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Original poster

Not a proper career .....

36 replies

Teddingtonmum1 · 19/07/2018 06:59

ds is very creative good at art , and is middle of the road academically mainly b's with the odd a and c . i think he will struggle at Alevels . So been looking at alternatives . His interested in doing animation & game design at a 6th form college ( currently at an indy ) . So he was all excited getting info on the various courses and dad has dropped a bombshell that he thinks its not a 'proper ' career . I was never allowed to do what i wanted , i never went to uni and regreted it years later but had too many comitments by then to be able togo and ended up in a job that although i make good money i hate. I dont want the same for my son , i want him to go for what he wants not just settle we aren't in the 1970's !! am shocked at his dads attitude do you think im being naive???

OP posts:
Original poster
Teddingtonmum1 · 19/07/2018 07:48

exactly @alwayscommunting two people in my team ( who i am in charge of ) one has a masters and the other a degree and both in a 20k a year job at nearly 30 , im just happy that he has shown passion for something and appears to have the talent for it im in the middle of trying to change my career at the grand old age of 45 to do social media marketing so how can i tell him oh its not a proper career, to be fair i think the jobs market is changing so much these days there are no jobs for life and people have 2/ 3 careers these days. dad says what happens when he fails , so i said so what let him not even try !!! Time for me sharpen my tiger mom claws me thinks ....

OP posts:
Gruach · 19/07/2018 07:41

dad has dropped a bombshell

How so? Specifically. Is it that your son’s father will withdraw financial support unless he’s ‘obeyed’? Or simply that he won’t give his blessing or offer moral support?

BarefootHippieChick · 19/07/2018 07:29

30 years ago games design wasn't really a 'proper' job, but as technology advances and we spend half our lives playing games on computers, phones, playstations, xboxes etc, it's now become one of the biggest careers to be in. That's not going to change. The same for film and tv animation.

Alwayscommuting · 19/07/2018 07:21

My husband wanted to be a games designer and his parents told him it wasn't a proper job. So rather than carry on studying and getting into a uni course to study what he loves he gave up. Left school and got stuck in a job with rubbish hours and poor pay for years. He still wonders "what if".

derekthe1adyhamster · 19/07/2018 07:17

It's a great career. My DS would love to do that. Sadly his art lets him down, but he is good at maths so he will go down a more traditional route of computer science. He still looks longingly at the games design and media production.
Check out degree courses to check the course is accepted as UCAS points of he wants to go down this route

BarefootHippieChick · 19/07/2018 07:15

Animation and game design is currently one of the fastest growing industries. If your son gets into it he will be made up for life in his chosen career. Decent games developers make excellent money, much more than teachers, doctors etc if you know your stuff. Good ones are very well sought after and headhunted. He won't necessarily need a degree although it may help, however, experience and lots of it is what most games companies look for.

butterfly990 · 19/07/2018 07:10

How many people actually end up working in the field they directly trained in. His passion will drive him through his course whatever he decides to do.

He may end up in marketing, graphic design, IT. He will have a great grounding on tech skills that ARE highly transferable.

yakari · 19/07/2018 07:07

It is a proper career and a fascinating one - my goddaughter works at Pixar, and a close friend at EA. But... both of them went down 'proper' educational paths all be it focused on that side of art/computing. One did an art degree but gradually focused more and more in animation, the other did computer science major with graphic art as minor. So I guess what I'd say is at 16 stick to the main stream a bit more rather than specialise - and by the way I'd say this about most 'job' oriented courses.

BetterEatCheese · 19/07/2018 07:05

Backside?! Because

BetterEatCheese · 19/07/2018 07:05

Tech is absolutely a proper career and he can progress from this course. Just backside it wasn't one when we were younger,don't under estimate the importance of these jobs now

PotteringAlong · 19/07/2018 07:01

The only person I know who works designing computer games has an engineering degree.

I’ll be honest, if my children said they wanted to do a course in animation and game design then the question “to what end?” Would be on my mind.

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