Students are finding that specialized skill sets can get them jobs right out of school. © iStockPhoto.com.

Filtering notwithstanding, the number of graduates outweighs the number of available jobs more heavily than ever. Nowhere is this more significant than in the field of animation. Students naturally see this as discipline as where the interesting work and the glory lies. But out in the real world it’s merely one part of the pipeline, and one that’s rarely if ever handed out to recruits fresh out of college. “There’s an analogy with acting, in the way that we have a significant oversupply,” notes Morley.

And yet, while animation remains oversubscribed, there remains a skills shortage in other key areas. Not surprisingly, it’s the less glamorous but no less essentials skills that are required. “I’d say shader writers are in the shortest supply right now. That discipline would be my tip for the top for anybody in education looking to get into the U.K. industry. And it pays extremely well.”

That said, Morley also believes a greater degree of adaptability is now required on the part of the graduates. With more competition that ever for the posts that are available, they need to be both willing to take what they can get before working their way up, and also to possess the skills necessary to tackle whatever initial role they do secure. “Obviously people are going to have one particular technical or artistic skill or interest, but the best strategy is to have the best broad grounding possible.”

It’s here that the U.K. teaching institutions really excel. “While I hear quite a lot of criticism of some U.S. training schools for focusing on how to use the software, I’d say in general the U.K. universities do focus more on the fundamentals. I think it stems from the more traditional academic structure over here that people receive a strong grounding in the principles. And in the longer term, too, that’s the most crucial thing. People with that knowledge invariably produce the best work. You can always learn how to use a particular package later. It’s about understanding the whole process, rather than just pushing pixels around.”

Morley points out that the U.K. industry thrives on this principle, having been built up by people who have applied more traditional arts training to the computer graphics field. “At the top and middle sections of the pyramid in Soho, you find people who benefited from educational backgrounds that didn’t totally focus on CG, and that’s what gives the U.K.’s work such a richness. As with any endeavor, it’s often those who can bring a breadth of knowledge and imagination to a subject that produce the most creative work.”

But given that only so much ground can be covered in a three or four-year course, there is the worry that focusing on the basics comes at the expensive of imparting the practical skills necessary for working within a real world production pipeline.

“If I was enrolling now the first thing I’d do is to contact all of the places I’d most like to work in, and ask them how many graduates they usually take on,” suggests Shelley Page of DreamWorks. “I’d then ask the studio that hires the most what qualifications they look for. And do remember this is an increasingly specialized industry, so also find out what skills they require.”

“Yes, that is still a barrier,” Morely believes. “Relative to other industries we’re doing well, but in absolute terms we could certainly do better to achieve a closer match between the student skills and studio needs. Talking to Soho production houses I do hear that new recruits just aren’t ready to work as part of the pipeline immediately. There’s a need for them to transition from knowing the principles to understanding what’s needed for real world production. But places like Bournemouth are getting better at tailoring their course content to the industry’s needs.”