Salary: Doctor vs cg artist
Please guys i am in a difficult situation help me 
my ambition is someday to become a cg artist cuz i love doing 3D models,animation and all of that stuffs and i Really want to participate in making a Future 3D film someday.
so I learn maya until my application for medical univercity comes,My parents won't bother about my future Job but my relations always telling me to become a Doctor and it is better.so i have about 2-3 months till application comes.so what do i need to choose? my dream has always been to become a Cg artist and i don't have any experience in Xg industry and it's salaries...etc.can a doctor earn more than a cg artist?
please help me
my ambition is someday to become a cg artist cuz i love doing 3D models,animation and all of that stuffs and i Really want to participate in making a Future 3D film someday.so I learn maya until my application for medical univercity comes,My parents won't bother about my future Job but my relations always telling me to become a Doctor and it is better.so i have about 2-3 months till application comes.so what do i need to choose? my dream has always been to become a Cg artist and i don't have any experience in Xg industry and it's salaries...etc.can a doctor earn more than a cg artist?
please help me
Replies
If you're primarily concerned about money, then the doctor role would be the smart one. Think about whether that's what's going to make you happy though.
CG = Zero to 4yrs of schooling on average.
Doctor = like 8ish years of college on average internationally IIRC?
There will be MUCH more hand holding in the medical field if you have the grades for it.
Also gotta compare not just the cost of extra schooling to become a doctor, but also whether if someone started working 4 years earlier, invested lots of money, what kind of returns they could get vs. someone that has tons of student loans and starts saving money years later.
Once you can work on your own, there's still a lot of competition in bigger cities. You're then essentially running your own business. Also, you are working with people. If you're not a people person and like to focus on a single task - like modeling something to perfection - then doctor may not be for you.
Really, forget about the money for a moment. Think about what your strengths are, what you want to do, and if both fit together. Otherwise it'll be just failure.
I too wanted to study medicine at some point, but knowing some people who did, I'm happy I didn't. Those guys have a lot of responsibility and during training they can just say social life goodbye. And not all of them end up rich.
Interpret it how you may!
The number of CG artist jobs in the world is infinite if you consider indies, self-employed, contract and people who sell assets online. A lot of them probably make less than $10,000 a year though.
For comparison:
Number of AAA game character artists in the world: about 500 at 25 studios
Average Salary is around $80,000 US
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/417770/triple-a-console-studios-declined-by-80-this-gen-says-ea-exec/
Number of players in the NBA: 447 among 30 teams
Average Salary is around $5,000,000 US
http://www.besttickets.com/blog/unofficial-2013-nba-census/
Number of neurosurgeons in US: 3,500 plus 790 residents at ~1300 hospitals
Average Salary is around $355,034 (payscale.com)
http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-many-brain-surgeons-are-there-in-the-us/4706897
If you want to have a long-term career that pays well at the cost of 14 years in school, something like neurosurgeon is the way to go. A medical degree is going to open a lot of doors if you want to travel as well.
A CG artist salary in the Western world is comparable to a job like plumber, electrician or HVAC mechanic.
Everyone has a different definition of AAA. The definition of AAA I am using is from: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-04-eas-hilleman-triple-a-console-studios-reduced-to-25-worldwide
Average of four or five character artists per studio but teams are four times bigger = ~ 500 AAA character artists.
Number of openings each year is probably around 50 positions worldwide, but those will often be filled by the existing pool of character artists.
There are lots of other character artists in mobile and other platforms, of course. But comparing them to something like a doctor is probably not what the original poster had in mind.
Could you be a doctor and not hate every minute of it, go for it. I've thought of going into web development and doubling my salary but the crushing depression would take a toll.
I'd suggest doing what makes you happy and not worrying so much what other people think, whether they're your relatives or forum people.
My aunt and her husband own their own clinic. They also work at a hospital during the day. Then their own thing in the evening. Sometimes emergency or surgery or something will pull them back to the hospital during night time. They make loads of money. Like, loads and loads. They also love doing it. But they don't have time to anything else... Like, at all.
If you love CG, I'm sure you will find a way to do it on the side if you decide to become a doctor. The opposite isn't true, though. Don't think you can be a doctor on the side while you do CG things.
sure you can, just change your name to Nick
thank you for your time,my goal is to have a good life but i also need money because we are poor (not beggers but we are poor) and i need to treat my mom and dad good someday and make them happy.they don't tell me to Become a doctor one way or another they let me choose my future.since i love doing cg and since you guys telling me I can do these things as a hobby i think i go for the doctor but i still have 2-3 months until my application comes i will think more about it and get some advice from adults.thank you very much i also do have a one question this is out of the topic of Polycount,cg but if u can pls answer it
if i get a degree of a doctor (medical degree) in sri lanka can i move to another country like USA,UK,canada and work there?
at least do you know anyone who became a doctor in a other country and work in another country?
thank you very much
thanks again and long live polycount
woh man, this is hard to realise
2) slightly O/T (but related) it is possible to combine the two disciplines in ways. i have heard of medical cg companies(not any huge names but it is an industry)mainly doing explanitory videos and the like or you hear of things like patients 3d printing out copies of their organs to help guide surgeons. not saying that you neccessarily should choose something like this but its important to understand that you don't only limit yourself to 2 path when there are way more
a doctor usually has to deal with people who are suffering, it could be only the flue, or people who need surgery after a car crash
and i know that i wouldn't want to be surrounded by suffering most of my lifetime
thats also why i have the utmost respect for all the people who chose this kind of work
FYI: Just graduated med school, so I might be biased.
I was told to stay away from this profession if money was important to me and not the humans i would be taking care of.
That is quite an advice there.
You got BSed by someone who was probably not a doctor. There are a multitude of jobs in medicine which are only peripherally patient-oriented and pay quite well. Pathology for example, or forensics.
I don't think you have quite understood what is at play here ...
If you're interested in both medicine and CG, that might be a good path.
thank you very much for your time
I do come from a Chinese family, so there's a big emphasis on "real" jobs like doctors, lawyers, etc. Now to the bitter pills about being a doctor: it's not an easy job, highly stressful, and demanding.
Lots of schooling, insurance costs, sacrifice of personal satisfaction, to name a few things. Plus the potential problem of both debt and even more insurance costs and dealing with human lives.
Being a doctor shouldn't be an *easy* choice. It sounds nice on paper, but is a mountain of stress to get there.
As an artist? Get ready to eat beans before landing a decent gig, get ready to be fired, lose jobs, and face insecurity.
Keep a third option: find a job that lets you keep your sanity, but a roof over your head and food on the table while you can still work. Find a job that enables you to work on your art.
What? I didn't get that the first time. This means that if I become a doctor in sl I can't work in any other country as a doc but a NURSE?
likely. the same happens a lot in Europe. They don't trust that you get an equivalent 1st world education in a poor country. Or that you bribed your way through it. Doesn't necessarily have to be true - Cuba has great doctors. But there's no way for them to check, so they're rather safe than sorry.
I see a bunch of Sri Lankan universities on that one at least so your qualifications should be accepted in Europe (but probably with an exam).
If you have no mobility as a doctor I'd actually tell you not to bother. Medical systems are in a state of flux, and while the West's working conditions and salaries are generally decent and great respectively, there are exceptions, such as Greek doctors getting overworked and paid a pittance due to their economic problems, or Bulgarian doctors working for peanuts because of a broken health system. Tying yourself down to one country may end with you in a miserable job, where you'll be neither fulfilled nor get the salary you want.
Interesting read about Asian American Artists:
http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/
Most of us hit a pretty abrupt ceiling, despite generally showing a higher aptitude in most fields of study.
Many Asian parents view being a doctor as a pretty big equalizer.
oh wow, you really go to the path that other people want you to be , oh well it still your choice.
you should probably do your own homework on this. if polycount is your go to source for life as a doctor you may be doomed already.