Picking My Career

J

JOKER_JOKER

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 2, 2005
Messages
471
Okay, where to begin. This is pretty much a hodgepodge of what I might want to for a living. I'm applying to 3 colleges, Penn State University, Ohio State University, and University of Texas. I'll probably go to Penn State since it's in-state and is a lot cheaper. For the past few years, I thought I knew what I wanted to major in when I went to college, which is computer science. But I've been having second thoughts recently. I don't think I would really like to do a computer science related job for the rest of my life. So I've been desperately trying to think of alternatives. I've always enjoyed the idea of computer modeling and animation. What job would you call this? Does I need a degree to get looked at by companies for a position doing this? But I could always go the safe route and get a degree in business, since business is something that's always needed. But the true love of my life is movies. But if I were to go to film school, wouldn't I do so after college? However, if I go to film school, what are the odds I would get a good job directing movies? I know it depends on how good I am, but I don't think it would be worth the risk to go to film school for however many years just to find out I'm no good. I have no freaking clue which direction to head to. I need some advice. I would like to do all of them to some degree, but I can't just pick one. And I don't think I can just sample each one.
P.S: I have trouble making decisions, even simple ones, like what I want for eat at any given time. Even these simple ones I get a decent amount of anxiety over, so picking a career is making me just freak out. HELP ME!
 
I'm in the same position as you are in deciding what to do, although not so anxious about it. Choose something you love to do and pursue it. If it's film, then get in there and find out.

In the end, a job is a job. But you shouldn't dread going to it everyday for the rest of your life.

Also, don't look at it as a complete waste of time if you find it's not for you. You're just looking for your place in society like the rest of us, and plenty of people go back to the beginning to start something new.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful :)
 
In my opinion, to do well at any of those jobs you will need the ability to make decisions. Depending on how serious this issue really is (were you being overly dramatic or is it really difficult for you to choose your meals every time) you might try to find some self-help books, talk to a guidance counselor, or see a mental health professional. Once you sort out that issue, choosing a career will be much easier.

I personally knew whatever I did had to involve computers. Even if you do Com Sci, are you still gravitating towards doing things with movies/animation, or had you considered just writing normal software?

If you decide that movies is the way you are leaning, my advice would be to try to contact professionals in that field. Email or try to call people at Pixar or somehing, ask them what they suggest as education for that sort of job.

Good luck!
 
Umm yeah, I wasn't being overly dramatic. My decision making skills are subzero. It's just that I need way too much information to make decisions, even simple ones.

Now to my career. I originally wanted to do comp sci at penn state, transfer to carnegie mellon, then try to get a job at Google, since I love Google. But now that everyone knows about how sweet it is to work there (I've known for years), I hear they now get flooded with applications, so I figure, what are the odds I'd get a job there? That's kind of why I'm moving away from it. Also, I realized that since I just wanted to work for Google, then I probably don't want to do comp sci.

So now, I'm leaning towards something in film. Either directing or 3d modeling. How would I get in contact with professionals in these areas? Maybe 3d modeling in college, then directing in film school after college?
 
Re: decision making. Are you a perfectionist? Procrastinator? Those things tend to go hand in hand. Honestly start with some self help books and consider talking to someone about it. Everybody has their issues and you don't want to be held back by something like that.

If Com Sci was really just to work at google then yeah you might reconsider, unless you know that is your true calling. Sounds like you are talking yourself out of that one anyway.

Now it's not to say Com Sci isn't the way to go for animation. I know at my college they were starting a virtual reality program my last year there and I think it was in the Com Sci dept. But there may be more specialized degrees for what you want.

I looked at Pixar's site and they have a job faq that talks a little bit about applying there. It sounds like they care more about your portfolio of work than what degree you have. I would think most of the movie-related jobs care more about "what you can do" rather than just what degree you have.

So what movies/shows/etc. do you like? Try looking up who made them and see what you can find on the net. It doesn't hurt to send out some emails asking for info on this sort of thing, at worst they ignore your email.
 
Wow.. you go from business, to CSCI, to modeling to film. I had a friend who is an artist, he went to a university for graphic design, turned out that he didn't like it so he switching to industrial design, which isn't what he wanted to do either. He then dropped out of school and went to a small vocational school for something else, he dropped out of there too. What he really wanted to do is design models for games, or be some thing like that.. If you want to do 3d-modeling then your degree isn't really your selling point, I'm sure it helps, but you have some stuff that just blows people away, they aren't going to care if you have a degree or not.

The CSCI classes you'll take for computer graphics aren't really about modeling, more about how to make the modeling programs, or how to program 3D graphics. The virtual reality program at your university isn't about modeling, it's about programming VR worlds.

If you want to get into film, you'll probably want to go to a school known for it's film school. I'm not sure where that would be.. I took quite a bit of film classes at my school, they were pretty fun..
 
The average person middle to younger aged today changes careers 3-5 times in their lifetime so chances are you aren't going to stay with the career you go into. Mine as well find what you like put together all the things they have in common and pick something in the middle.
 
A degree wont help you too much if you are planning on persuing modeling / animation there are pleanty of forums that focus on what I think you want to do. (from what little I've read here) Their typical outlook is more on the pure artistic talent, although I think art related schools wouldnt hurt (And may be more relevant than a computer science degree)

You may want to try modeling something like a car and see if it's something you have a real passion for.

Some links with those scale background images to start modeling with.
http://www.onnovanbraam.com/
http://www.suurland.com/

I tried modeling an audi tt a looong time ago, it looks like crap though, so hopefully you can do better than me. (a complete non artist)
 
oplin said:
The average person middle to younger aged today changes careers 3-5 times in their lifetime so chances are you aren't going to stay with the career you go into. Mine as well find what you like put together all the things they have in common and pick something in the middle.
Click to expand...

I agree with oplin. I went to a university to get a degree in Biology so that I could later apply to the School of Veterinarian medicine, but in my Junior year I switched to Computer Science. I received a B.S. in Computer Science. and after college I got a job as a Regional Administrator for an international organization doing LAN support for the Mid-Atlantic region. January 1st I was promoted to Database Administrator. I don't really know what's in store for me but I'm enjoying the ride. :)

Just be flexible! You always have the option to transfer colleges. Most universities won't allow you to declare your major your first year anyways, because you'll probably have some requirements to complete before you can declare.
 
All the degree gets you is an interview, not a job. So do something your interested in, if your not interested in something you won't become good at it and you wont get a job doing it, and even if you did you probably wouldn't like it.

Also do what you want, dont be pressured into doing something other people want, ie parents :)
 
Don't worry about what to major in so much - you can spend your first two years or so at most universities meeting your general education requirements before picking a major and still graduate relatively on-schedule (with the exception of Engineering. (and if you want to go into anything with a serious math requirement (CS, Physics, Math...) , you probably want to start on your math classes early). Explore the options - take intro classes in a bunch of different fields and see what you really enjoy.

Who knows, you might find yourself become a linguist.
 
I really don't want to take too big a risk as far as careers go, so I think I'm going to go to college and get a degree (prob. in comp sci), just so I have something to fall back on. While I'm still in college I'm going to learn 3d modeling and see if I really like that, so in a way I'll have a choice in careers after I graduate. After college I might go to film school. And I have just a few quick questions. If I get a degree in comp sci, do I learn anything about electrical engineering? Because even if I learn just a little bit about it, I might have another career idea. Also, when do people typically go to film school, before or after college? And, what film schools are best, the 1 year intense study thing, like the new york film academy, or the real colleges that you go to for media?
 
I'm pretty sure film school is where you go for college (rather than majoring in something else like CS or EE). As far as your other question - you may learn some computer/electrical engineering in a CS program, you may not, it depends on the program. My alma mater's CS and EE/ECE programs were pretty distinct from each other (though some schools group them together in the same department), so I got a full CS curriculum without touching stuff like circuits. Of course, if you double major, you get both.

As far as film schools, I have no idea.
 
JOKER_JOKER said:
do I learn anything about electrical engineering?
Click to expand...

Not quite sure how it works in america but in the uk the course is specific to the university you attend, in my first year of computer science we did indeed do some electrical engineering. Hope this helps
 
At my school Com Sci did very little, if any, electrical engineering. That's where Computer Engineering came in, as a cross between Com Sci and EE. So yeah it will basically vary by school.
 
yah we only do 1 required EE class here: Digital Logic Design. pretty thorough course though, boolean algebra, circuit design, VHDL. most schools also require you to take a couple science sequences, and often times CS majors can pick EE classes for their second one. so here you can take the required Digital Logic Design course, Engineering Physics 1 and 2, and 2 additional EE classes, and that's not a bad intro into EE. but if you want to do anything with EE as a career, you should definetely consider Computer Engineering as mentioned above.

you're all over the place though, just in this thread you've mentioned career interests in:
computer science
electrical engineering
3d modeling
directing

i think the best option is to, again as previously mentioned, attend college with an undeclared major and start doing your basics. you'll always need science credits, so take physics, as physics 2 will give you a small taste of electrical engineering toward the end. take some electives along the lines of what you're considering, and figure out for yourself what you really wanna do.
 
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