College advice, decisions, decisions.

Hey everyone,

I need some opinions about what I might do. I know it's my life and I should do what I feel is best, but right now I'm a little stuck, because I want to go in two directions.

I'm trying to get into college, I took way to long to make a decision about weather or not I should go to college, since I graduated in 2004. I feel it's been way too long of a wait. I finally made the right choice, I am going to go. But, I cannot decide what I'm doing.

I've been into the IT field for quite some time, but, I've also been in the design field nearly the same amount of time. I have been more serious about graphics design this last couple years. And I decided I'd like to finish my education.
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So the reason I'm having a problem deciding what to do is because of last weekend. I had an interview at the Art Institute of Indianapolis. The whole process was to make sure the school was fit for me, and that I was fit for the school. If I showed potential to excel. Well, I did, I impressed them with my portfolio etc. They really talked highly about it and about me, it was rather flattering. Anyways, I'm pretty much in, and it was pretty exciting. There was allot of information to go over and to cram into my slow head.

I told them, I'd like to think about it over the rest of the weekend, that was Saturday. So that night, my lady friend and I were talking about it (she was there with me). She made a valid point, and it got me thinking. She mentioned IT, she said she had always thought I was more of an IT guy, which to a certain extent I agree. I love networking, and I love getting down and dirty with hardware, and tweaking the heck out of linux etc. But, here lately I just haven't been feeling it much, I have gotten a little bored with it. It still interests me allot though, I mean, I'll never ever be able to not tweak and read each issue of 2600, but I don't know if I should pursue a degree in it. I have CCNA training and A+ under my belt along with MCSE, a bit of network security +. I just never took the test's to get the certifications. The reason for doing that was because I can't find or hold a job (around here) long enough to fund the purchase of the cert tests, even with the discounts I get from Cisco.

I originally was going to try to double major, I thought about getting back into school last year, but I decided against it. And now I'm all ready to go back and get a degree. I found 1 thing I wanted to do, but then I was reminded about IT, so basically I'm in a little pickle, I want to do both, but I want to get a good education as well. Some of the places I looked around here don't offer the amount of information and classes that the AI has, as far as in the design field. Others have decent IT related classes.

I really enjoy being a graphics designer, and I do enjoy web development too. I really wouldn't mind pursuing a full time career in graphics, since the kind of source of income at the moment, freelance. I also wouldn't mind a full time career in IT, but I need a little insight from those of you that do the same thing as me. I know some of you are pretty hardcore geeks and designers too. Should I try to double major? or pursue IT / design?

And I know allot of you are already in collage going through the design courses, some of you might have been to the AI of IN.

What are your thoughts? How do you feel about your design classes? Do you enjoy it?

Thanks !

it sounds like you honestly love both graphic design and IT so why not do both!!!! double majors are brutal and also finding a great design school that has a great IT school in it is going to be very difficult, so if i were you i'd go get a degree in either IT or Graphic Design. and then once you graduate start taking classes in the other.

If i were you i'd go for the IT degree first for job stability and while you are working take night classes year round to get your design degree and then do everything that you love. or find a way to incorporate IT and Design into one application and i think you would have a great little niche market you can begin to develop

-chris

I think coach z has a real good point here. You get the job stability of being an IT and at night you could get your design degree. Thats sounds like the way to go.

Okay, here's my two cents, as I was faced with the same choice.

I worked in IT for years. I kept losing my job in IT because all the companies I worked for found it cheaper to outsource and offshore the work.
I also worked in the same places as people who paid thousands of dollars on certifications and degrees in IT and I made the exact same money as they did.
I have no degrees or certifications for IT.

I just graduated with a degree in Multimedia/Graphic Design. I decided to go back to school a few years ago because I felt that IT was too unstable a field to stay in.
Design requires that "human" element. It requires that face to face, person to person contact that IT can do fine without. You can't design over the phone, you can't always telecommute with design.... you simply need to be there to design effectively. You need to visit with the client, you need to see where they are, you need to experience things firsthand.

This isn't to say that some outfits won't outsource their design needs, but the likelihood of a design job being outsourced is virtually nonexistent when compared to an IT job.

SO.... I would nix the idea of going for IT if I were you. The market doesn't offer enough job security. Concentrate on the design field. You will do much better for yourself if you do.

D3v1L80Y said:

Okay, here's my two cents, as I was faced with the same choice.

I worked in IT for years. I kept losing my job in IT because all the companies I worked for found it cheaper to outsource and offshore the work.
I also worked in the same places as people who paid thousands of dollars on certifications and degrees in IT and I made the exact same money as they did.
I have no degrees or certifications for IT.

I just graduated with a degree in Multimedia/Graphic Design. I decided to go back to school a few years ago because I felt that IT was too unstable a field to stay in.
Design requires that "human" element. It requires that face to face, person to person contact that IT can do fine without. You can't design over the phone, you can't always telecommute with design.... you simply need to be there to design effectively. You need to visit with the client, you need to see where they are, you need to experience things firsthand.

This isn't to say that some outfits won't outsource their design needs, but the likelihood of a design job being outsourced is virtually nonexistent when compared to an IT job.

SO.... I would nix the idea of going for IT if I were you. The market doesn't offer enough job security. Concentrate on the design field. You will do much better for yourself if you do.

Click to expand...

That's something I thought about, I've had that same experience several times, and it does suck bad. I've been let go about 3 times due to the same thing you mentioned. I think that's one of the reasons why I put the whole IT education on the burner.

Thanks for your input so far guy's. I really appreciate it!

D3v1L80Y said:

Okay, here's my two cents, as I was faced with the same choice.

I worked in IT for years. I kept losing my job in IT because all the companies I worked for found it cheaper to outsource and offshore the work.
I also worked in the same places as people who paid thousands of dollars on certifications and degrees in IT and I made the exact same money as they did.
I have no degrees or certifications for IT.

I just graduated with a degree in Multimedia/Graphic Design. I decided to go back to school a few years ago because I felt that IT was too unstable a field to stay in.
Design requires that "human" element. It requires that face to face, person to person contact that IT can do fine without. You can't design over the phone, you can't always telecommute with design.... you simply need to be there to design effectively. You need to visit with the client, you need to see where they are, you need to experience things firsthand.

This isn't to say that some outfits won't outsource their design needs, but the likelihood of a design job being outsourced is virtually nonexistent when compared to an IT job.

SO.... I would nix the idea of going for IT if I were you. The market doesn't offer enough job security. Concentrate on the design field. You will do much better for yourself if you do.

Click to expand...

+1 my old roommate got a degree in IT, with certs from Cisco, MCSE, the whole 9 yards. That was about 2-3 years ago, and he's still working at the same place he was while he was in school (which has nothing to do with IT) simply because he can't find a good enough opportunity in the IT market.

In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, the "IT Train" came through the station about 5-6 years ago, and it's way on down the tracks. It won't be booming or saturated with opportunities again until all the people currently employed in the field start to retire around the same time, about 25-30 years from now.

My advice, do what you want to do most, take a couple free career assesment tests online. They'll give you free, albeit, partial results but they're broken down by category and would give you an idea whether creative or technical fields would be best. I just took one myself at livecareer.com (enter some basic info, and just decline the offers..), and it literally changed my outlook on my career. I have a great job right now that I hate doing. I'm re-enrolling in college next semester to get a different degree just so I don't have to be miserable the rest of my life.

Bottom line, you need to think long and hard about which field you want to be in for the rest of your life. You're much more likely to be successful doing something you like rather than something you chose for the <convenience, prospects, money, etc.> and don't listen to what other people tell you, because no one else knows what you want to do.

[/diatribe]

I think if you were to get a degree in Graphic Design, you could almost do anything with the different software out there. Page layouts, web, graphics, printing..it's all there and I'm sure you'll touch on a little bit of all of it going into design.

Like most of the others had said, I believe there would be a lack of stability in the IT department. I know what your going through. I went to Art Institute in Schaumburg (near Chicago) and went through Media Arts & Animation, then decided to switch to Game Art & Design because I lacked in the 2D drawing department. Needless to say same thing happened in the Game Design major so I finally realized I wanted to do Multimedia and Web Design, well guess what, apparently you can only switch your major ONE TIME at the Art Institute. That really upset me so I have somewhat of a "grudge" I guess you could call it about the Art Institutes. They messed up 2 years of my life since absolutely NO CREDITS TRANSFERRED! The only thing I gained out of those years was the experience of living in the city and meeting new friends, which I am grateful for. I also seem to know a bit more about the elements of design rather than most people in my major at a regular university.

I still have one year and a semester to go till I graduate, and I still planning on getting an Associates and a certificate in Graphic/Web design. My vote is to get the degree from the Art Institute, and if you feel you want the IT degree also, there's no stopping you!

D3v1L80Y said:

Okay, here's my two cents, as I was faced with the same choice.

I worked in IT for years. I kept losing my job in IT because all the companies I worked for found it cheaper to outsource and offshore the work.
I also worked in the same places as people who paid thousands of dollars on certifications and degrees in IT and I made the exact same money as they did.
I have no degrees or certifications for IT.

I just graduated with a degree in Multimedia/Graphic Design. I decided to go back to school a few years ago because I felt that IT was too unstable a field to stay in.
Design requires that "human" element. It requires that face to face, person to person contact that IT can do fine without. You can't design over the phone, you can't always telecommute with design.... you simply need to be there to design effectively. You need to visit with the client, you need to see where they are, you need to experience things firsthand.

This isn't to say that some outfits won't outsource their design needs, but the likelihood of a design job being outsourced is virtually nonexistent when compared to an IT job.

SO.... I would nix the idea of going for IT if I were you. The market doesn't offer enough job security. Concentrate on the design field. You will do much better for yourself if you do.

Click to expand...

Strictly looking at this as a bystander, I think this is excellent advice. I know people who work in both fields, and the designers seem significantly happier than the IT folks do. You may like tweaking and tuning computers, but most companies are not going to pay to do that. They are going to pay you to setup remote network pushes, replace bad parts on users computers, implement mindless corporate network philosophy and listen to customers who hate the company "IT Nazi's" with a passion. Nowadays, IT is just another job.....

I'm sort of in your position, but not really.

I just graduated high school and next year I'm going to Oregon State to study Computer Science. I'm not sure what track I'd like to take yet so I'm just starting off on the "basic" Computer Science track. I used to love graphic/web design (~2 years ago) then took a Cisco Networking class at school and really loved the "techie-ness" of it. I really don't know what I want to do...I never really got into the whole programming deal (C/C+/Java, etc.) but obviously I'll need to for school. I'd really like to do graphic/web design and photography for my entire life but I don't know how abundant/reliable those kinds of jobs are. It seems like it'd be hard to have a permanent position as a graphic/web designer unless you worked for a Graphic firm where you worked for them on customer's projects.

I really think you should to IT/Computer Science at a reputable university, maybe work 15 or so hours a week as spending money and take out loans if you need them...try for grants too, those are always nice!

Good luck on your journey.