Art School

Do you enjoy it? It sounds like you've made up your mind. I'd quote that Sartre thing about a student choosing about war and his mother but I'm going to passively aggressively reference it instead

RE: jobs - research it.

did a film major myself and it was a big waste of time.

90% of what I learned was from actually going out and making short films with friends, and just analyzing films in my free time.

trust me, if you're paying big bucks to go to school, at least make sure the degree is worthwhile. You could always just walk in to the lectures you want to learn from with good professors.

>>2885024
I honestly haven't lurked enough to know if /p/ is pro or anti art school, so I am really not sure what advice I'm going to get here.

Photography has been an interest of mine since early high school, in which I was very involved in it, but some people / websites / articles make a BFA seem like a death wish, so I was trying to see if anyone here has gone through it.

>>2885033
I am lucky and got a good scholarship and have help from the family and my own contributions, so either major I pick will end up being debt / loan free. The school I am attending is accredited and has a good reputation and all of that. I haven't gotten the chance to ask many grads of this college if they feel it was worth it, unfortunately.

I have a couple of friends that were art majors; film, photography, sculpting. Most of them have shit jobs and while they may have gigs relating to their major, they still don't get a whole lot for it. Only one exception and he had a full ride scholarship to begin with. His work is astounding. Now is working for BASIC agency.

If you continue as a photo major you have to make connections and network. You have to "sell" yourself. If you don't and still pursue then it's going to take a while and you'll find yourself doing some cliche and boring shoots.

I went into IT myself, Jr. Sysadmin and while I have a consistent job and decent pay. I find myself having less time to actually go out and shoot.

Do you know any pros?

Do you know anyone in IT?

Start getting connected now, and be prepared to work for free on the photo side.

It's a jungle out here.

IT has some job prospects but its hard to tell if you're the type of person who will do well there.

If you work help desk or do service calls you'll need to be able to follow procedure and interpret what non-expert users mean when they describe the problem and their equipment. It's a high stress situation because anyone who calls is not happy and may be under alot of pressure themselves. It takes some technical and diagnostic skills, interpersonal skills, and a lot of patience and tolerance.

Another major area is webdesign. On the entry level that means data entry, graphic design, and interpretation of client expectations and needs. You may also need to meet with non-expert clients who will still have strong ideas of what they want and need. You'll need graphic design skills, proficiency in typing, some technical knowledge of the Content Management System(CMS) you are working with, and interpersonal skills to work with non-expert clients.

On the flipside you may work on the backend of websites. You will spend alot of time working on modules for CMSs and working on databases. You'll need less interpersonal skills but you will need far more technical skills and attention to detail.

There are alot more jobs in the industry but I would say those are the most common jobs people in IT end up in.

If you can learn how to configure Oracle or SAP modules and back it up with some business process analysis skills you'll be set for life (see also MS Dynamics, Documentum et al). Once you've been through some design, development and implementation life cycles you can manage projects & programmes as well.
If you're very presentable & sociable there's the whole business development (aka sales) side as well.

I just finished my art degree. I really was able to do it because most of the money was paid off by scholarships and the last year I didn't have to pay anything so I don't have any debt coming out of it. Unless you have that, don't put yourself in debt for an art degree, at least not right now.

I am just beginning to network right now and soon going to be working for a teaching certificate and visiting galleries. I loved the classes as well, don't take just straight photo classes, use some elective credits on other art classes. You're able to learn to expand your work through different mediums and branch off from the techniques.

I have a BFA in Photography and now work in IT after working crappy photography jobs for 10 years. I find IT to be a lot more rewarding (getting things fixed, solving problems, being appreciated) than photography (doing crappy repetitive jobs for other people and being taken for granted). Sometimes "doing what you love" for work can make you not love it anymore.

You know the answer to this question.

>>2885208
I guess the fact that I'm having to ask is a pretty big indication.

>>2885166
Thanks for the input, I feel like that's what might end up happening for me. I'm not sure if grinding out weddings and events would be something I would enjoy. That's not really why I love photography, and the way you described IT seems very fulfilling.

>>2885017
Don't go to art school. You don't need a degree to do photography. If you're going to go, have a very good reason (eg. want to get on someone's radar and whatnot). Art school doesn't teach you anything the internet can't. I'm one of maybe 6 people working as a photographer out of the 30 that graduated from a BA photography. go for people, not got classes.