Job Research

I've been searching the web as well as job finding websites for jobs in animation, looking at the requirements and I've quickly noticed that the majority of them require experience in animation or a wide range of software. It's strange to me that these companies not only ask for experience in animation software but a range of special effect and video editing software.

A lot of the jobs that interest me the most require 2+ years of experience but there are some jobs I found which either ask for some skills which are not animation related which I do have some understanding of. There are also some trainee jobs I have found which seems to require nothing else but experience with 3D animation software as well as enthusiasm.

After researching these jobs and reading what they require of someone who wants to be an animator I've come to realise I most likely won't gain enough of these skills directly after Uni is over.

This took quite a bit of pressure off of me since I'll be able to spend some time building up a portfolio in my own time after uni is over. But as for now I can spend less time worrying and more time working on my final project.

Here are some of the jobs I'd been looking at:

3D Animator at bigbluebubble in London

http://jobs.techalliance.ca/job/big-blue-bubble-london-ontario-2-3d-animator/

This job asks for animators for mobile games and experience in rigging and animating full-body humanoid characters which is just what I was wanting to do. It also asks of me that I have a knowledge of the game development process as well as experience in photoshop and 3DS Max all of which I have been learning and using during my time at Uni. When it comes to the animation it asks of me that I have experience in 3D animation as well as to have the ability to create seamless animation loops both things I have done for assignments during my second year.

Trainee Animator at SEGA - Horsham

http://careers.sega.co.uk/careers/creative-assembly/trainee-animator?source=Indeed.com

This is a trainee position and there are far less requirements as well as the requirements mentioned are very vague. The skills mentioned I'm pretty sure I acquired during my first semester of my second year.

I think I should take the time to look into Maya since so many jobs seem to have using Maya as one of their requirements. Hopefully some of the skills I've learned using 3DS Max will also apply to Maya.