never to hear back from the void. It's weird when you feel you can't reach your real dream so you try to go around in a circle to ultimately get there, but then you find you can't even get onto the circle.
In this sense, Mark's advice comes as a huge sigh of relief. My brief internship over a year ago at I.G. was an absolutely awesome experience, but going in as a programmer hoping to learn the artistic side proved to be impractical thinking. Though my current job has no relation whatsoever in getting me where I'm trying to go, at least it pays the bills, especially that AM one :) and gives me the time and resources to develop myself outside of work. Then again programming at I.G. was infinitely more motivating and amazing than programming for any other industry I've been in so far and I did get to see a lot of cool stuff. And then again, the tradeoff was that ultimately I ended up spending 150% of my time programming and -50% of my time learning about animation. Hmmm, yet given the opportunity to do programming work at a studio, I'd most definitely jump on it. I guess the important point here is that since it looks like I can't get into the American entertainment industry through programming anyways what with those upfront prereqs HR has and all, I should stop pursuing about that route (or at least understand it's not my current best option). With Mark's advice I guess I now have all the more reason to cut efforts at trying to just get onto that roundabout path and start over completely with the right way ~ return to going for the real goal head-on.
posted by eneries at
10:44:00 AM
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