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help! advice in career move

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help! advice in career move

:confused:
Ok, so I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but i'd thought id give it a shot for anyone who can help me. I currently have a job in web design, working for a small company, although my life long aspirations is to get into the animation industry, probably 3d animation. I already have alot of the artistic skills and principles of animation underway, I just feel like i need to gain more technical experience to be really well rounded and be desired in the industry. The question is, should I take a new position in a job where I'll get a chance to improve my computer programming skills as a "web developer" (since I can't have a job in animation now), or stick with the small company job doing web design. I'm just wondering if this would be a smart move...id be learning programming laguages including javascript, perl, html, xml, etc. I know these aren't really used in computer animation but maybe learning those will help me learn other languages more easily. Any opinions on that? I'd really appreciate ANY advice at all, I have to give them my answer this week. Thanks everyone!
(Also forgot to mention that the new job would pay more money, which means the sooner i can buy a nice computer to practice 3D on! But mostly id like advice on whether programming skills are desirable or useful.) Thanks!

-Jen

Hi LadyJen and welcome to the AWN Forums. If you are want to be a programer, learning programing languages are going to be very helpful. I don't think too many programers make the jump from programing to the animation side of things though.

I'm not quite clear on the differences between the two places. Are you animating at your current one and would be programing at the new place?

The thing is none of us can really make the disicision for you. You have to be honest with yourself, and think about what you really want to do. Once you figure that part out, making these kind of choices will be alittle easier.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

Thank you for your reply and the nice welcome :)
Nah, unfortunately I havn't found a job that has animation, I live in an area where there is little oppurtunity for that. I try to do as much as I can on the side though. Currently I am just designing basic websites for a small company using dreamweaver, and flash sometimes, but they are mostly for small busineses around town that want conservative styles for the most part. I know its my choice, but i really feel stumped. Neither are my dream job, so i have to choose the one that will benefit me more than the other. I dont want to be a programmer, but i thought maybe having those skills would be desirable, as opposed to being just strictly an artist. *shrugs*

LadyJen,

what i would recommend is you set up a time line say one year. then you work at creating a portfolio within that time frame (if you dont already have one) Different things that interest you and you can do stuff like character design, actual animation etc.

this will help you practice and learn as well as give you a substantial demo reel you can use to apply for jobs with studios.

Laurence is right, it is very difficult to get into the animation, computer graphics industry. ILM and PIXAR hire their programers from schools like Cal Tech and MIT for example.

What is your dream job Jen? Figure that out first, then you can map out what it takes to get there. Sometimes you need to take jobs that don't pertain to your goal. You gotta eat and pay rent right? Just never loose site of your goal, but also don't let it blind you to other opportunities. You may find you're really good at programing, and love to do it. You never know.

Sorry for making it even more confusing. :D

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."