so true... kind of...

[themoch]

I was an art major... and now i program websites for a living (glass is a heavy 2nd)

click to make it bigger

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[AlexSchmalex]

:)

[drewspuppet]

that is funny

[JnglJnke]

Nice one.

[PyroChixRock]

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[vetropod]

So Andrew... you majored in Art, graduated, and got a job? Did this happen right away? If so, then college was good preparation for life.

I certainly didn't major in Art (although I wish I had sometimes), but I majored in what I could considering how my brain works and my reading aptitude (never been tested for a learning disability, but I'm pretty sure I have one.) I think college was great preparation for life, particularly from the friends I made. But certainly also a lot of other information from my college career helped prepare me for life, in ways that I never guessed.

I think if someone is properly motivated, it's not hard to find work. Sometimes it may take a few months depending on what you're looking for, but if you're not holding your standards too high and are open to what may come your way, work is out there.

If I remember correctly, you've changed jobs a couple (few?) times in the last few years. But your web development has provided a solid base income while you work on your art (presumably glass) on the side.

I do glass full-time (I don't say making, as a lot of time is devoted to packaging, photography, marketing, networking, etc), but still have a part-time job on the side to help keep a steady income.

I really feel like the whole attitude today of: "I'm going to college right now, but there won't be any jobs for me out there when I graduate" is just a set-up for failure from a bunch of ninny's. Graduate and get out there, get a job flipping burgers or at a copy shop to gain some life experience, and slowly move up the food chain. Hardly anyone graduates and gets that vaunted position immediately out of school - those are the few who were not only motivated (or from a certain family background), but also lucky.

That really pissed me off the other night, listening to the debate, when that kid put that question out! What can that kid do to reassure himself that he'll have work when he gets out of school? Like working unpaid internships, or a job on the side while going through school, or at least networking with others in the field he wants to go into.

You might be able to tell this is a sore spot for me. I've worked like hell to make ends meet and keep my mortgage, student loans, credit cards, etc paid. I'm sick of whiners...

[JBob]

I heard with a philosophy degree you can think deep thoughts about being unemployed.

[themoch]

So Andrew... you majored in Art, graduated, and got a job? Did this happen right away? If so, then college was good preparation for life.

...

If I remember correctly, you've changed jobs a couple (few?) times in the last few years. But your web development has provided a solid base income while you work on your art (presumably glass) on the side.

...

That really pissed me off the other night, listening to the debate, when that kid put that question out! What can that kid do to reassure himself that he'll have work when he gets out of school? Like working unpaid internships, or a job on the side while going through school, or at least networking with others in the field he wants to go into.

You might be able to tell this is a sore spot for me. I've worked like hell to make ends meet and keep my mortgage, student loans, credit cards, etc paid. I'm sick of whiners...

We are totally on the same page. I was really lucky to be very interested in computers, and have the ability to explore them as a young kid. before, and all throughout college I taught myself how to program for the web and that proved to be the best thing i could have done for myself. The self teaching and the enthusiasm to learn that is.

In college i learned about art, and life, and how to interact with all sorts of people. it was one of the best times in my life. i'll never say otherwise. I did not study programming or web development (which is how i'm employed now). I've said it in other threads that people should make sure they are financially stable before they jump off head-long into the arts, because as you've pointed out, so little of the income is generated by the artwork alone, but the other hustle you have to do to get it in people's hands. There is very little, "if you build it they will come".

I too was left feeling funny after that kid's question, it's part of the reason i found this image so funny. he's asking what will the government do to make sure he has a job. He does not adopt the attitude of, "I will work hard and show other's my worth" which is what i believe is a key to success. Maybe that's also part of my personal view on this newer generation with what i perceive to be a "i'm here now what are you going to give me?" attitude.

Anyhow, it was a joke between me and my fellow classmates that while we loved what we did, and worked really hard at it, we all knew that we would have to fight like hell to make art our own way, and that there was never going to be an easy job lined up for us like some other education paths seemed to boast.

[vetropod]

Andrew, perhaps along the vein of your comment, perhaps art students may have a more realistic expectation about what will be like outside of college?

I don't know about that though, as most art majors I knew didn't seem very grounded in that way. But some of them are making bank right now.

[metalbone]

BM, good points. themoch's post cracked me up because of the snickering at being an Art Major. But the art majors I know really are doing pretty good...not because of thier major, but because they work. A friend of mine graduated in film and is kicking some major ass in the income dept because he worked and learned to do good work, then he started his business. So an Art Major, like many other majors, is merely a focused bit of study that one engages in to develop an initial set of skills and discipline that then serve as a foundation for futher skill development when they do enter the workforce. It is the personal motiviation to further develop ones skills that make the difference after graduating, regardless of what one majors in.

But in remembering that kid's question from the debate and reading your posts, you are right in getting pissed at his attitude. I guess he is part of that 47% that Romney said is a taker from the govt.

"There may be no jobs when I graduate....wah! Help me...Wah! How can you guarantee me and my parents that I can support myself? Wah!! Wahh!!! Wahh! "

My wife's dad came here at age 11 by himself, and worked his way through an education, job, and investments, and set up his family as best he could. He made a major move at age 11 when he was truly just a kid.

The "kid" posing the Q at the debate is 20, but rather than doing what you suggest (taking personal responsibility to work and prove himself), he wants others to make sure he has a job when he graduates. Hah! Like the world is here to serve him when he graduates.

[STROKER]

todays youth deserves codling dont they? i meant come on guys lets show a little mercy..





yeah right, they are all fucking retards...wait i didnt just say that .
i meant they are all a bunch of worthless , thankless,spoiledigottahaveitrightnow, whinny bitches.
that shit all changes when the real world starts throwing real world bills their way.
this bullshit attitude about what am i gonna have handed to me hits the fuckin road real quick when you are hungry and your electric just got cut off.
fucking crybabys is what they are.
i work my nuts off 6-7 days a week , every week to live a decent life and maybe take a vacation every now and then. i am 44 and i guarangoddamnteeyou that i can work circles around 99% of todays youth. sad but true.

[khan]

"kind of" my ass.

Khan

[Meerkat]

I went to tech school and got a degree in film. It was not like your 4 year, let's study the history, art, philosophy of film, etc... but hands on, operating the hardware, learning all the tech, which is exactly what I wanted to do since I was like 14 years old and reading magazines likes CineFX, Fangora and other Special FX magazines. Sounds great right, only problem was that was this was in the early 90s and everything I learned at the school was what was being used in the industry, technologically, at the time, so I learned how to use actual film cameras, how to edit on these gigantic editing machines with huge multiple platters of film, using reel to reel tape tape recorders, learning all the film tricks you could do to achieve sound and visual FX with film, etc.... and it was just around this time that digital started taking over and becoming affordable for the industry and everyone just switched over in a matter of a few years except for the really established hardcore directors (who it was next to impossible to get a job with) or the indie film people (who had no money to pay you) and kept using film for whom digital was still too expensive (and that didn't last long either as digital quickly became dirty cheap). So my entire educate almost instantly became worthless, I would go around everywhere looking for work and being asked what I know and when I told them all my film tech knowledge they were like "yawn, I want digital" and no one would give you a chance to even learn it.

It really pissed me off big fucking time and I was bitter and depressed for many years having gone into debt on student loans, wasted all that studying/tech knowledge time, the knowledge itself is not a waste, but I would rather have been learning something career useful that made money, and I felt like (and still do) like I ruined my career dreams I had since I was 14. It is not like I just gave up either, I tried for 10 years to get into the industry and was turned away at every corner except for one guy that who was also broke and trying to make it, took me on as as assistant and taught me a lot of special FX stuff and were still good friends today. He has finally made it into the industry but it also took him probably 20 some years and he is insanely better than me, he easily could have worked at the original ILM.

To add insult to injury, the film school I went to started teaching digital like a year or two after I graduated and is now a world renown school and has massively expanded their special FX program (my friend actually teaches there). And when I went there, there was not even a special FX program at all and that was all I really wanted to learn.

/end rant

[Meerkat]

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[khan]

Meerkat...

Sounds to me like you just got into a field that is way way over full of qualified ppl. Thats something very few students do... to actually check on the demand for the skills they are learning and that should be the number one ,, first thing they do.
Khan

[Meerkat]

No, the film industry was booming, especially here in Vancouver where I was living, lots of jobs... the problem was the technology changed very quickly and the school I went to at the time was a shitty school compared to what it is now and they didn't forsee the change in tech coming and so just kept teaching students to work with film and not digital.

[Slow]

todays youth deserves codling dont they?

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