Topic: please help me with an important decision!

ok, im now coming into a semester of my studies where i have to make an important decision. i have to go one way of two now. the one has its emphasis on DESIGN and the other on COMPUTERGRAPHICS AND IMAGEPROCESSING. now what i want to know is, what would YOU do? (please no answers like: you have to decide on your own, this is a personal decision, take what you like better, ...) no, i wanna now, which way YOU would go. and what has the better future prospects (where can i make more money ). thank you...

Gee Grumble, I think you have to decide on your own, don't you think this is a personal decision?
The best advice is to take what you like better, agreed?

just kidding

If you are putting lots of weight on job prospects (which makes lots of sense to me)
you should check want ads and better still speak to a recruitment or placement agency
to find out what skills are in demand in your city/region and what wages to expect.

Check internet job sites as well to get a feel for the number of openings in each field.

You might also want to speak to some potential employers and ask them for input as well.
Keep in mind that job satisfaction should top of the list. If you get paid a milllion bucks to
do a job you hate you won't be very happy.

Most people should be kind enough to give you 20 minutes of their time.

good luck!

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

thanks for the tips, VRaptor! you're right. job-market satisfaction is very important these days.

ini, hehe. as an expert on java3d i knew that you would go this way. hehe
well, it's very interesting too, but i think i also have some will to design in my blood...

hmmm. if i would have to decide now, im exactly 50% to 50%....

Grumble:
Here's another spin:

Based on what you know about the course content and the other criteria
such as specialization versus generalization etc....which of the 2 would
be easiest to learn on your own or on the job.

If Design, for example, is more theory than practice, while the CG and Imaging
is more practical, then you might want to lean towards the courses which are more
theory and learn the CG and Imaging by actually playing with software.

Does that make any sense? Hope it wasn't too confusing. I think with either
choice you'll be okay., but I think you have to decide on your own.... <<<<smirks>>>>

Well, I'll skip some stuff since you don't want to hear it

I'd go for design anyday.

As a designer your job is to interpret ideas into visual form, whereas as a pure gfx-guy you *could* get stuck with creating what the designer tells you to.

The bad job market aside, the designer is probably a more competitive position. Depending on what part of the industry you're aiming at I guess there will be less designers (thinkers) and more gfx-people (doers) so the competition will tighten.

From a personal view this applies well to me. I've got many friends that are programmers and web-dev's (and they actually all got jobs) whereas I'm in a position where I buy their services. In my office there are like 2-3 people with my skills but they are about 30 with more or less similar skills. See what I'm getting at?

But it all boils down to interest. You *could* get to be a pure gfx-nut with all the leverage and freedom in the world, so my thoughts about things could be dead wrong.

But remeber this: Skills are always in demand, and one of the greatest skills to have is creativity!
I'd rather hire someone with good creative skills and ideas than a gfx-program genius. If you are creative, you'll learn the tools you need... and most important you'll create useful stuff with them..



[This message has been edited by Nimraw (edited 09-30-2001).]

Without a lot of description it's hard to say, but COMPUTERGRAPHICS AND IMAGEPROCESSING to me sounds like being a software operator. I'd go design all the way, for pretty much everything nimraw said.

Chris


KAIROSinteractive

thank you all for the kind words! it's not easy for me. if i look at the content of the courses both ways are very interesting. the only thing that scares me a bit about computergraphics is, that there are some very difficult mathematics exams which i'd like to avoid . besides that... uiuiui... how can i explain? i've got the feeling if i go the one direction i could miss something which would be done in the other one...
well, i guess it's 60% design vs. 40% comp-gfx now...
thanks again guys! you gave me some interesting points...