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The grass is always greener! :-D I smile because I left commercial art back in the 80's to become a software developer! More power to Laim and I hope it works
by eludwig 4y ago
The grass is always greener! :-D
I smile because I left commercial art back in the 80's to become a software developer!
More power to Laim and I hope it works out well for him, but I have my doubts. Working as a full-time (especially on-staff) artist answerable to an Art Director sucks!! Artists are not respected, paid terribly and just generally considered disposable. At least that's how it was in my day.
Again, Liam, go for it, but keep your eyes open going into it! Some things are better left as hobbies (which I do not consider a dirty word)!
- JKCalhoun 4y agoI stood at a fork in the road, so to speak, when I was kicked out of the house and had to decide whether to pursue art or tech (I enjoyed both). It was clear to me tech would pay the bills — the art I could do in my spare time. Retired (am I?) now, I can do all the art I want.
- canpan 4y agoThis is the way I plan to go! I love coding and I have my own dream projects. My plan is to earn enough to be independent and follow my dreams. Not retired yet, but collected some nest egg. Since then, I stress less, only work on what I find interesting and speak up when I want to. Funny part: I only got raises faster this way.
- kinleyd 4y agoIt's a risk/reward thing. Some people go all in with their passion first, consequences be damned, and it pays off. Others, I think the larger portion, aren't so lucky. Conventional wisdom is to take the safe job first, and then go from there - the risk here is never getting out of that rut. It's a hard decision, but being really focused on defining and attaining what independence is for you, is the key to taking that safe job first. My 2c.
- dinosaurdynasty 4y agoBeing in a rut is better than being homeless.
- kinleyd 4y agoWithout a shadow of a doubt.
- 6stringmerc 4y agoAlso I have been able to pawn or sell extra guitars acquired when works was better. Art tools can retain some value.
- kinleyd 4y agoI hear you. In my case I was finally able to get to music late (past 50). I'm so grateful I was around long enough to do that. It does not pay any bills, but it gives me much happiness, even though the guitar playing is subpar.
- 6stringmerc 4y agoDon’t worry guitar is an awful instrument in design and worse than learning German. Enjoy the ride, the quirks, and all the fun songs along the way. Nothing like Tom Petty to make a whole room feel great!
- kinleyd 4y agoWell said, indeed! I am in fact working my way through some Dylan, Neil Young and Tom Petty, among others. I simply Won't Back Down. ;)
- pacija 4y agoFor me, "following the dream" is a failed concept. It means I know what I want, which might look true but it isn't. Currently I try not to dream. I try to be awake, and open to whatever comes my way. Some things that come to me I never dreamed of, and they are much better than anything I could imagine.
- JKCalhoun 4y agoAn interesting philosophy I have seen in others but find myself unable to embrace. I have friends I admire that are more like a leaf on a stream. I suppose by the same analogy I feel more inclined to be the salmon lest the stream take me to some stagnant pool.
- Aromasin 4y agoIf we're going on analogies, I'd be a crayfish. Happy to go as the river takes me, but I'll migrate if pickings become scarce. Avionics took me far until COVID. When the weather got stormy I was quite happy to jump ship.
- tjr225 4y agoThe problem is that by the time you are retired you are most likely so unplugged from the cultural zeitgeist that fuels art that you can’t possibly be good at it. You can’t possibly create anything meaningful that would speak to people who really consume art, because those people are young. They’re a few examples of outsiders who buck this trend but it’s a little presumptuous to think you’re as good as them. So now you do “art.”
- freetime2 4y agoI think this is a very narrow view of what art is, who can partake, and what it means to be good at it.
- tjr225 4y agoI don’t care.
- EdwardDiego 4y ago"Presumptuous" is (nevermind the unfairness) far less concerning compared to the arrogance that speaking on behalf of the entire art world and/or zeitgeist entails.
- tjr225 4y agoI try not to be presumptuous- as I honestly have no idea what art is because I’m too old to keep up- so maybe you can give me some examples that buck the trend? If not I’ll just assume you’re offended because you’re old. And honestly, if you think art is as easy as retiring and doing it; you deserve to be assumed to be presumptuous. You have a lot to prove and nothing to lose. Suck it up. Prove yourself or deal with mediocrity. Or worse, you’re just pretending.
- EdwardDiego 4y agoSo if you have no idea what art is because you're too old, why do you presume you can gate-keep art for others? > I’ll just assume you’re offended because you’re old. I very strongly suspect I'm younger than you. And I've no personal interest in artistic pursuits, to be explicit. The only reason I took offence was that you were, in short, acting offensively. Even shorter - you were an asshole. In the longer - you were telling people who wanted to pursue art that they were presumptuous for daring to do so because they weren't the right age in your opinion. That far exceeds presumption and veers directly into arrogance, as I mentioned earlier. > Prove yourself or deal with mediocrity We are nearly all, in the scheme of things, mediocre. That's just how normal distributions work. But, you don't have to shit in someone else's Weetbix just because you're feeling your age and Scrooge's "Bah humbug" makes more sense than ever. Just stick to yelling at those damn kids to get off your damn lawn.
- mushbino 4y agoHe could just move to Product Design for half the pay of a swe and the same treatment as a production artist. Worst of both worlds.
- goldenchrome 4y agoHigh tech pays designers the same as engineers and in my opinion it’s a much better gig. No one’s looking over your shoulder to see how many lines of code you commit.
- mushbino 4y agoAt a FAANG, a Product Design IC can make up to around $350k/yr. A SWE can regularly make $1M/yr. My BiL is an eng manager and he makes a little over that. One thing I've noticed is that most engineers seem to be relatively happy and stay at places longer. Most designers seem to be miserable. Just my 2¢, but having hard, understood metrics can be easier in many ways vs much more nebulous things that can be hard to quantify. That kind of turns into more of a popularity contest.
- gatane 4y agoNot so long time ago, there was this man who loved to make barbecues. At weekends, he loved cooking, preparing and eating the food with friends. He would talk about the best temperature, the best meat, salsas, and lots of other technical data. One day, a butcher from a local store joined the barbecue: - Hey, you are pretty good! Would you like to leave your current job and work for our store? We have special discounts for workers, and the job is good. The man thinked twice before answering...You are that man. Some choose Yes without hesitation. Others say No. - No thanks, its just a hobby for me.
- 6stringmerc 4y agoGreat example - this is why I stayed 100% in music. Even a fringe artist like Grimes claimed to have problems with her well respected label over creative issues. None of those problems for me.
- kstenerud 4y agoThe beauty of a hobby is that nobody has the leverage to make you compromise, or perform when you don't want to.