[Saeryne]

I would say I was looking at a career change.. but I do not have a career at the moment.

I am at that point in life where I seemed to be 'getting on' but getting no where. My brothers career dreams have a chance of literally coming true and just feel I am the most unlucky woman in the universe... yes a bit jealous also Opportunities seem to be literally falling into his lap.

I have a part time admin job for my local council and that is my life currently.

I have tried to list my current likes/hobbies/loves and I have come up with these that seem to fit well together:

Internet
PCs (hardware)
Websites
Gaming
Reading

So how can these be mashed up into a dream job that will suit me? I need creativity, independance, ability to work from home (I have a reasons that means I can not always go out). So possible self-employment or freelance. So I was thinking along the lines of:

Journalism - gaming/hardware related
Website designer/co-ordinator
Graphic Design

It is such a broad area, does anyone have any ideas that may currently be out of my scope? Do you know anyone who is currently in one of these careers?

I am tired of working a job that although I like it - I do not love it and I can not be still here for years to come as I can not take my life to teh next step with it.

General pokes and prods welcome.

[Momotaru]

I went to school for Computer Design and animation. I didn't decide until my last year of class that I loved the WACOM tablet and digital art.

Forget the 95% percent of stuff in my courses that had virtually nothing to do with it (mechanical design, 3D modeling, graphic design, programming, etc, etc)..

I just want to draw characters and stuff on the tablet in the way I taught myself, (because not once was the tablet required, or even encouraged in any classes.. They just happened to be in the lab and a lap tech friend of mine showed them to me)



Anyway, I still want to draw characters, comics, or something along the lines. To make it happen, I need to be doing it often, find a systematic way to do it, enjoy it, and accomplish things (and not dabble it in once every 2 weeks). The problem is I spend too much time doing things that don't amount to anything (gaming, prowling the internet, thinking about drawing).


This isn't really an answer for you, but I would say, find a way to live fairly comfortably without overworking yourself.. Work just enough to get by and support your hobbies. Eventually, I hope to find a niche for my art and somehow transfer over into freelancing, or making money off of drawing whatever I want to.

I used to want to be in game design, but I understand it's quite exhausting.. I'm lazy. I want to do exactly what I want to. I don't like being worked. I think there's a reality out there where people don't need to work to live (at least not the way they do now), and instead they can focus all their passion into the arts and maybe rotate on a work schedule that allows freedom to intellectually explore the universe and empower humanity.


Right now I'm taking a new job that has zero to do with my skills.. What I'm hoping is that it's just pleasant enough and not SO taxing that I'm able to enjoy my free time and work on a couple projects that I simply want to do for myself... and should a line for revenue be created with it, so be it.


So. hmmm... Just make time to do the things you love. Find your skills that you enjoy developing and continue to do build upon them. You should be able to make a living doing the things you love, and doing them well. Unfortunately, playing video games, reading, and browsing the web, even if enriching, don't directly grant you skills.


Good luck!

[Saeryne]

Momotaru, on Jun 26, 2010 - 8:45 AM, said:

I went to school for Computer Design and animation. I didn't decide until my last year of class that I loved the WACOM tablet and digital art.

Forget the 95% percent of stuff in my courses that had virtually nothing to do with it (mechanical design, 3D modeling, graphic design, programming, etc, etc)..

I just want to draw characters and stuff on the tablet in the way I taught myself, (because not once was the tablet required, or even encouraged in any classes.. They just happened to be in the lab and a lap tech friend of mine showed them to me)



Anyway, I still want to draw characters, comics, or something along the lines. To make it happen, I need to be doing it often, find a systematic way to do it, enjoy it, and accomplish things (and not dabble it in once every 2 weeks). The problem is I spend too much time doing things that don't amount to anything (gaming, prowling the internet, thinking about drawing).


This isn't really an answer for you, but I would say, find a way to live fairly comfortably without overworking yourself.. Work just enough to get by and support your hobbies. Eventually, I hope to find a niche for my art and somehow transfer over into freelancing, or making money off of drawing whatever I want to.

I used to want to be in game design, but I understand it's quite exhausting.. I'm lazy. I want to do exactly what I want to. I don't like being worked. I think there's a reality out there where people don't need to work to live (at least not the way they do now), and instead they can focus all their passion into the arts and maybe rotate on a work schedule that allows freedom to intellectually explore the universe and empower humanity.


Right now I'm taking a new job that has zero to do with my skills.. What I'm hoping is that it's just pleasant enough and not SO taxing that I'm able to enjoy my free time and work on a couple projects that I simply want to do for myself... and should a line for revenue be created with it, so be it.


So. hmmm... Just make time to do the things you love. Find your skills that you enjoy developing and continue to do build upon them. You should be able to make a living doing the things you love, and doing them well. Unfortunately, playing video games, reading, and browsing the web, even if enriching, don't directly grant you skills.


Good luck!

I do not expect to be able to jump straight into a job. I was planning to learn and take courses while I am in my current job.

I have done website design before for my last employer (unpaid and no trainging) and I loved it. I would not count playing games as a career, I was more thinking of journalism in the category of PCs. :Like working for websites reviewing/researching.

[Momotaru]

I think I was speaking more for myself.. as I'm much more lost than you are, it seems.


Well, it seems to be a saturated market, maybe, but Games journalism is sort of that bridge between being a gamer and having an intense, albeit satisfying job. I shouldn't speak for anyone, but following the staff of a site like 1up.com for years, you come to see how much these people really enjoy what they do.

No harm in trying to squeeze into that field.

[Saeryne]

That kinda of what I was thinking of, just no idea how to start. I assume it comes under journalism?

[Momotaru]

You can get started by writing articles and submitting them to a site like Bitmob.com (started by Dan Hsu, once editor in chief of EGM)

It's sort of a community site where anyone is welcome to submit their own work, and the site editors (some of them used to work for EGM or 1up, or some other gaming media site/mag) will approve it. You can then use this as your portfolio when you apply for other places.. just try to get involved, and apply every chance you get to games news sites.. they do hire people every once in awhile.

[Saeryne]

I am going to start by getting my hands on a website creator and image software and have a play first creating a guild website. It has been a while since I did it!.

I will bookmark that community site.