Do degrees matter?

In the 3D field, particularly modeling an animation and lighting, etc. I’m curious what you have to say about degrees and if they actually matter.

in other fields
totally
in the 3d field…

again,

not qualified to talk about this but…
take a trip to CG society,

look at one of the first few pinned post
particularly,
the
“the unofficial truth of the CG industry” one

But you know getting a degree in Mechanical Engineering isn’t all that useless for CG
I mean imagine how much more realistic and believable your hard surface would be if you actually are a legit engineer

Or how much more believable your sculpt of a… beaver or… bacterium…? would be if you took biology, can’t find any anatomy tutorials on a bacterium, will you? :wink:

Based on what the employer wants

Only because somebody says they are good in a software does not mean they are good designers.

So a degree could work as a filter to weed out bad applicants

on the other side a degree should not lock you into a corner

I studied color design in germany jewelry and animation in the USA

I do product design now

learning never ends

at my university we now introduce a plain design degree title
and you can all your focus then

but besides all that your portfolio is more important
but in screening process systems when you need to have degree A and you dont
the screening process will kick you out even when your portfolio is great

if you can approach somebody in person and show your work it is different

companies and employers are often very different

Also I watched yesterday a presentation by Daniel Simon.

He studied industrial design in Germany

worked for companies such as Audi SpaceX

but also is the guy who designed the space craft in Oblivion also worked on assets of the new Tron

and he also does work for games like the new upcoming Mass effect game.

So he is an industrial designer that works as a stylist and prop designer also for films and games.

If you look at his portfolio you know why.

The main benefit you’ll get out of school in this industry is networking. The connections your teachers/profs have, fellow students who break into a studio and can give you an in, etc. Nobody really cares about the degree itself so long as your portfolio is good.

It makes one more trustworthy, confident and better payed.
Finishing college, university… gives one stamina, self criticism, social & organizational skills, time management, a much better starting point for negotiations and choices of everyday life. Not to mention skills to handle all the intellectual complexity with patience.
With artistic, engineering or designers curriculum one gets acquainted with theories on aesthetics, philosophy, economics, rules… which all reflects while creating artworks.
Makes you eligible for working permits and finally, bureaucracy works faster in your favor… also one becomes a suitable candidate for promotion when there’s an opening.

It’s a key to many more doors… it sort of gives a passage by the sphinx.

I am about 2 semesters from a AA, but I landed in a situation where it’s not really profitible for me to get a degree, as I am doing exactly what I have to now, and what I want to do, and there is no changing it.

I take care of disabled family members, and code games at night for fun.

My life is terrible, yet my life is wonderful.

My question, is what can you do that makes you happy vs what can you do that makes you successful.

Weigh, measure, think and choose.
All we have is time to loose.

I would offer two perspectives on this question:

  • The perspective of someone who, “(never_mind…) how many years ago,” dutifully ‘left high school and got a degree,’ and
  • The perspective of someone who has also spent many years teaching community-college classes in which some of my students had PhD’s.

“What’s the value of a degree?” By itself, probably not much. “Golden Tickets” exist only in Willy Wonka movies.

However: “What’s the value of education?” I would say it’s “priceless.” It consists of purposely putting yourself into a situation where, in the company of a professional educator, you determine to learn a certain set of material which said educator (and his/her education-industry colleauges …) have devised and set-forth for you.

"Self-"education is, of course, a valid way to learn. (I would say that nearly 100% of my knowledge of ‘how to create computer software’ is ‘self’ taught, albeit it is, by now, also “the product of experience.”) Nevertheless, the formal classroom-instruction model offers many important layers of both “instructional depth” and “interaction” beyond this.

What’s the deciding factor? (Ahem …) “It’s y-o-u.”

Education is “worth” no more, and no less(!), than what y-o-u determine to make of it.

well I would set always a degree = gained education

at the end it comes down to how much you invest yourself during the time you study
majority of students I see do what is asked like a high school student
and only few take what I teach and explore it further on their own

While I agree more or less with everything everyone is saying here, I’d like to add something I think is very important. Don’t go into heavy debt without any ability to pay it off.

Depending on your financial resources, it may not always be in your best interests to go to a formal school. Defaulting on student loans is a reality and it does happen. It ruins what should be a person’s first financial steps in their lives. Don’t start out your professional life with heavy debt, especially in an art field cluttered with a rich talent pool.

Remember that the school is a business, first and foremost, and they want your business.

A general rule of thumb would-be employers/clients go by is: Can you do the work? In particular, freelancers benefit from a good portfolio over a wide variety of outlets. Apply yourself to making amazing art, and putting up those images on as many venues as possible. Don’t limit yourself to Blender-only outlets.

In short:

Education is imperative, indeed, necessary just to function in life. But there are multiple ways to go about it. As with everything in life, find the route that works best for your circumstances. If you can’t afford it, avoid piling on debt early in life. It’s a lesson some have learned the hard way.

Or go to Germany where school is free - also for international students :wink:

And in addition to JDaniels be aware of crap schools in the USA who are either for-profit junk degree factories
or
just have a weak design department.

yup, few are willing

… it’s what left after the process what makes human life… it’s your free choice, no one forcing you… love life, accept suffering as a part & work to do your best to your knowledge - mind over matter

time is relative

in the long run, we all walk :wink:

School as in university?

That just might be useful information.


An example of an artist who actually benefited from a degree in mech engineering was,
Barontieri

http://barontieri.deviantart.com/gallery/

and he’s not even a 3d artist

Waste of time and money in any creative field. It doesn’t even matter. It is not significant one way or the other, has no bearing on what you do with yourself one way or the other. It has nothing to do with real life.

Unless you want to get a job teaching. :smiley:

The better question to ask is, in any education environment, what is it giving me that I would not get anywhere else?

Evaluate what experiences and influences you will get by being in a particular educational institution. Location? The faculty? What activities and facilities do they offer that would be hard to come by on your own?

Interaction with other creative people on projects?

A degree does show that you have the tenacity to finish something.

But then so does making a short film. :wink:

If you live somewhere where the government prioritizes your education enough to effectively subsidize it, It’s worth it. If you are going to be $50,000 in debt after 4 years, fighting against hundreds of other talented artists to hopefully make at least $20 an hour, if not falling back to work as a barista or a waiter until something better comes up… think long and hard about your options.

It’s a competitive world out there, and performance matters way more than paper. Take half of the amount of money you would spend on a degree, live off of that money and practice CG every day. If you don’t have the drive to keep the momentum moving forward, and you just end up spending all day reading facebook and blender artists, you’re not going to have much to show for your time, and you would probably run into the same issues at university.

When I attended the University of Tennessee, my 4-year degree cost about $11,000.00 (because I was out-of-state). For an in-state student it would have been less than half that much. (And in any case, someone else paid for it.)

Today, according to the same University’s web site, it would cost a quarter of a million dollars(!) for me to get that same degree.

Today, I certainly would not attend college, at all, if I would be asked to take on that amount of “hopeless debt.” (I paid less than third that amount for my first house.)

And you should recognize one thing: these winds will change. “Private industry” promised that they could do education better (especially once they found a way to get their grubby paws on Pell Grants and so-forth …). They promised that a “for-profit” health care system, and a “for-profit” insurance industry this headquarters building for itself in Chattanooga, Tennessee while keeping its “non-profit” tax status) would provide ‘better’ health care.

I do not anticipate that America will transform itself into “a nation of truck-drivers” while allowing millions of “non-immigrant visa” indentured servants to take away professional jobs (“for up to six years, then we throw 'em back where we found 'em”). I do not anticipate that America will continue to deny educational opportunity to its children. And, I forsee that health care will one day soon be available to everyone “as a basic human right,” which it is. But, these things take time.

The most important lesson from the parable of The Prodigal Son is that the son drove himself(!) to his own ruin, until he was totally alone and about to be killed(!) by a hungry pig. Only then did he reclaim his birthright. Only then did he remember who he actually was … and always had been. He could have gone home at any time and had a nice espresso. Everything he did to himself, he did to himself.

America hasn’t re-learned that lesson yet. But … it will.

Dont use degrees, use radians

You must know a lot about the hiring process …

I’ve never been asked about my education level as far as art-based job offers go. Especially in the internet-age. I even get unsolicited job offers on my YouTube channel.

I do think a structured classroom has its benefits as far as improving though.

You must be in education…