Does schooling matter in CG?

Over the last 9 years I’ve asked myself this question many times over and over again as I spent countless hours self-teaching the craft I’m involved in professionally today. Even as recently as last month, (at the time of writing) I still wondered if I made the right decision back at that crucial pivotal point in my life. Numerous times I’ve seen many questions and lengthy forum discussions debated over this fact, Should I teach myself? Should I go to school? If I decide to go to school how can I afford it? And on and on, and although I’ve participated in quite a few of them, I didn’t feel the sting of my decisions until recently.

The short answer to this question is no, but the long answer is yes; what I’ve found is that schooling weighs greatly in this field the older and more experienced you become, funny how that works. I would like to share a story with you, and maybe you can gain some insight from it as you progress through this long journey that is CG.

For the past 6 yrs I’ve been heavily involved (professionally) in this industry, from running the popular CGTalk (now CGSociety) website in my earlier years, to hopping around a handful of studios based in Toronto. This was and still is a great thing, since it has helped me to grow very quickly as an artist as I adopted many different studio philosophies and pipelines and gained some great friendships and contacts along the way.

Over the last few months I wanted to spread my wings a bit and try some new venues within the industry, be it big budget live action VFX films or more so gaming (the industry that started me on this road). I knew at the time I was seeking this; I would have to branch my search out of Toronto. My wife and I had looked at many cities in Canada, which were mainly in Vancouver and Montreal, and although these cities housed some of the most innovative studios this side of the hemisphere, we eventually adjusted our direction stateside for some varied reasons.

Making the move stateside

It wasn’t until my wife and I made the final decision to go stateside that I was turned down time and time again, even though I had varied experience within the industry, most times matching some of my colleagues whom were accepted before me, I obviously began to wonder why. Apparently all of this didn’t matter when it came down to the fine details which allow foreign artists to work abroad in the U.S and elsewhere I assume. Education… the one thing I knew then but couldn’t act on finally caught up with me. Education is one of those funny paradoxes in this field, as long as I was in Canada, my portfolio can greatly pull the weight of me landing a job (thankfully) across provinces, but when approaching stateside studios the shoe goes on the other foot and it quickly becomes very awkward. You see large studios and especially smaller studios have quite a difficult time recruiting foreign talent based on mind numbing policies revolving around work visas, and especially H-1B visas. And without proper education or an immense amount of work experience (3 years for every 1yr of a diploma program), most studios can’t consider you, as this unfortunately for me is the law. But I do understand why it’s in place.

So what happens now?

Do I sit back on my laurels and wallow in self pity? Knowing full well that doors have been closed for me stateside due to lack of a formal education? Not a chance! I don’t regret my decisions and honestly, I don’t believe I ever will, I chalk that up as experience and continue forward, it’s unfortunate yes, but there’s no time to back peddle in this industry. I pride myself everyday for what I have accomplished in this industry when most would say I had no real chance. And although I still have some major ground to catch up on, I’m still not deterred, as this is the industry I plan to be in for life. It may take a bit longer than I hoped, but you know what they say to those who wait.

So my advice to those considering a career in this field, be it art, programming, sound design etc, it is in your best interest to seek out a formal education with a reputable college or University to make sure all your bases are covered, because dependant on a majority of the well known studios, it just might be the requirement that gets your foot in the door.

Tito A. Belgrave