[QUOTE=flaneur;12264]Hello,
I’m not a technical artist, nor am I a student in a university. I’m a college dropout working in a grocery store. I do, however, like to learn and explore. I’ve spent the past few years exploring the US as a homeless vagrant. I’ve only recently settled into a stable job & living situation, so now I’m in the process of figuring out what I want to do based on my skills and interests (grocery store is not a good fit).
At my last school I tried to create my own major in psychology & art. No one wanted to sign off on it, so I then majored in cognitive science and took courses in math, programming, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and anthropology until I ran out of money and had to leave. I was also an art major for one semester.
I’m currently enrolled in online courses at a community college in order to transfer to SF State, but I’m not satisfied with my courses and have doubts about whether or not a degree is worth my time. What’s more gratifying is learning on my own. I’ve been relearning math, physics, and programming via MIT OCW. Not only do I learn what I want at my own pace (usually faster than in-school pace), but I seem to be retaining more of it. Still, a degree has it’s uses, not the least of which is collecting pell grant money as you pursue it, or emigrating to another country.
So, I’m basically here to soak up all the information available and to see if it’s a good fit for me. One pressing need at the moment is to find a low-level job in the industry, so that all the information I soak up on-the-job is relevant to my career aspirations. I tend to learn a lot and get very involved in things, regardless of whether or not it was my original intention. My current job has led me to becoming very knowledgeable and obsessive about food… Not sure if this is good or bad.
I’ve been told that QA testing might be a place to start. If anyone knows of any specific places to look or specific opportunities in the Bay Area, then please share.[/QUOTE]
there’s a lot of info out there for getting a start in the industry. my personal opinion would be that using qa as a launchpad in the industry is a crapshoot. some places consider qa as disposable and you will rarely interact with devs (which is how you would get your foot in the door). i think the qa to dev transition days are mostly numbered. it is also related to what your desired position is. transitioning from qa to concept artist is unlikely, but transitioning from qa to producer or designer seems more feasible (most of the people i know who have come from qa do one of those things).
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