How do you break your career choice to laypeople?

[Crispy4004]

So very recently I made a slight career path shift from VFX to games. The job is going great so far, but it has become more of a challenge to tell the new people I meet what my work is. With VFX all I had to say was I worked around Hollywood and people would paint a positive picture that required little explanation. But with games I need a new approach.

So far I've just said, "I'm a 3D artist at a game studio", but most questions that follow put me on the defensive. For example, when they respond with "oh so you must just play games all day", it sounds like I don't have a real profession. Then of course when people hear 3D they immediately think Pixar. After telling them I'm currently enjoying employment elsewhere I get a dumbfounded reaction like they think I have given up on life and have no passion or ambition. Won't be escaping that one any time soon, especialy now that I work in the same city.

Basicly I just need a way to tell your average person what my career is without the awkward scrutiny. I'd love to talk about what I do, just without feeling like the conversation could take a nose dive.

[inveni0]

When they say, "You must play games all day," just answer, "I wish.". And don't get defensive...I think it would be awesome to have a career that even just SOUNDS like its all fun and games.

[Crispy4004]

Oh I certainly don't get all defensive or insulted when it happens. I understand there is a huge disconnect between what the job actually is and what people think working in the games industry is like. I just would like to find a way to avoid having to explaining that to them. It's always one of two extremes, they are either enamored or judgmental based on a stereotype. I definitely prefer the former, but not everyone can be that cool about it .

Thanks for the advice, I could see myself using it as a sums things up quite nicely.

[Freespace-3DT]

When working on game cinematics, instead of telling people I make animations for games, I just say I make spaceships explode. Works well.

[Crispy4004]

Now that's a great solution! I could easily say something cool that relates to what I'm working on. The hard part though would be not giving the game away. Can't do that yet.

[rocneasta]

Hehe i can totally understand your problem. Try saying during lecture/presentation "Now let's tackle creating a game asset" - the line is a killer for everything - your professional level drops to a zero, as far as I've been able to sense. Cause in order to be a layer you have to study and research law, read different cases build on your approach. This holds true to any job as it does for games. You must at least see a lot of games in order to work in the industry - to understand trends etc.

I attended one of numerous Autodesk webinars, when they clearly said, saying the word "games" in a business meeting when linking it to a product such as 3ds max, is an instant buzz kill (or even more)

I would never give them detailed response. You are an artist, working in 3D or 2D, concept or realistic, creating stuff - you can always check my portfolio and/or linkedin... Then "moving on swiftly" to another topic - weather and sex

[parleee]

You work under an NDA don't you? Just say you'd tell them, but then you'd have to kill them.

[Crispy4004]

Originally Posted by rocneasta

I attended one of numerous Autodesk webinars, when they clearly said, saying the word "games" in a business meeting when linking it to a product such as 3ds max, is an instant buzz kill (or even more)

Bahaha, you know this is still an issue in society when Autodesk can't even recommend associating their product with the largest market it is used for.

Originally Posted by parleee

You work under an NDA don't you? Just say you'd tell them, but then you'd have to kill them.

Yet another great idea.

[rocneasta]

Originally Posted by Crispy4004

Bahaha, you know this is still an issue in society when Autodesk can't even recommend associating their product with the largest market it is used for.

That's what it comes down to. Games means something totally different to different people. That's why I said, give them your card, portfolio link or a linked in, be an artist and explain then that you do 3D that you love, and did not yet choose a cubicle to work in - freedom!!!

[Freespace-3DT]

This thing with games being misunderstood is very frustrating for me. I do enjoy playing video games (I've played hundreds over my life), and that has been such a creative and inspirational boost that it got me into doing CG.

When I first started college 7 years ago, I was renting a room from an elder couple's apartment for the first few months of moving to the big city. I spent most of my time on the computer, working on studying and practicing CG. There was really no time for games, especially with college on top of that.
After a few weeks, I was told off by the elder couple that spending all my life playing on the computer will get me nowhere, and that they're going to tell my parents what I'm actually doing here instead of studying for college. ROFL. I had this big grin on my face telling them to go ahead and do it. Tell my mom I spend all day on the computer. They were freaked out.
I moved out soon after.

PS: their jobs were fascinating by comparison; she was a phone receptionist, so she spent 8 hours a day taking calls and rerouting them to the right places; he was a handy man at some power station, so he would go on 2 day shifts to mend pipes and fuseboxes;

[poopipe]

i just tell people i make pictures - i'm a TD by day so if i go into any more depth than that she takes her drink and walks off...

[rocneasta]

Originally Posted by poopipe

i just tell people i make pictures - i'm a TD by day so if i go into any more depth than that she takes her drink and walks off...

lol ending is so briliant.

Haha

[astroAJ]

Just tell them ur an artist helping in the creation of interactive fictions... (Sounds more professional that way) lol

[inveni0]

Still, I don't really see the problem. When people ask what I do, I tell them that I work at home... And that's usually all I say. It's so hard to say, "Well, I pretty much program or design whatever people want me to program or design." Because then they say, "Like websites?" And I say, "sure......" Like there's nothing else to program but websites. Right now, I'm doing heavy iOS work, so I might tell some people, "Well, right now I'm working on some educational software for the iPad, iPhone and iPod," but I don't really go into more detail than that. They're more interested in how I find clients.

Recently, I signed a contract to engineer software for a multi-million dollar company near here. This is a pretty good deal for a one-man team like me. I get a three bedroom, two and a half bathroom home for free, a massive office, and a larger salary than I've ever had in my life...with the promise of 25% raises every successive year, if software performance warrants it. But the best thing about the deal is that I'm not employed by this company. I still work for my own business. So I don't have to say, "I work for X company." Instead, I can say, "My company was hired to engineer software for X." And when they ask what kind of software, I can just say, "Pick a kind." Sort of like what I have to say when asked what programming language I know... Language? Singular? I sort of have to know them all... (Except asp...I refuse to use it.)

Wow...that was a tangent. My point was, when I say I work at home, some people think that just means I'm lazy. I AM lazy, but not because I work at home. But I don't really let it bother me. Like Freespace said, in comparison, their jobs are usually super lame... Even compared to what they THINK my job is. Even my parents and in-laws were soooo excited about this new contract. I was thinking, "It's really no different...I'll be doing what I always do..." But they don't realize it, I guess. And that's just their loss. I'm the most flexibly capable person that I know in real life. (Most of us computer/art geeks are.) And that's all I need to know. Approval doesn't interest me.

[Psycho Mantis]

what happend to good old "fukc you" when someone becomes offensive about your job. ? when they say something: i wouldn´t like that job - fine, then don´t do it. when they say: that sounds like easy money - ask them why their job is hard, and why they picked it. i have a simple rule that works pretty well for me. never ask people what they do for a living, and never answer such questions. cause every fukken time - someone you just met 3 seconds ago, thinks you can help him on a certain problem, almost for free, since you are best buddies now.
smalltalk or stfu! saves you lots of bucks for anger-management workshops.