I need to quit my job. Advice is appreciated.

Bletzkarn

Working as a Visualisation artist. The position started off really well but I've basically been forced into a position of CAD Monkey. The workload is so high there is no opportunity to even put effort into renders, the quality settings are getting lower and lower just so I can pump them out faster. I'm the only designer and expected to do on average 2 scenes (6 - 12 renders each) per day. Yesterday I did 6 scenes.

The sales increased drastically since I started but to owner has just said "yay more money" rather than reinvest into the business. I NEED OUT!!

I'm updating my portfolio but I need to put a lot of personal work into it because my professional renders are just a joke. Finding time to go home and do that after a crushing day is difficult.

My goal is to get together my folio and start applying for any viz or 3d modelling job i can. I am even considering free lancing at this point. Does anyone have any advice on how to find new work when you have very limited time?

NikhilR

   Didn't you start your job a month ago?
   Are you looking for another architecture visualization job of something else entirely. Would be good to see your portfolio including personal work to know if you're a good fit in other jobs and what more you could do to develop your portfolio further.
  Where are you from?

sacboi

May I enquire about the total number of hours and days per week you work?

Setting aside spare time for personal stuff can be a challenge when coupled with work/life commitments. Hell...the CG unrelated industry 'day job' I'm currently casually employed, has me working 12hr night shifts in a high risk environment five days a week on average. The potential side effects upon both mental and physical status will eventually take it's toll I'm guessing...

...but whaddya do in your case?!

Either quit and risk losing, I assume a steady source of fulltime income or take a shot at going solo...hmm all I'm really able to offer for now by way of advice, is ensure you've another stream of revenue on which to support yourself, be it savings, casual/partime work or alike. These days where ever you happen to live, competitively speaking there's no guarantee of gaining another FT position quickly whether a field of interest or not. Anyways at the end of the day it's ultimately your choice, just give some thought too the pros & cons before jumping ship.

Goodluck.     

Bletzkarn

NikhilR said:

   Didn't you start your job a month ago?
   Are you looking for another architecture visualization job of something else entirely. Would be good to see your portfolio including personal work to know if you're a good fit in other jobs and what more you could do to develop your portfolio further.
  Where are you from?

Ive been in this position for 6 months and am aware its going to take me another 3-6 months to find good employment. I'm from Australia, and while level design would be my dream, there's about 1 available job every year in the entire country. Visualisation on the other hand is quite healthy. Id be going for another viz job or design job (i have a degree in product design).

Most of my portfolio is proffessional work that I dont feel comfortable sharing for confidentiality reasons. As my personal work builds up Ill definitely be sharing it.

NikhilR

Ah difficult to assess what you're capable of then. I worked a year in architecture viz, I find that going freelance in this career is more practical.
I'm now looking to be a character artist for games.
If you're looking to get into games, I suggest a portfolio specific to that (level design), then apply places and go from there.
It would help to diversify your skill set also.
You may have to move to another country if the jobs in Australia are difficult to come across. Many companies relocate potential good employees and you're Australian so getting a working permit should be easier atleast in Europe or Canada.
In addition you can get many freelance off site opportunities too from many companies world wide depending on how good your work is and how affordable you are.

Bletzkarn

NikhilR said:

Ah difficult to assess what you're capable of then. I worked a year in architecture viz, I find that going freelance in this career is more practical.
I'm now looking to be a character artist for games.
If you're looking to get into games, I suggest a portfolio specific to that (level design), then apply places and go from there.
It would help to diversify your skill set also.
You may have to move to another country if the jobs in Australia are difficult to come across. Many companies relocate potential good employees and you're Australian so getting a working permit should be easier atleast in Europe or Canada.
In addition you can get many freelance off site opportunities too from many companies world wide depending on how good your work is and how affordable you are.

Can you talk a little bit about why freelancing is more practical? Im very interested on giving it a go. I will try get some work to you asap, couple hours from now as Im at work. The last 6 months have been very.. experimental lets just say, I wouldnt say its quite professional level yet but getting close.

NikhilR

  Well I found it practical since the work (architecture viz) seemed rather routine after the process was down and the architecture libraries (cars, people.etc) were ready. So ultimately it was down to render quality and lighting which is important to get right.
  Ultimately once you have dedicated clients its easier to keep getting work. Getting clients is difficult however.

Bletzkarn

NikhilR said:

  Well I found it practical since the work (architecture viz) seemed rather routine after the process was down and the architecture libraries (cars, people.etc) were ready. So ultimately it was down to render quality and lighting which is important to get right.
  Ultimately once you have dedicated clients its easier to keep getting work. Getting clients is difficult however.

My assumption and biggest worry. There's a few companies I've freelanced for before but the hardest thing for me would be building up a decent client base. Hopefully moving to a larger organisation will help that. applied to one yesterday.

Bering

I can somehow relate. This year I will quit my day job to go back to working Freelance, as currently I'm working full time for an unsatisfied pay, and in the evenings I am developing on a game which ideally I want to work on full time.

My portfolio is 2 years old, while my skills have increased my portfolio does not reflect that at the moment. However, for the past 6 months I have cut down on expenses and saved up as much money as possible to last, in case I do not find any freelance until my portfolio is finished.

If you are confident in your work, taking a month to work on your portfolio full time can definitely help, however economically it is risky and I can only afford taking this risk as my partner has a steady job in case everything goes south.

Another option. Spend all your possible holidays on making a new portfolio and then quit before you get burned out.

Or - Get a spare time job stacking shelves in the supermarket or something similar where you can afford to pay your bills, but also have spare time to work on your stuff. I've had loads of non-art related jobs until I was confident enough in my skills.

In the end, it depends on the risk, how much money you get and how confident you are in your own work. But don't stick with a horrible job that destroys you for longer than necessary.
 

Bletzkarn

Bering said:

I can somehow relate. This year I will quit my day job to go back to working Freelance, as currently I'm working full time for an unsatisfied pay, and in the evenings I am developing on a game which ideally I want to work on full time.

My portfolio is 2 years old, while my skills have increased my portfolio does not reflect that at the moment. However, for the past 6 months I have cut down on expenses and saved up as much money as possible to last, in case I do not find any freelance until my portfolio is finished.

If you are confident in your work, taking a month to work on your portfolio full time can definitely help, however economically it is risky and I can only afford taking this risk as my partner has a steady job in case everything goes south.

Another option. Spend all your possible holidays on making a new portfolio and then quit before you get burned out.

Or - Get a spare time job stacking shelves in the supermarket or something similar where you can afford to pay your bills, but also have spare time to work on your stuff. I've had loads of non-art related jobs until I was confident enough in my skills.

In the end, it depends on the risk, how much money you get and how confident you are in your own work. But don't stick with a horrible job that destroys you for longer than necessary.
 

Absolutely man,

I offered a friend from uni a job at my workplace. Because they're not easy to find in Australia. He said no, he'd rather work part time and work on his portfolio. At first I thought he was dumb! but now I get it, and yea his portfolio already looks better than mine and he's tutoring which would be a dream for me, but too busy working full time. At the same time it's important to have proven experience working to deadlines and in an office. 

Larry

I didnt read the replies to your post but I am going to ask you this. Have you talked to your boss regarding the situation? Explain to him the effects of his actions, tell him that you work very fast and is stressfull to you, the quality is reduced. He needs to tell you what he wants to trade off. Sometimes from a boss perspective, he doesnt care if the quality is reduced when you have quantity. You might be stressing out thinking that he expects you to keep up the same quality while your workload has drastically increased? This is unrealistic and might only be your way of thought. I think he will want you to stay in the job because you have a rythm now, handling all the incoming workload, which a new guy wont have. So he will propably have to hire more people and that will hirt his pocket. From my perspective you have the upper hand(do not abise that though, in the end you are always expendable) and try to talk with your boss in a logical,honest andand realistic manner.

Bletzkarn

Larry said:

I didnt read the replies to your post but I am going to ask you this. Have you talked to your boss regarding the situation? Explain to him the effects of his actions, tell him that you work very fast and is stressfull to you, the quality is reduced. He needs to tell you what he wants to trade off. Sometimes from a boss perspective, he doesnt care if the quality is reduced when you have quantity. You might be stressing out thinking that he expects you to keep up the same quality while your workload has drastically increased? This is unrealistic and might only be your way of thought. I think he will want you to stay in the job because you have a rythm now, handling all the incoming workload, which a new guy wont have. So he will propably have to hire more people and that will hirt his pocket. From my perspective you have the upper hand(do not abise that though, in the end you are always expendable) and try to talk with your boss in a logical,honest andand realistic manner.

Thank you for taking the time to respond and yes, I basically came to the same conclusion. I've significantly dropped the quality of renders. Lower resolution and far less effort into each individual presentation. What took me 3 hours now takes me 1 hour. Nobody has really said anything just a few of the sales guys ask me to re-render some and I tell them no.

I have rendered over 800 images in 6 months and realise not a single render is worthy to put in a portfolio. So instead I'm going to focus on 1 job every fortnight and put a lot of effort into it, custom models textures etc to have a strong portfolio piece, while crapping out garbage in between.