CGTalk - USA Short term courses & certificates

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marc0711

07-25-2010, 12:28 AM

I'm a self thought freelance 3D Artist with a BSc in computer science and I had been working on and off projects for about 2 years now.

As I feel that with my background its really hard to get jobs in my country, I had been searching for a chance to get into the USA for quite a long time now.
Although my experience is growing with every year its really a struggle in this business in my country and I'm not able to work and develop my skills here as I like to.

After I abandoned my plan of doing an internship at a 3D Studio in the USA as I didn't find any company that would have given me a chance for this, I latley decided to just do a course in the USA and improve my chances of getting more jobs in my home country with this.

As I'm completely self thought and never had classes in animation or arts I thought this would be a good thing if its not possible to do an internship and had just been searching for short term courses in the USA in the last few weeks.

As I'm already over 30 and have quite some decent experience, I would have thought about a short term course of about 3 to 6 months. The whole thing should be in the range of 5000$ to 10000$ as I can't afford more in the moment.

Unfortunately I'm slowly getting desperate with this task, as with my search I only found bachelor or master programs beside really short dated courses over only some weeks and part time offers which only take place in the evening.

It seems that there is no offer for andvanced industry people who like to enhance their skills but only to beginners and only on a really short basis for some days or weeks or just over several years.
I'm really not limited to any special location and there also would be many usefull topics for me as for example I mainly did technical and architectural animation until now and therefore are lacking character animation skills as well as I would like to learn some other software beside Max, I was using in all of my productions so far.

I would be really, really grateful if somebody would have an advice for a certificate or similar short term program in the range of about 3 months to 1 year maximum.

I'm sure there should be some appropriate courses for my situation somewhere but it appears that this offers are really hard to find unfortunatley

thanks in advance and best regards
Marc

SanjayChand

07-31-2010, 02:13 AM

Check out Gnomon's Fast Track:

http://www.gnomonschool.com/programs/maya-fast-track/

marc0711

07-31-2010, 03:01 AM

thanks very much for the answer.
Unfortunatley I can't afford that much money in the moment as I would have to provide over 20000$ then until september (visa+flight included). I know that gnomon has a very high reputation but also it is the most expensive option. I'm not sure if this would be worth spending so much considering that the course only lasts for 9 weeks even if I would have the money.

Does anybody know another short term program maybe in the range from 5000$ to 10000$ lasting between 2 months minimum and 1 year maximum.

I would be really gratefull if somebody would have some further advice as I almost gave up with my hope of finding an appropriate course :(

katisss

07-31-2010, 09:02 AM

The US visa requirements are pretty harsh for Europeans.
I am not an expert but i dont think this kind of course
will give you much of an edge when applying for an US visa... unless you marry a fellow US student ;)
I would make sure beforehand.
Its not very realistic to think film or vfx companies will bother with the visa unless you are very senior level like 6+ years experience... I dont know about the game industry.

marc0711

07-31-2010, 11:42 AM

I already did research on the visa issues - this actually was the first thing I did. It will be complicated and expensive but it won't be a problem as I found ways to achieve a visa for that time. The only problem is finding an appropriate course in the moment unfortunately

katisss

07-31-2010, 11:52 AM

Oh, i understood from your post you looking for a way to get a
work visa in the long run. Student visa should be easy.

marc0711

07-31-2010, 11:58 AM

yes but this would be another thing. In the moment I'm only searching for a course or internship between 2months and 1year . If it won't be possible to stay in the USA afterwards, this however would be very helpfull in getting a job back in europe

katisss

07-31-2010, 12:02 PM

hm, it probably is useful. While doing the class in say London is more likely to give you a foot in the industry ... Whats your field: generalist, ligthing, effects, animation, games?

marc0711

07-31-2010, 12:42 PM

I'm a generalist, and most of the 2 years of my experience worked in small agencies from 3-10 people and did nearly everything there, from project management to renderfarm and server setup, with main focus on modelling and animation though. I stayed in London for the last year and know this would also be an option although I decided to move away from London for some reason.

My main intention however would be getting in the USA not only as I consider it as very valuable for my further career in 3D. Finding a course in London would be an easier task but for different reasons I defintitly want to get in the US, if not for a long term employment then for just a course or an internship.

I hoped that maybe somebody here has done such a short-term/ advanced level course already and could help me

kevvo83

08-13-2010, 04:37 PM

hi marc,

I'm in sort of a similar situation to the one you've described.

I have a BSc in Engineering, and I've interned as a Game Artist for 9 months.

I'm also looking to do a short-term program (pref. 1 year, max. 2), although in the area of Motion Graphics and Visual FX. I've done a fair bit of research into this, and it is quite hard to pin down a great choice for a school.

Based on student work and reputation, VFS has a pretty cool program (although it is expensive, and not in the US).

My current first choice is a school called MDS in Auckland, NZ. Again, it's not in the US, but the program seems great, and the opportunities for employment there seem good.

That's just my thoughts on this. hope it helps.

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