Parents vs Career Choice
polycounter lvl 12
Hey Polycount,
I saw the new forum for career questions and discussion, and I wanted to start a thread about parents, your career choice, and their support/lack of support. I know quite a lot of people struggle with this, and I thought this might be a good place to discuss it. Our stories could end up helping someone or inspiring them to continue pursuing their passion despite a lack of parental support, who knows? I guess it can be tough when you want to study living under the roof of parents who don't support your career choice. Or perhaps you were lucky enough to receive their support?
Myself, I had an odd 50/50 kind of support from my parents whilst trying to break into games. They supported my decisions to choose art as my career, yet they wouldn't let me play games or use the internet until I moved out at 16. I remember getting in mega trouble for sneaking out and registering with the library to use their internet and download art tutorials (I was fortunate enough to know I wanted to go into games when I was about 11-12). They never fully accepted I was doing the right thing until I got my job. They had this big stigma against video games, which was very hard to shift until I pushed through and made it. I think the release of the iPhone and the app store helped a tonne with changing their perception too.
I get the feeling that this kind of reaction to a career choice in games will become gradually less and less as time goes on. I am interested in hearing other people's stories, good or bad, about your parent's reactions to your choices. Fire away!
I saw the new forum for career questions and discussion, and I wanted to start a thread about parents, your career choice, and their support/lack of support. I know quite a lot of people struggle with this, and I thought this might be a good place to discuss it. Our stories could end up helping someone or inspiring them to continue pursuing their passion despite a lack of parental support, who knows? I guess it can be tough when you want to study living under the roof of parents who don't support your career choice. Or perhaps you were lucky enough to receive their support?
Myself, I had an odd 50/50 kind of support from my parents whilst trying to break into games. They supported my decisions to choose art as my career, yet they wouldn't let me play games or use the internet until I moved out at 16. I remember getting in mega trouble for sneaking out and registering with the library to use their internet and download art tutorials (I was fortunate enough to know I wanted to go into games when I was about 11-12). They never fully accepted I was doing the right thing until I got my job. They had this big stigma against video games, which was very hard to shift until I pushed through and made it. I think the release of the iPhone and the app store helped a tonne with changing their perception too.
I get the feeling that this kind of reaction to a career choice in games will become gradually less and less as time goes on. I am interested in hearing other people's stories, good or bad, about your parent's reactions to your choices. Fire away!
Replies
"small puddle, lots of crocodiles"
your choice
And I agree that a lot of people want to be game artists, so you need to make sure you work harder than them and remember that even in college and University, you shouldn't just be aiming to be better than your peers and hitting the requirements for good grades. You should be shooting for the stars, and do much more than the courses ask of you, for that is what it takes. It can certainly be a bit of a slog to get a job in games, but I suppose all good things come at a price!