Job Skills Labelling one's questions, interests and education (career wise)

[Orange3]

Hello, at the moment I have been trying to find the correct academic label for desired studies and work. I initially structured my studies around entering animated entertainment and just wanted to focus on becoming a production animator, however I found I was also very interested in the underlying science that allows the technology for animation to be possible.

Most people said at least a surface level and beyond study could be obtained on the job, so I believed a major in one of the aspects of animation technology (optics, computer science/ computer engineering, chemistry) would be an overkill if I could only have one job at a time, and I have no clue what industrial science/research is like, I may not be free to just play around with theory so if I have to meet a quota and produce a product more so than research freely beyond application, I would just try and stick to research for something I'm interested in creating. But there's no program or path I have seen that advertises learning a science major for a path in entertainment technology.

What would be recommended for someone who doesn't know which path to fit their questions/interests into? The main conflict behind this is that I don't know what industry is truly like until I get there, but at that point I am just putting my interests into a career path through a guess. How do you manage this? And how do you get more specific information about an industry, if any at all?

The last addition might be preparing confrontational skills rather than the assumption of complacency. Rather I get turned off by more 'necessary' services out of fear of being put into a complacent industrial/commercial position that would make me feel guilty for not saying something just to keep my job.

I'm also worried about more uncontrollable and academically irrelevant factors such as whether I'll have time outside of work or be overworked, be paid we'll or not, all things I can't predict and can only prepare to address as they come, as we can't jump ship to a new career path each time obstacles occur. I'm just not sure how to realize this and not think "I have to make the most accurate decision now or else I'm going to be trapped and not be able to say anything."

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to PF.

Can you say what country you are in, and what is your level of education so far? If you are finishing high school and looking for the next education options, can you say what you have found for the academic areas that you listed? What kind of summer jobs have you had so far? What is your background in programming so far?

 

[gwnorth]

Have you looked at postings for these jobs and seen what credentials they are looking for? The ones I frequently see often request a background in Physics, Math, or Computer Science. Here are a few examples:

https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/compa...ft-graduate-program-2022-gameplay-programming

https://www.rockstargames.com/careers/openings/position/4222094003

https://snowedin.ca/recruiting/job-postings/game-physics-programmer/

 

[symbolipoint]

@Orange3,
You may well be interested in major field in one or both of Physics and Engineering.

 

[Orange3]

Welcome to PF.

Can you say what country you are in, and what is your level of education so far? If you are finishing high school and looking for the next education options, can you say what you have found for the academic areas that you listed? What kind of summer jobs have you had so far? What is your background in programming so far?

Hello, I am in the United States and finishing high school this year. My programming skills are in the beginner level as I have only recently leaned into my desire to learn the underlying sciences behind the technology I use, and in terms of academic programs I haven't found much that advertises the ability to specialize in an industry such as animation/film for your programming/engineering. I don't think I have been looking hard enough, I just don't have the vocabulary on what a program like this would be. Mostly I am afraid of having to split myself between having time for the theory itself, keeping up with standardized classes, and having to learn the technical skills the animation Industry wants, or any industry for that matter.