Seeking Career Direction, Want A Job Using Photoshop
December 31, 2014 12:59 PM Subscribe
I like Photoshop. I like math. I’m a deep guy. I’m not a fine artist. I’m not a photographer. I like writing. I’m deep, smart, and interested in the world, but extremely unfocused and pretty unconfident in myself and my abilities. Happiness, serenity, contentment and fun is more important to me than being rich. I was thinking of starting to learn how to do web design. I came to this conclusion after doing some research into jobs that use Photoshop. Is this a smart move that’s worthy of my time, given my interests?
Be warned, I’m going to ramble a bit. This is about a 1500 word post.
The above is the short version. Here’s the full post:
Currently, I’m 26 and a senior in college in the major of Psychology. I’m as old as I am because I’ve never had any direction or the faintest plan of what I want to do with my life. I’ve switched majors multiple times, from undeclared back to graphic design to undeclared and to psychology. I’ve taken a couple of years off to work and just avoid racking up debt in school when I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. At this point, I’m basically stuck in Psychology and that’s what I’m going to graduate in. I chose psychology because I’ve always been an inquisitive “how come?” guy with a fascination with science (as long as it is entertaining and interesting to me) and I’ve always been a combination of a soulful/romantic “big picture” guy seeking a deeper meaning in life, a man of science and explanation, and a person seeking to gain an intimate insight into both myself and other people, both in commonalities and what makes us different. I find it a fascinating idea that my reality is just one perception, and that other’s reality could be different from mine because they have a different mind. Also, I’m a very agreeable, down to earth guy who enjoys helping people (to a point). Over the years I’ve flirted with sociology, anthropology, astronomy, mythology, philosophy, English, and again, psychology. They all interest me.
But basically, I’ve decided that I need to get my head out of the clouds and focus on getting a job in the real world. And none of the above is really practical it seems with only a bachelors, and I don’t have the money, time, or patience to go on and get a Masters or PhD. While I’m interested in psychology, the dry academia of college has kind of beaten the interest out of me a bit and I’m not obsessively fascinated enough to have the vision and determination to succeed in further schooling.
And as we all know, a psychology bachelors degree is kind of worthless. So, here I am, in crisis mode. It seems that college is going to have been for naught, except of course the tool of having that degree, proving to employers that I succeeded in some sort of schooling. Succeeded is a key term, by the way, as I have a 3.59 GPA. As far as skills that are transferable into the real world, besides studying a bit, there’s nothing really that I can show for the money that I’ll be paying back. So, whatever. I’ve got to just graduate.
And so, I’m having to double back on my other skills.
I’ve always been skilled in writing when it comes to word composition and constructing good sentences. But as you can already tell, if you didn’t go “too long, didn’t read”, I have an issue with being verbose and rambling on too long.
Math has also been something that I enjoy, though I’m slow at it. Every math class I’ve ever taken in college, I’ve made an A in. I’ve only taken the algebras and statistics (I have fond memories of both looking back, though at the time they were a bit of a pain because they took so long… but they were relaxing in a “I’m actually getting my hands dirty and making progress on a problem” type of way). I recently took Research Methods and that was enjoyable enough that I signed up to do some undergrad psychology research next semester. I enjoy the aspect of asking a question and doing the computer work and research to find out the answer. Life usually dosen’t have clear answers, and that’s why math is so cool. Two plus two is always four.
Finally, there’s art. My first true love. And the thing I really dropped the ball on because of a lack of confidence (comparing myself to other people, not having the discipline or patience to spend years to get anywhere close to where I would like to be). I don’t even know if you can call it “art”. When I was a kid, I always used to play around on MS Paint. Not really creating stuff in the way that a painter creates things from a blank canvas (although I did love just scribbling around and erasing and scribbling again.) I then started tracing and trying to draw side-by-side cool looking things (such as dragons, dinosaurs, video game characters, movie characters, comic book characters). Eventually I graduated to Photoshop and basically taught myself through tutorials over the years. I was always the kid who made funny photomanipulations for holiday and birthday cards and practicle jokes for family members. I never have gotten to the point where I can create digital art from scratch, in the way that a painter turns a blank canvas into an artpiece. But I just love importing pictures and doing photo manipulations to tweak the picture to my liking.
I’ve cut parts of pictures out before, including people, and put them into new backgrounds. That’s tedious but kind of enjoyable. I’ve tweaked people’s faces and made them look better. That’s always enjoyable. I’ve traced picturs with a Wacom tablet and made awesome tracings before. I love doing that. I enjoy going in and tweaking the colors of pictures to give them new color hues. I’ve done a lot of different little tweaks and enjoy just fiddling around. This love has stood the test of time… I’ll always love this kind of pastime. If only I could turn it into a job!
As far as coding, I have no experience and it kind of scares me. However, I am quite versed in using the computer in general terms, and I’m a good learner if given the right tutorials. Any time there’s a computer issue, I look it up in Google and try and find the answer. I’ve enjoyed implementing mods in video games before (I’ve never tried to create any). I’m almost always on my MacBook, so I’m comfortable with that lifestyle.
I’m confident that I can learn coding, however. I learned Photoshop. I’ve come across Lynda and Team Treehouse, and I’m thinking of getting a subscription to Team Treehouse. I don’t know how much time I’ll have to focus on this though since I’m still in college getting that silly degree, and I’m already signed up for undergrad research and I’d like to get an on-campus job.
Whether I’ll like it, however, I don’t know. Right now, I’m more interested strictly in Photoshop, but I have no portfolio, I have no photography skills (I took a class and I was mediocre), and I’m not a fine artist (so I can’t do concept work), and I don’t have a real knack for design (I’ve never taken any lessons in it, however). I’m just a general tweaker and manipulator.
If I could take my love of Photoshop, and combine that with my love of math, basically combining my need for colors and visual feedback with hands on logical work, I think I’d love it. But as I’m unsure how much I’ll enjoy coding, I’d like to have Photoshop be a larger percentage of the job.
So, that brings me back to my question. What would be a good career for me? What can I learn on my own, without going back to college and occurring more debt? I’m smart and interested in the world but I’m very unfocused, and this crisis of not being able to come up with a vision of plan for my future (despite desperately trying for years) has given me significant anxiety and contributed to a lot of depression. I feel like I’ll never find out a path that’s suitable for me that speaks to my many interests, and I’ve been stagnating for the larger part of a decade. I’m desperate to find an answer.
Be warned, I’m going to ramble a bit. This is about a 1500 word post.
The above is the short version. Here’s the full post:
Currently, I’m 26 and a senior in college in the major of Psychology. I’m as old as I am because I’ve never had any direction or the faintest plan of what I want to do with my life. I’ve switched majors multiple times, from undeclared back to graphic design to undeclared and to psychology. I’ve taken a couple of years off to work and just avoid racking up debt in school when I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. At this point, I’m basically stuck in Psychology and that’s what I’m going to graduate in. I chose psychology because I’ve always been an inquisitive “how come?” guy with a fascination with science (as long as it is entertaining and interesting to me) and I’ve always been a combination of a soulful/romantic “big picture” guy seeking a deeper meaning in life, a man of science and explanation, and a person seeking to gain an intimate insight into both myself and other people, both in commonalities and what makes us different. I find it a fascinating idea that my reality is just one perception, and that other’s reality could be different from mine because they have a different mind. Also, I’m a very agreeable, down to earth guy who enjoys helping people (to a point). Over the years I’ve flirted with sociology, anthropology, astronomy, mythology, philosophy, English, and again, psychology. They all interest me.
But basically, I’ve decided that I need to get my head out of the clouds and focus on getting a job in the real world. And none of the above is really practical it seems with only a bachelors, and I don’t have the money, time, or patience to go on and get a Masters or PhD. While I’m interested in psychology, the dry academia of college has kind of beaten the interest out of me a bit and I’m not obsessively fascinated enough to have the vision and determination to succeed in further schooling.
And as we all know, a psychology bachelors degree is kind of worthless. So, here I am, in crisis mode. It seems that college is going to have been for naught, except of course the tool of having that degree, proving to employers that I succeeded in some sort of schooling. Succeeded is a key term, by the way, as I have a 3.59 GPA. As far as skills that are transferable into the real world, besides studying a bit, there’s nothing really that I can show for the money that I’ll be paying back. So, whatever. I’ve got to just graduate.
And so, I’m having to double back on my other skills.
I’ve always been skilled in writing when it comes to word composition and constructing good sentences. But as you can already tell, if you didn’t go “too long, didn’t read”, I have an issue with being verbose and rambling on too long.
Math has also been something that I enjoy, though I’m slow at it. Every math class I’ve ever taken in college, I’ve made an A in. I’ve only taken the algebras and statistics (I have fond memories of both looking back, though at the time they were a bit of a pain because they took so long… but they were relaxing in a “I’m actually getting my hands dirty and making progress on a problem” type of way). I recently took Research Methods and that was enjoyable enough that I signed up to do some undergrad psychology research next semester. I enjoy the aspect of asking a question and doing the computer work and research to find out the answer. Life usually dosen’t have clear answers, and that’s why math is so cool. Two plus two is always four.
Finally, there’s art. My first true love. And the thing I really dropped the ball on because of a lack of confidence (comparing myself to other people, not having the discipline or patience to spend years to get anywhere close to where I would like to be). I don’t even know if you can call it “art”. When I was a kid, I always used to play around on MS Paint. Not really creating stuff in the way that a painter creates things from a blank canvas (although I did love just scribbling around and erasing and scribbling again.) I then started tracing and trying to draw side-by-side cool looking things (such as dragons, dinosaurs, video game characters, movie characters, comic book characters). Eventually I graduated to Photoshop and basically taught myself through tutorials over the years. I was always the kid who made funny photomanipulations for holiday and birthday cards and practicle jokes for family members. I never have gotten to the point where I can create digital art from scratch, in the way that a painter turns a blank canvas into an artpiece. But I just love importing pictures and doing photo manipulations to tweak the picture to my liking.
I’ve cut parts of pictures out before, including people, and put them into new backgrounds. That’s tedious but kind of enjoyable. I’ve tweaked people’s faces and made them look better. That’s always enjoyable. I’ve traced picturs with a Wacom tablet and made awesome tracings before. I love doing that. I enjoy going in and tweaking the colors of pictures to give them new color hues. I’ve done a lot of different little tweaks and enjoy just fiddling around. This love has stood the test of time… I’ll always love this kind of pastime. If only I could turn it into a job!
As far as coding, I have no experience and it kind of scares me. However, I am quite versed in using the computer in general terms, and I’m a good learner if given the right tutorials. Any time there’s a computer issue, I look it up in Google and try and find the answer. I’ve enjoyed implementing mods in video games before (I’ve never tried to create any). I’m almost always on my MacBook, so I’m comfortable with that lifestyle.
I’m confident that I can learn coding, however. I learned Photoshop. I’ve come across Lynda and Team Treehouse, and I’m thinking of getting a subscription to Team Treehouse. I don’t know how much time I’ll have to focus on this though since I’m still in college getting that silly degree, and I’m already signed up for undergrad research and I’d like to get an on-campus job.
Whether I’ll like it, however, I don’t know. Right now, I’m more interested strictly in Photoshop, but I have no portfolio, I have no photography skills (I took a class and I was mediocre), and I’m not a fine artist (so I can’t do concept work), and I don’t have a real knack for design (I’ve never taken any lessons in it, however). I’m just a general tweaker and manipulator.
If I could take my love of Photoshop, and combine that with my love of math, basically combining my need for colors and visual feedback with hands on logical work, I think I’d love it. But as I’m unsure how much I’ll enjoy coding, I’d like to have Photoshop be a larger percentage of the job.
So, that brings me back to my question. What would be a good career for me? What can I learn on my own, without going back to college and occurring more debt? I’m smart and interested in the world but I’m very unfocused, and this crisis of not being able to come up with a vision of plan for my future (despite desperately trying for years) has given me significant anxiety and contributed to a lot of depression. I feel like I’ll never find out a path that’s suitable for me that speaks to my many interests, and I’ve been stagnating for the larger part of a decade. I’m desperate to find an answer.
I started on a similar path as you and currently work with Photoshop in web design. I think the trick is to be really good at it if you want someone to pay you to do it. You will probably use some photoshop in web design, but you will definitely use it in graphic design. Graphic design is hard and you need to be skilled (not talented). Talent is an innate ability. Skill is something you can be taught or teach to yourself. Photoshop, illustrator... whatever adobe is selling... can be learned along with the skill of design. A career in photography would allow for a lot of photo manipulation but it doesn't sound like its something you're really interested in.
Most people who work in photoshop don't create works from scratch. Even the people who do digital painting import 3D models, textures, landscapes, etc. to help with their works. Also most tend to use a different program like Corel with a tablet interface like Wacom. So if digital painting for games like D&D and Magic:The Gathering is what you're into, start doing digital paintings with those tools.
Since you sound apathetic, uninterested, moderately skilled, mildly talented and somewhat lazy I think the perfect job for you would be to do the graphics for a comedy central program like The Daily Show. I wish I was joking, but I'm not. Good luck to you, don't take yourself too seriously.
posted by SamMiller at 1:21 PM on December 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
Most people who work in photoshop don't create works from scratch. Even the people who do digital painting import 3D models, textures, landscapes, etc. to help with their works. Also most tend to use a different program like Corel with a tablet interface like Wacom. So if digital painting for games like D&D and Magic:The Gathering is what you're into, start doing digital paintings with those tools.
Since you sound apathetic, uninterested, moderately skilled, mildly talented and somewhat lazy I think the perfect job for you would be to do the graphics for a comedy central program like The Daily Show. I wish I was joking, but I'm not. Good luck to you, don't take yourself too seriously.
posted by SamMiller at 1:21 PM on December 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
Are you into film at all? I have a job that you may want to look into, digital compositing. It's basically image manipulation similar to photoshop, but at 24 frames a second. You would have to learn new programs, but if you enjoy that sort of thing, it could be fun. Visual effects is so huge in film and tv these days that there are jobs all over the world - it is the sort of job that you have to start at the bottom and work your way up, and is very dependent on your skill and talent as to how well you do. I love it, though!
commonly used programs are Nuke, Flame and Fusion. They re all really amazing - I use both Flame and Fusion, and the cool thing about fusion is that their latest version is available as a free download, so you could try it out and use online tutorials to teach yourself enough to have a chance at an entry-level position. I'm happy to answer questions if you have them.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:24 PM on December 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
commonly used programs are Nuke, Flame and Fusion. They re all really amazing - I use both Flame and Fusion, and the cool thing about fusion is that their latest version is available as a free download, so you could try it out and use online tutorials to teach yourself enough to have a chance at an entry-level position. I'm happy to answer questions if you have them.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:24 PM on December 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
I recommend getting a job that appeals to your analytical side for money, and do art in your spare time.
I was going to suggest Actuarial Science, but I don't think you have the right background for it. You have to be quite a bit of a math genius for it. Husbunny is an Actuary, he sits in a cube and fools around with SQL and Excel all day. Very low stress, and he spends about 25% of his time studying for one of the 9 actuarial exams (he's passed 3 so far.) He's also done Calc, Trig and regression analysis. So...would have been a thought a few years ago, but probably not realistic now.
Rather than learn to code, you might be better served by learning a particular program and becoming an Administrator. I'm a Salesforce.com administrator. I got a job where I learned by doing. It's pretty easy to learn, and we are in high demand. You team that with DEEP Excel skillz and you'll be golden. It's fun because it's formulas and math, but you can also do really pretty things like charts and graphs. With Salesforce, there's also a path, from User, to Admin, to Developer to Architect.
Salesforce is fun and easy. But there are other things to learn, SAP, Oracle, basically, just look at the want ads and look at the programs, do some tutorials on line and see what resonates with you.
There are Photoshop jobs, and they are very competitive to get and don't pay as well as other gigs.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:29 PM on December 31, 2014
I was going to suggest Actuarial Science, but I don't think you have the right background for it. You have to be quite a bit of a math genius for it. Husbunny is an Actuary, he sits in a cube and fools around with SQL and Excel all day. Very low stress, and he spends about 25% of his time studying for one of the 9 actuarial exams (he's passed 3 so far.) He's also done Calc, Trig and regression analysis. So...would have been a thought a few years ago, but probably not realistic now.
Rather than learn to code, you might be better served by learning a particular program and becoming an Administrator. I'm a Salesforce.com administrator. I got a job where I learned by doing. It's pretty easy to learn, and we are in high demand. You team that with DEEP Excel skillz and you'll be golden. It's fun because it's formulas and math, but you can also do really pretty things like charts and graphs. With Salesforce, there's also a path, from User, to Admin, to Developer to Architect.
Salesforce is fun and easy. But there are other things to learn, SAP, Oracle, basically, just look at the want ads and look at the programs, do some tutorials on line and see what resonates with you.
There are Photoshop jobs, and they are very competitive to get and don't pay as well as other gigs.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:29 PM on December 31, 2014
Photoshop is still very much used in web design. But it won't be easy to launch a career in doing cool and lucrative web stuff solely on the basis of your knowledge of the intricacies of that one bit of software. For a start, you'll need strong (and current) graphic design skills - the ability to put together a design (or a series of designs) within the parameters set out by clients and others. Can you quickly knock together five different professional-looking concepts for a website for a quirky startup or an established luxury brand? I've known people who can throw those sorts of things together in an afternoon. Mostly they've been people from a strong design background (art/design schools). And despite skills I couldn't hope to learn in a hundred years, they weren't terribly well paid for what they did.
In a smaller company, you may be expected to be able to slice up a design and render it in clean, minimal (and valid) HTML5 and CSS, ready for developers to use as the basis for a working website. You may even need to know jQuery or another framework to be able to add interactive elements to your designs.
I don't want to put you off - it can be a wonderful career if you can tick all the right boxes. But it can take several years to become the sort of jack-of-all-trades that appeals to a smaller web design firm, and even longer to become an in-demand specialist in one particular tool or technique.
If I were starting again from where you are, I'd probably set aside a lot of spare time to learn as much as possible (and there's a heck of a lot to learn) about the whole web development process. I'd want to keep an open mind - we don't always know what we're going to enjoy. Build yourself a website, just for fun. Learn to write good, clean HTML and understand how CSS enables you to set things out just so. Learn how to replicate your Photoshop design by using borders, backgrounds, transparency, and well-optimised image files. There are lots of little, separate but interrelated skills, and you may find that you enjoy the intricacy and precision of all the little things that go into turning a static image into a working website. It's something that will probably take you a few frustrating months to get a handle on, and a few years to get really good at. It may lead to a career, or it may remain a hobby. Above all, though, you need to have the desire to keep learning new stuff, basically forever.
I got my first job as a developer at 25, by the way, and I was very low in self-confidence - I came from a background in science and teaching, and didn't think I'd measure up. By 29 I was doing really well. I decided I quite liked what I'd seen of web design and development, so I started messing with that in my spare time. By 32 I was working mostly in animation, web-based games and other interactive content. I'm a developer again (and an IT Director!) now, working with databases and web interfaces for things that aren't exactly exciting, as well as writing lots of documents. But it's still fun, and I'm still learning.
posted by pipeski at 1:49 PM on December 31, 2014 [4 favorites]
In a smaller company, you may be expected to be able to slice up a design and render it in clean, minimal (and valid) HTML5 and CSS, ready for developers to use as the basis for a working website. You may even need to know jQuery or another framework to be able to add interactive elements to your designs.
I don't want to put you off - it can be a wonderful career if you can tick all the right boxes. But it can take several years to become the sort of jack-of-all-trades that appeals to a smaller web design firm, and even longer to become an in-demand specialist in one particular tool or technique.
If I were starting again from where you are, I'd probably set aside a lot of spare time to learn as much as possible (and there's a heck of a lot to learn) about the whole web development process. I'd want to keep an open mind - we don't always know what we're going to enjoy. Build yourself a website, just for fun. Learn to write good, clean HTML and understand how CSS enables you to set things out just so. Learn how to replicate your Photoshop design by using borders, backgrounds, transparency, and well-optimised image files. There are lots of little, separate but interrelated skills, and you may find that you enjoy the intricacy and precision of all the little things that go into turning a static image into a working website. It's something that will probably take you a few frustrating months to get a handle on, and a few years to get really good at. It may lead to a career, or it may remain a hobby. Above all, though, you need to have the desire to keep learning new stuff, basically forever.
I got my first job as a developer at 25, by the way, and I was very low in self-confidence - I came from a background in science and teaching, and didn't think I'd measure up. By 29 I was doing really well. I decided I quite liked what I'd seen of web design and development, so I started messing with that in my spare time. By 32 I was working mostly in animation, web-based games and other interactive content. I'm a developer again (and an IT Director!) now, working with databases and web interfaces for things that aren't exactly exciting, as well as writing lots of documents. But it's still fun, and I'm still learning.
posted by pipeski at 1:49 PM on December 31, 2014 [4 favorites]
I feel like I’ll never find out a path that’s suitable for me that speaks to my many interests, and I’ve been stagnating for the larger part of a decade. I’m desperate to find an answer.
The broader answer is to stop expecting that your job will speak to all of your many interests. If you are lucky, you'll light on a job that speaks to ONE of your interests. Most of us make do with that, or even with jobs that simply speak to our *strengths*, regardless of how much we enjoy those strengths.
Or you can think of your path as encompassing more than just your job. It will include the things you do for fun, things you do for maybe some side cash, the relationships and self-care you pursue. And as others have said above, the way our world is set up, the odds are that your love of art will be better served by being on the spare-time side of your path.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:19 PM on December 31, 2014 [6 favorites]
The broader answer is to stop expecting that your job will speak to all of your many interests. If you are lucky, you'll light on a job that speaks to ONE of your interests. Most of us make do with that, or even with jobs that simply speak to our *strengths*, regardless of how much we enjoy those strengths.
Or you can think of your path as encompassing more than just your job. It will include the things you do for fun, things you do for maybe some side cash, the relationships and self-care you pursue. And as others have said above, the way our world is set up, the odds are that your love of art will be better served by being on the spare-time side of your path.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 2:19 PM on December 31, 2014 [6 favorites]
You don't have a useless BA because a BA is not vocational training. You have a college degree, which is not worthless because having one is a requirement for many jobs. Congratulations; well done.
I do not believe you can launch a career on web design on the basis of Photoshop. The one area that can require little to no coding but a lot of PS is UX design and you have no training, experience or portfolio. I think digital compositing is a brilliant idea. But I agree with the advice to stop expecting there is a special snowflake out there waiting for you if you can just find it: it's called work because it isn't fun. It pays bills and puts food on the table.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:42 PM on December 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
I do not believe you can launch a career on web design on the basis of Photoshop. The one area that can require little to no coding but a lot of PS is UX design and you have no training, experience or portfolio. I think digital compositing is a brilliant idea. But I agree with the advice to stop expecting there is a special snowflake out there waiting for you if you can just find it: it's called work because it isn't fun. It pays bills and puts food on the table.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:42 PM on December 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
You say that you have learned Photoshop, but what does that really mean? Did you learn how to use it to create a cohesive visual system?
A designer is somebody who solves visual problems, with whatever tool is necessary.
Even though I have used it for my entire design career, I have always thought Photoshop to be a terrible tool for web design. The grid is static, the type rendering still can't match what you see in the browser, color palettes are unintelligent, the type styles are slow and unintuitive, smart objects can't be shared across documents, there's no multiple page support, and layers get messy fast.
If any of the following sound interesting to you, perhaps web design is worth pursuing:
--Translating a company's visual identity to the web
--Designing for multiple screen sizes
--Building out designs to work across multiple browsers
--Creative concepting for interactive media
Just liking Photoshop is not a good reason to go into web design. If you like visual communication, user experience and interactive problem solving, then go for it, but please find a design school--don't try to learn it all through videos.
posted by oxisos at 2:50 PM on December 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
A designer is somebody who solves visual problems, with whatever tool is necessary.
Even though I have used it for my entire design career, I have always thought Photoshop to be a terrible tool for web design. The grid is static, the type rendering still can't match what you see in the browser, color palettes are unintelligent, the type styles are slow and unintuitive, smart objects can't be shared across documents, there's no multiple page support, and layers get messy fast.
If any of the following sound interesting to you, perhaps web design is worth pursuing:
--Translating a company's visual identity to the web
--Designing for multiple screen sizes
--Building out designs to work across multiple browsers
--Creative concepting for interactive media
Just liking Photoshop is not a good reason to go into web design. If you like visual communication, user experience and interactive problem solving, then go for it, but please find a design school--don't try to learn it all through videos.
posted by oxisos at 2:50 PM on December 31, 2014 [5 favorites]
Art as a career is tough to do unless you have an independent source of support and have been networking your ass off ever since you were 15.
But you like graphics? You like math? You like applying math to graphics? You have interests in seeing things from a new perspective? You have interests in psych, anthro, socio, and other -ologies?
GIS might be something worth looking into.
posted by infinitewindow at 7:32 PM on December 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
But you like graphics? You like math? You like applying math to graphics? You have interests in seeing things from a new perspective? You have interests in psych, anthro, socio, and other -ologies?
GIS might be something worth looking into.
posted by infinitewindow at 7:32 PM on December 31, 2014 [2 favorites]
You might want to look for ways to use your knowledge of statistics and the experience you'll gain from your undergraduate research in a business setting. You say you're good at picking up software. Are you good at teaching people, or interviewing them one-on-one? Would you be interested in understanding the ways people interact with technology? Would you be interested in training others how to use technology?
posted by yarntheory at 7:45 PM on December 31, 2014
posted by yarntheory at 7:45 PM on December 31, 2014
"The one area that can require little to no coding but a lot of PS is UX design and you have no training, experience or portfolio. "
I've been in UX since the late 90s. I haven't used Photoshop for work since the early 2000s. UX work these days mostly trends toward rapidly iterated, low-fidelity prototypes. None of my colleagues in web agencies or in-house positions use Photoshop. Psychology and anthropology are actually more of an appropriate background for UX work.
OP: I think it's a terrible plan to try to choose a career based on pretty limited knowledge of one software product. Do you know the product roadmap for Photoshop? Will it still be around in 10 years? The tool is not the work. A hammer isn't building a house.
Here's the thing: With a liberal arts degree and some moderate graphic editing skills, you're qualified for lots of entry- level office jobs like editorial assistant, communications associate, etc. In this job market, you should probably widen your options and apply for everything that looks mildly interesting to you. But you'll need a story to be a good interview candidate. "I like Photoshop" is not a good story; I wouldn't hire someone who told me that.
I would, however, hire some who had a story like "I'm new to the working world and don't have a long-term plan yet. For years I've been interested in human behavior, particularly cognitive science. Lately I've been studying how small tweaks in the labeling and placement of controls in airplane cockpit design can make the difference between high and low air crash survival rates. I don't have an extensive portfolio, but here's a personal project I did where I refactored and relabeled some controls in an Airbus 330 cockpit based on NTSB findings and the studies of Joe Blow, a human factors psychologist."
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:03 AM on January 1, 2015 [6 favorites]
I've been in UX since the late 90s. I haven't used Photoshop for work since the early 2000s. UX work these days mostly trends toward rapidly iterated, low-fidelity prototypes. None of my colleagues in web agencies or in-house positions use Photoshop. Psychology and anthropology are actually more of an appropriate background for UX work.
OP: I think it's a terrible plan to try to choose a career based on pretty limited knowledge of one software product. Do you know the product roadmap for Photoshop? Will it still be around in 10 years? The tool is not the work. A hammer isn't building a house.
Here's the thing: With a liberal arts degree and some moderate graphic editing skills, you're qualified for lots of entry- level office jobs like editorial assistant, communications associate, etc. In this job market, you should probably widen your options and apply for everything that looks mildly interesting to you. But you'll need a story to be a good interview candidate. "I like Photoshop" is not a good story; I wouldn't hire someone who told me that.
I would, however, hire some who had a story like "I'm new to the working world and don't have a long-term plan yet. For years I've been interested in human behavior, particularly cognitive science. Lately I've been studying how small tweaks in the labeling and placement of controls in airplane cockpit design can make the difference between high and low air crash survival rates. I don't have an extensive portfolio, but here's a personal project I did where I refactored and relabeled some controls in an Airbus 330 cockpit based on NTSB findings and the studies of Joe Blow, a human factors psychologist."
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 5:03 AM on January 1, 2015 [6 favorites]
You might also look into the job of User Experience Researcher.
posted by DarlingBri at 9:40 AM on January 1, 2015
posted by DarlingBri at 9:40 AM on January 1, 2015
Also came in here to recommend UX or UX researcher based on your background.
posted by raw sugar at 3:42 PM on January 1, 2015
posted by raw sugar at 3:42 PM on January 1, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by michaelh at 1:03 PM on December 31, 2014 [2 favorites]