No Career Center and Job Fair at Siggraph 03

[mikewebb]

Noooooooo! That's one of the main reasons I would go!!!!

Mike

[roger]

I think it was a lot of peoples reasons on going to Sigg.......:hmm:

[mikewebb]

Not having a network of old animation school buds to query about job opportunities is a bummer. (I have been out of school for over 10 years and I didn't go to an animation school.) Now, no job board or job fair at Siggraph really sucks. :annoyed: I was counting on Siggraph to make connections and, I have been really pushing this year to improve my demo reel to that end.

I guess CgTalk is my only industry connection now.:)

Bye Siggraph, hope this isn’t forever. :hmm:

I hope someone is reading this.

Bad idea:wip:

Mike

[RobertoOrtiz]

SIGGRAPH has always catered to all in the talent pool in the CG field.


To now eliminate to key areas that are directed to people who are still "not well connected" it is a huge mistake.

-Roberto
:thumbsdow

[beaker]

Not having the carrer center is no big loss. It was lousy the last couple years. Looked like a bunch of frothing dogs running around. 10-20 companies looking for 5-10 people and 3000 students running around with their heads chopped off. Half the companies were just like "were not hiring right now, but we still want to see your stuff." Definatly a waste of time in my opinion.

The carrer center was a usefull service. Hopefully they still atleast have the boards for putting up resume and job postings. Then people can just run by the hotel rooms and drop off tapes.

[RobertoOrtiz]

Is it true that they will also eliminate the Internet room?
The rumors I heard is that they wanted to only have a few Internet kiosks spread through the conference.


Talk about a bad idea.

[fig]

well, keep in mind that not having a "job fair" doesn't mean studios won't be recruiting. just go to booths and functions and meet folks, you'd be surprised at who you might run into, and if you're willing to do a bit of footwork you'll prob have a lot better luck then slapping your resume up on an already crammed bulletin board...

chris

[dmeyer]

Keep in mind too that the reason quoted was not that the SIGGRAPH organizers necessarily wanted to cancel it, but that there just wasn't enough interested recruiters to warrant it. Whats the point of having if if there are only 5 companies there? Then you have those 3000 students fighting over even fewer companieis...

[mikewebb]

The career center was a useful service. Hopefully they still at least have the boards for putting up resume and job postings. Then people can just run by the hotel rooms and drop off tapes. - Beaker

Does anyone know if thiey might be considering this? If they still have a job board to post resumes, I might reconsider attending.

I would like to see it more of a self-serve board. I could post several copies of my resume and business card on the board for the taking. Likewise a company, like Beaker said, could post a job and give a hotel room or booth number to collect material.

I always thought Siggraph's demo reel distribution method was problematic. It could have kept smaller companies from getting reels because of the cost. That hurts the companies and me because I couldn't get my reel to the people that could use it. In these hard times people looking for jobs need all the help they can get!

Siggraph, at least bring back a job board!

Mike

[Dragon]

Putting a cost on the service also protects you. Otherwise everybody could grab a copy of your reel, which could ending up costing you a buttload of cash. This way only people who are serious about it can get your reel.
With that said... the job fair is mainly impulse shopping anyway, not to mention the lines are rediculous just to drop off a tape. Send out your tapes to the companies you're really aiming at and let them know that you'll be attending Siggraph this year... chances are (if your stuff is good) that you'll line up a handfull of interviews before you even step foot in San Diego.

[mikewebb]

Dragon,

Good points.

Actually Siggraph is such an opportunity to network, it would be silly not to attend. I just think the job board is a tradition and should remain in some form. It was very disappointing to here the news.

Sending out reels and having them disregarded by some non-artistic individual in HR because I don't have exactly 2.75 years industry experience in developing 3 legged dog animations, seem a waste of money too.

Sorry about the rant but the, "only hiring within the specific industry for specific skills" notion is getting a little ridiculous. Talented people should be able to change careers, right? This is part of my problem of not being connected to people in the industry.

At least with the job board, I could post pictures along with my business card and resume, and get people (artist and art directors) to notice me and my stuff. If they want a copy of my demo reel they have a way to get a hold of me. I could then regulate whom it goes to and keep cost down. And, I would have a name to send the reel to as opposed to...
HR.:wip:

I know I am simplifying this but it gets frustrating trying to get noticed.

Mike:D

[unsane1]

While I don't discount the minimal impact of the loss of the job fair, I am very disappointed in the loss of the papers section. I normally found a lot of good takeaway information in that portion of the conference that I was able to digest at my leisure, and proved very helpful.

While I understand that they may want to review it and bring it back, I find it a significant chunk of the program. As such, I have to honestly state that the conference is no longer worth the same amount of money to me that it was previously.

I'm very disappointed in SIGGRAPH citing the economy as a factor in limiting the scope of the show, but then not following through and matching the decrease in conference material with a decrease in price, it turns out that they have actually INCREASED all of the prices. I would urge everyone to let the conference chair know of their disappointment if they agree with me.

:thumbsdow

[mikewebb]

Papers are still there. Roger's link tells whats different and the papers' starting day has been changed to I believe, Monday.

edit: Panels are taking a year off.

Mike

[mikewebb]

Siggraph must have lost a boat load of money last year in Texas.

Hope this year is better! Nearer to LA

Mike

[beaker]

Originally posted by unsane1
I'm very disappointed in SIGGRAPH citing the economy as a factor in limiting the scope of the show, but then not following through and matching the decrease in conference material with a decrease in price, it turns out that they have actually INCREASED all of the prices. I would urge everyone to let the conference chair know of their disappointment if they agree with me.

There are many things that have forced siggraph to go this route and cut many functions and raise the prices. There is not going to be much of a change unless you happend to have a couple extra million that you can donate to them. Last year siggraph only got 17,000 people in texas Normally they get 30-35k people when it is not in LA(35-45k in LA). That is half the people they normally get which depleted all their money in the bank they had saved.

Half the technology conferences in 2002 either went bankrupt or were cancelled. Key3media the company that does Comdex, Seybold and a bunch of other conferences might be filing for chapter 11. I would be glad that siggraph was not one of them.

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-965859.html

[Ckerr812]

So true beaker,

But in texas, in the middle of summer, WAY to hot for this canuck. I'll be going to the one this year for sure, I have never been to california before :)

Should be fun, but it's a shame about all the conventions going out of buisness, I guess having a siggraph membership really does help out the industry. more people at cgtalk should get one for sure :)

[roger]

I am the one who posted the "No Career Center and Job Fair" but I still went and booked my hotel last night. I did not go to Sigg last year so I really wanted to go this year.
I am not really looking for work right now......because I am already working, but the best time to look for a job is when you already have a job! :)

[Yan Loong Wong]

i was at Siggraph 2001, and found the career center quite useless. I don't think Siggraph is the best place where u go look for jobs. The best chance is probably to send your reel to the companies months ahead, and then schedule an interview at siggraph. It's hard to convince any company to sit down with a stranger and look at their reel/resume for the first time, since there's so many of them waiting in line.

-yan

[Titus]

Originally posted by mikewebb
Siggraph must have lost a boat load of money last year in Texas.


Yes, more than 2 million dollars.

[malducin]

Well I must agree with others, like beaker, in saying that the Job Fair and Career Center should never be the main reason to go to SIGGRAPH. It's more about the experience, the community, learning and sharing, checking the new toys, the parties, etc.

As far as the changes once SIGGRAPH goes on the black they'll probably bring stuff back again. The Panels waiver is just one year for the moment. Since 2004 is LA it'll probably have a Career Center.

Besides for hiring there are a lot more opportunities at SIGGRAPH, like the Exhibition Floor, all the user group meetings and of course all the networking. If anything all networking depends on you, not the presence of the Career Center. Talk to people at the Reception or Exhibition Floor, or after persentations. People usually exchange lots of cards and sometime tapes like that.

About the Internet room, well they are still planning on doing the GraphicsNet thing which is the backbone. Or maybe they'll mostly do wireless?

[beaker]

Originally posted by malducin
As far as the changes once SIGGRAPH goes on the black they'll probably bring stuff back again. The Panels waiver is just one year for the moment. Since 2004 is LA it'll probably have a Career Center.

The nice thing about being in LA is that the city gives siggraph the convention center for only $1. In San Diego they have to pay the full rental fee(which I am sure is quite expensive since SD is such a nice city and a very popular tourist spot).

Siggraph still is very important for jobs. I just didnt think the Job Fair was all that great. The carrer center and the job board is still pretty important. It just allows you to meet with people during their time and it allows employers to screen through a huge amount of resume's and reels in a short period of time.

[unsane1]

Yup, I posted that and then had a feeling that I had mistaken the papers for the panels. Still, I'm just grumpy in general about the price. Not only getting an increase in the conference fee, but yet still having to pay the ACM and SIGGRAPH membership dues when the benefits from those have dropped recently as well.

Personally, I find that the price increase may not save SIGGRAPH, it may just hurt it. I think less and less people are going to be able to go because of it, and people will also look for other venues to then use to promote their research. And with SIGGRAPH's inability to grow through time and with the marketplace, I say good. SIGGRAPH is turning into an ancient beast in my eyes.

What we need is for someone like the VES to step in and take over I think. They have a better understanding of the realm and participants in today's development, research and production. All SIGGRAPH seems to care about is research, and to be honest SIGGRAPH is starting to get horribly repetitive.

Anyhow, I'll climb off of my horse now. I guess I have to figure out if I can now afford the cross country trip for a repetitive conference that gets less and less relevant. Nah, I'm not bitter. :) I just mourn the loss of a great conference and gathering of people.

[dmeyer]

It's worth going just for the parties! :beer:

[malducin]

I'll post here what I erplied on the other website, just in case ;-) (and for the benefits of others of course):

As far as the main program the Panels were the least important. Most of the other changes is just presenting stuff in a different way, say having all the material mostly on a DVD, for Full Coneference, as oppsoed to the many books they gave you (though I liked having all the books).

To be fair the SIGGRAPH membership costs the same. Its benefits have increased, after all you can access thegraphics paper on the ACM Digital Library just with the regular SIGGRAPH membership.

I agree that the price increases might be harmful. Maybe they are a one time thing to get SIGGRAPH in the black. Besides, have you ever seen the prices of other technical conferences. Sometimes Proceedings of those could cost over $1000!!!

Top CG research will still be submitted to SIGGRAPH. But most if not all researchers also submitted to many smaller and more specific conferences during the year. My PhD friends did when I was back at school. Conferences on Multimedia, VR, human interfaces, or more regional CG ones (like Eurographics, there are a few in the Pacific and Asia, etc.)

VES is just focused on VFX. They will not and should not steop in. Granted VFX is the area it interests me the most. But it has a specific role. Why would they overtake,say human interfaces research? The confernces are nice, but are not tutorials. It's just like the Sketches or Special Sessions, talks on how some work was done. There is no stuff there about research, and development is mainly mentioned for past projects, which might be 2 years old and besides they don't tell you much about it.

SIGGRAPH is still the most relevant CG conference. To start with SIGGRAPH started being about research. After all how do you think CG tools are built!!! If they had to strip down SIGGRAPH, the Papers would be last to go. It's very erlevant and every year we get to see Research that eventually trickles down to the tools.

Are you implying SIGGRAPH should only be about Art or Applications? That is a very restricted view IMHO. Some people actually complain it's the other way around, too much commercial stuff at SIGGRAPH. What is repetitive? You mean the Courses, well yeah but even the ones that get repeated have new material. Sometimes it's because a hot new technique. Photon Maping is a recent technique so people are flocking to it. Last year that Course was jam packed. I saw top guys from ILM, PDI, Rhythm and Hues and other big studios attend it, I guess they think it's relevant. This year's RenderMan course, while some material might be the same old, well Christophe Hery will present how to do subsurface scattering in RenderMan. Some courses are totally new to this year, I believe the OpenGL Shading and Creating physical models fall in this category. Sketches are always new, as were the Panels. Special Session are always different, as is the Educators Program. There is always the dynamic content like the ET and Animation Theatres, the Art Gallery, Emerging Technologies, etc. If anything one of th few constants is the Reception. I mean if all you do is go to the Animation Theatres and Exhibition Floor, well yeah I can see how someone could get that impression.

SIGGRAPH is a great conference and still is, sorry I jsut don't see your POV. Maybe you could explain more or maybe try a few other things. There hasn't been a SIGGRAPH where I wasn't awed or inspired or haven't at least learned something new. In the end SIGGRAPH it's made because of the people.

If you have real concerns you can always voice them directly to the SIGGRAPH powers at be at the ACM SIGGRAPH Forum:

ACM SIGGRAPH Forum (http://www.siggraph.org/s2003/conference/forum/index.html)

[emanimation]

HELLO

This year at Siggraph 2004
They are going to have the Job office/fair and do tons of recruiting!


FYI

See you all at Siggraph 2004!

[Chapt0r]

Sorry I am a bit confused, is they aint or is they aint having it? :hmm:

http://www.siggraph.org/s2004/conference/jobfair/index.php?pageID=conference


????

Chap

Edit: looks like the dates on the posts are the culprit.:beer:

[beaker]

The is a really old thread that was resurected from siggraph 2003. They didn't have it in 2003 but are having it in 2004.

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