Interested a career change, maybe teaching
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Anyone here change careers recently? The game industry and its issues are getting a bit old, even though I love being on a good dev team, rocking a great project.
I'm thinking of switching gears, becoming a teacher, maybe put these years of experience to good use, help introduce another wave of artists to game development.
Any advice or thoughts welcome.
I'm thinking of switching gears, becoming a teacher, maybe put these years of experience to good use, help introduce another wave of artists to game development.
Any advice or thoughts welcome.
Replies
I'd also like to find out about teaching in Canada. Is there a shortage of art teachers there, like it seems there is here? Has anyone here moved to Canada to do a teaching job? Any info would be great.
Here are some pros and cons.
Pros:
You get a surprising amount of free time to work and develop your own projects. Even more so if you really know the subject you are teaching and do not need prep time.
You become confident speaking in front of crowds and answering questions on the spot.
You have to teach all elements of design and art so you become a very well rounded artist. Even though I hate this title, a 3d Generalist.
If you get a full-time position, the money isn't bad and the guaranteed work is really nice. Usually colleges don't like constant hire/fire cycles. If you get someone in, train them, if they are good. Keep them! Make them want to stay. Students will actually WANT to come to the school and learn from them.
Cons:
You might have to fight for your classes because there are many other teachers that can teach the class. So no guaranteed work.
It is even more difficult for a college to hire someone full-time when they can have several teachers part-time.
You have to deal with students that really don't give a damn and are only there because mommy and daddy sent them.
You can really lose track of what is happening in the art world and all the new techniques that are being developed because it isn't in your face.
There are a bunch more but that is just a few to start. I didn't want to over do the thread. Feel free to ask any questions you want or PM me.
I think this would be fantastic all round if you made that move Eric, your knowledge,experience and insight is very hard to match and your contributions and advice on Polycount over the years as been second to none and im sure many many people (myself included) have learnt alot from you.
If I ever got into a position of hiring people and I had soemone that said they were taught by Eric Chadwick, id definatily take an extra few minutes to run rule over them as I know they have been taught by one of the best.
Stinger88- Is there STILL a shortage of art teachers in this country? (UK)...it seems everybody I know has gone into teaching at some level or other becuase at the moment its the most secure job.
On an unrelated note when I went to my weekly Life Drawing last week I was shocked to find several of my old art teachers there from my school days, turns out my old tutor was exibiting at the centre...never saw my teachers artwork as a student, which I think is bad practice, personally, but got quite insight into her work last week. (if you guys become teachers, for the sake of the children please show your work
Good luck with whatever decisions you make Guys,
John
Thanks evilblah for the +-. There is a local ITT, am sticking some feelers out. Also talking some with an Aii here. There are quite a few schools around the Boston area.
I would love to see some wicked awesome teachers in schools!
They're getting gradually more and more games-focused. Maybe you could serve as some sort of adjunct lecturer? I had no art experience but they liked my portfolio.
Anyway, it can't hurt to send out an e-mail!
Adding: I'd really like to point out from a student perspective, that the teachers out there for the most part are horrible. If it's not a big name school, the teachers seem to be either:
out of date (as in, not teaching current level technologies)
or really not very... good teachers. They are guys or gals with some skills, but more interested in a paycheck, than in really teaching.
A lot of the teachers are also people who couldn't actually 'cut it' in the industry.
It'd be really rockin to see people who actually know something teaching these kids. It'd probably really help grow the industry, up our quality, and keep jobs here.
Last summer I was on the verge of switching to being a fulltime instructor at another school.
I'd be on that in a heartbeat.
He also denied a lot of jobs while in class... that i didn't get... why is your phone on in class big guy? Anyhow... I'm not saying they were bad people, just unmotivated... They got an awesome position.. and they teach crap... we even had a mo-cap studio... broadcasting students used it...
EDIT: Just to add, how many people here love there job in the industry. But get pissed of by the bureaucracy that it has become in big projects? That's one of the major killers for me and is why I can't see myself staying after... 6-10years.
T'would be ossum! ^_^
Make sure you find somewhere that has students who chose to study that subject themselves.
I taught in schools where I had a class of kids whose parents had obviously thought 'Ok so our kid is a bit creative, let's put him/her in music class', or 'Our kid likes to listen to music, obviously they should study music', or of course in the worse case 'Hey we like music, our kid should study music'.
This tends to happen at younger age groups but if you teach secondary school kids, certainly here in England you will teach classes between ages 11 and 18 and at least half of those years will have compulsory art/IT classes. So the kids won't be there voluntarily.
It was so horrible to try and teach a subject to people who had little interest in it, in fact it's a lost cause and very depressing. Also, you find that there might be one or two kids in class who genuinely do want to learn, but the others in the room spoil it for them because they're bored and just want to mess around. This is the saddest part and takes all the fun away.
However, I also taught privately to students who had specifically chosen the given subject.
This was enjoyable and rewarding. It's a fantastic feeling knowing you're responsible for someone elses development and knowing you have passed on skills to another person.
It definitely seems like a great 'exit strategy' from working in the industry, and as others have said, I think you'd make an awesome teacher. You have always replied to me with knowledge, good will and patience and I think those three traits make a good teacher.
Hope that helps a little and good luck with whatever you choose.
I think Im in the same boat where the games industry is very unstable at the moment. I love working on games but the 'here one day gone the next' is a real worry. And the thought of raising a family or even paying rent puts unwanted worry on your shoulders. freelance has been very good to me but its still as unstable as a studio job.
My ladies trying to become an art teacher for junior/primary schools and it just sounds awesome. You get great pay and loads of holiday, only thing is you have to do alot of work in the evenings and stuff with lesson planning and marking etc. But its far less stressful than fulltime studio work. It would be ideal if you were raising a child aswell due to the holidays and stuff.
Hmm, about bad teachers. Yeah, it's a problem, but true in every profession. Though mentors/leads/teachers being more influential makes it a bigger problem.
Well I think the best situation is where both are learning from each other. I feel I should never assume a teacher knows best, critical thinking is always essential for me, no matter the source. In my experience, when I've taught others on my teams, the learning has always been a two-way street. Have to push the ego out of the way to get things done.
Not interested in moving at present, thanks for the leads though. Looking to stay in the Boston area if at all possible, but you never know, things may change.
I actually love working in game development, even with this industry's prevalence of really bad management practices. I love seeing the game develop, all the while working with a team of people with a range of very different skills. That whole team dynamic can be pretty invigorating, and the people are generally really passionate about their work.
But I've worked my way into a bit of a corner now. I've aligned myself at the technical end of art, but I don't really love coding, so a Tech Art role doesn't really fit. I'm a 3D generalist with a ton of experience, but I'm looking for work in a recession, and in a small geographic area, and in an industry that tends to want to fill specific roles. There's work in the indie sphere, where generalists are more needed, but the pay tends to be 1/2 the industry standard, and the companies tend to be unstable.
Teaching seems like it would be a natural progression. I've taught before, it's annoying having some disinterested students, but there is that great reward of seeing a select few students get their mojo working, and really improve.
More ideas welcome.
I'm a bit surprised that you say you're moving away from being a Tech Artist. I've always looked up to you as a Tech Artist role model. Your Technical Artist Guidelines have been a great insight and help to me since I've been thinking of taking the Tech Art route myself lately.
Evilblah makes some very good points I agree with all the Pro's, they're definitely true for me as well. Best thing for me is having to teach a class about a subject I'm not comfortable with yet; forces me to learn something new and get it to a level that is a benchmark for the students. It's very cool if some of them surpass that benchmark even:)
The cons are a bit different for me:
-When you teach really basic classes (like 3DS Max starters) there's no challenge and thus not much fun in it for you as teacher.
-In those beginner classes there will be a ton of very bad students, that will never get it, they just really, really suck. They take up a lot of time and energy and can really drain you (for me the problem here is I have to teach like 60 people at once). Especially in the earlier years the balance between good/average students to super-noobs is way off.
-This is probably not true in America, but our schools are government funded, so there's always silly budget issues. The higher-ups always make a fuss out of spending: it can take months to get a new laptop, months to get money back on some school expense, etc..
-In the same line, schools are not that wel organized as (some) game companies. I'm really no fan of the IT-service here (it's like i'm always asking too much), class schedules can get messy and give problems, etc; all that sort of organisation stuff.
-Again, probably different for America, but pay rise is steady but slow. For a beginner it's really good, but you won't get big pays as a senior.
Specially as I would be tutoring an entire class, in a day, as Xoliul said, you get those students that just really suck, and it really saps your energy when you have to explain the most basic of concepts. Especially concepts that use common sense and a bit of looking in the menus.
And it just gets worse when the same student asks you the next day/week how to do the exact same thing. For instance exporting a pdf from indesign is super easy, yet i had to teach a student how to do it.
But then there are rewards, for instance having a student come to you asking how to achieve a certain effect that you've never encountered/done before, it gives a challenge, you learn and the student learns(if you can figure out how to do it).
Then as Xoliul said, you get those students that just surpass the rest of the class.
It's really rewarding, with the couple of students that drain you, but the amount of "free" time is awesome.
Also how was the curriculum usually developed? Did they hand you a fully-formed course guide, or did you have to develop something from scratch. More likely a mix, but how much was your input?
About the Tech Art, a role model eh? Wow, thanks. I think that could be just my management skills talking, more than anything else. But maybe I should re-consider Tech Art as a career. Coding is interesting, but I've never really gotten a huge thrill from it either. Hmmm. Still pondering that one.
@Eric Chadwick - As far as the curriculum is concerned, it really depends on the college. ITT did not and would not allow for any curriculum changes. There curriculum is really bad. I had to take it upon myself to teach the class industry information. I ended up creating my own curriculum and teaching that.
At Moorpark Community College, however, they would actually hold meetings to develop new curriculum and any and all could come and contribute. Very refreshing and a lot of times they deferred to me because I had industry experience. It was a lot of fun.
You have a great skill set, a TON of talent and it sounds like you would have some fun teaching! I say go for it! You can always come back to the industry after sometime or who knows, you might just enjoy teaching so much that you do it professionally!!
You say you worked in Moorpark? I drove through there when I was in cali in july. I remember thinking how much nicer it seemed than LA and how I really wouldn't mind living there. I think with the way things are now, I might have more chance finding a job as a teacher abroad than in the actual industry...
For the curriculum: we can do any changes we want really, it's quite free, we just have to meet a few government guidelines. It really does improve every year I think.
Try this and see if it interests you.
http://processing.org/
Your a wonderful source of knowledge here. I dont know what your in person teaching style is, but your online is too the point. To bring up the sore point I haven't heard. What is your education background? If you have a Masters in something your almost guaranteed to find something easier/higher paying. Maybe if teaching wont work, you could write instruction booklets on art software focused on the gaming industry.
I'm not sure if you have any ties with 38 Studios, but you might consider looking into RISD, RISD CE, Brown, Univ. of Rhode Island, or J&W? Since 38 is moving to an area with a lot of potential students, it'd be great to have a teacher with your experience in that mix to help develop and recommend interns. It would keep you close to the Boston area too. Just an idea, good luck!
http://38studios.com/press-release/38-studios-announces-providence-ri-its-new-headquarters-location
What evilblah says is true though, you may get a case where that Masters will cost you the position... pretty lame, but it's just how University hiring process works.
From what I've gleaned, getting the credentials to teach is a HUGE pain if you've not already been down that road. Basically you need to hold a higher degree than what you're teaching in order to even step in the classroom. Considering most of the industry vets are self taught this is a huge stumbling block to schools, and why so many non-accredited schools pop up and blow the doors off of the accredited schools.
Outside of that, most students are unmotivated and apathetic to learning, especially in the lower level learning where most are either looking to skate by or will probably drop out. Most just want step by step instructions to achieve an end result. They are looking for hard and fast rules to follow (trashcans must be 16 conjoined polys EXACTLY, ALWAYS!) instead of learning theory and how to evaluate their own specs.
You also have to be part entertainer and really work to get them interested in some pretty technical boring stuff.
There is so much that distracts you and them from teaching and learning it can be discouraging. But there are normally a few students that make it worthwhile and those ratios increase at the higher levels and at places that have discriminating entry processes in place.
I'd say go for it if you're passionate about it
Just kidding, you would make an awesome teacher. Would be sweet to be enrolled in your class.
I have a Bachelors. Apparently you need at least a Masters for a full-time Faculty spot, but there seem to be plenty of opportunities for Adjunct (part-time) positions. I guess I could pursue the MA degree if teaching turns out to be something I like.
Yeah I know a few people at 38, and they're certainly ramping up big time. I also have ties with RISD. Cool idea!
Thanks for that bit of insight Saiainoshi!
Heh, wiki. That's a good idea... hmmm.
Spark
Plus I haven't seen many other Polycounters here at Gnomon :[
If you want me to forward you over to the guy who sets up the classes just throw me a PM.
ceebee, that would be great if you could! Will PM.
I'm not sure I want to be 'part of the pollution', so to speak.