Life Update!
I haven't posted in a while, mostly cuz I've been really busy right to find work and then working my ass off when I did find work. Apparently that's what being grown up means! lol
Anyways, below I talk about IMD, what I'm doing right now, and my plans for the future. It was originally meant as a comment on a post in the BIT Society Facebook group, so excuse the mess. :)
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Let me be frank since I'm probably a black sheep of the bunch...
The reason why I went into the program is cuz I wanted to brush up on my programming languages (i.e. C, C++, Java) in a more artistic friendly environment than comp sci. Plus I needed a more (easily?) employable degree than philosophy with a specialization ethics and public affairs. I have a rough time finding work so making itself harder for me isn't exactly a smart thing, you know?
My passions/loves are writing and acting. I also love TV and movies. I wish that our program had a film specialization cuz I wanted to do that and learn the technical side of production for stuff like vfx, but we just did a lot of game dev. Even when there was a possibility of doing a film, I tended to end up doing a game.
That's not entirely bad cuz I've started working towards becoming an UX oriented front-end web developer since I love interfaces so I'm not complaining about making games ;)
Did IMD live up to my expectations? I guess? I didn't really have any going in so... although I am sad that I didn't get to learn Java or learn VFX specific things.
My 10 year plan right now is getting into acting and writing while building a backup career to support myself.
I got early acceptance into the theatre program at Algonquin so that's what I'll be doing for the next two years and then probably moving to Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver, but that depends on a lot of factors like money and if I can get a job.
I'm also in the middle of rewriting a novel, and writing a trilogy of short stories. The latter is going to be self-published!
At the same time though, I'm working on my skills as a front-end developer. I want to get more broad and learn more design and UX methodology instead of just being someone who makes websites. Primarily cuz it's a career I've been working on for the past 10 years and I can get work but I want to get into vfx.
The problem with that is I haven't gotten the chance to try different roles to decided specifically what kind of VFX job I want. I've looked up a few things and I think I want to go into lighting (cuz that sounds fun) and layout (cuz as a photographer I'm all about framing, flow, what is the focus?, movement, etc).
What about pipeline TD? You know what? That's also interesting to me cuz I like programming, I like playing around on server and machines for installing and testing and managing render farms (of what I've done as a lab assistant ;) ). I even found it interesting making a basic tool for Maya or a crazy ass all MEL script Minecraft terrain generator plug-in that had only the dialog as the user interaction (hey, I wasn't allowed to program it in Python/PyMel and I couldn't get the C++ tools working together, thanks a lot Visual Studio).
Although, let's be honest, programming is just a hobby for me. Yes I'm making a career out of it but only because I fell into it, which is why I'm trying to learn more UX stuff!
Can I get a job in the vfx industry? I don't know. I know Neil has tried to help me out (huge thanks for that!) but right now I'm content to ride the wave and build some sort of backup plan for when the wave crashes.
My dad is constantly telling me (especially lately now that he knows I'm going back to school for theatre) that I need to focus on being financially secure and let my passions be hobbies, like an after school afterthought, but I feel like what you're passionate about is directly linked to your financial security. When I was working jobs I couldn't be passionate about, I didn't last very long.
I think my problem is that society doesn't think acting and writing are good jobs but I haven't been able to find my passion in any other job, which is really frustrating. I would love to get a job at a VFX out in Vancouver but I don't even know if that's possible. :(
Then again, a lot of things I'm doing now I didn't think was possible 5, 10 years ago, so we'll see what the future brings!
Anyways, below I talk about IMD, what I'm doing right now, and my plans for the future. It was originally meant as a comment on a post in the BIT Society Facebook group, so excuse the mess. :)
--
Let me be frank since I'm probably a black sheep of the bunch...
The reason why I went into the program is cuz I wanted to brush up on my programming languages (i.e. C, C++, Java) in a more artistic friendly environment than comp sci. Plus I needed a more (easily?) employable degree than philosophy with a specialization ethics and public affairs. I have a rough time finding work so making itself harder for me isn't exactly a smart thing, you know?
My passions/loves are writing and acting. I also love TV and movies. I wish that our program had a film specialization cuz I wanted to do that and learn the technical side of production for stuff like vfx, but we just did a lot of game dev. Even when there was a possibility of doing a film, I tended to end up doing a game.
That's not entirely bad cuz I've started working towards becoming an UX oriented front-end web developer since I love interfaces so I'm not complaining about making games ;)
Did IMD live up to my expectations? I guess? I didn't really have any going in so... although I am sad that I didn't get to learn Java or learn VFX specific things.
My 10 year plan right now is getting into acting and writing while building a backup career to support myself.
I got early acceptance into the theatre program at Algonquin so that's what I'll be doing for the next two years and then probably moving to Montreal, Toronto, or Vancouver, but that depends on a lot of factors like money and if I can get a job.
I'm also in the middle of rewriting a novel, and writing a trilogy of short stories. The latter is going to be self-published!
At the same time though, I'm working on my skills as a front-end developer. I want to get more broad and learn more design and UX methodology instead of just being someone who makes websites. Primarily cuz it's a career I've been working on for the past 10 years and I can get work but I want to get into vfx.
The problem with that is I haven't gotten the chance to try different roles to decided specifically what kind of VFX job I want. I've looked up a few things and I think I want to go into lighting (cuz that sounds fun) and layout (cuz as a photographer I'm all about framing, flow, what is the focus?, movement, etc).
What about pipeline TD? You know what? That's also interesting to me cuz I like programming, I like playing around on server and machines for installing and testing and managing render farms (of what I've done as a lab assistant ;) ). I even found it interesting making a basic tool for Maya or a crazy ass all MEL script Minecraft terrain generator plug-in that had only the dialog as the user interaction (hey, I wasn't allowed to program it in Python/PyMel and I couldn't get the C++ tools working together, thanks a lot Visual Studio).
Although, let's be honest, programming is just a hobby for me. Yes I'm making a career out of it but only because I fell into it, which is why I'm trying to learn more UX stuff!
Can I get a job in the vfx industry? I don't know. I know Neil has tried to help me out (huge thanks for that!) but right now I'm content to ride the wave and build some sort of backup plan for when the wave crashes.
My dad is constantly telling me (especially lately now that he knows I'm going back to school for theatre) that I need to focus on being financially secure and let my passions be hobbies, like an after school afterthought, but I feel like what you're passionate about is directly linked to your financial security. When I was working jobs I couldn't be passionate about, I didn't last very long.
I think my problem is that society doesn't think acting and writing are good jobs but I haven't been able to find my passion in any other job, which is really frustrating. I would love to get a job at a VFX out in Vancouver but I don't even know if that's possible. :(
Then again, a lot of things I'm doing now I didn't think was possible 5, 10 years ago, so we'll see what the future brings!