FLASH: Re: MM grad school (was Salaries - MBA thoughts)

[Travis Alber]

Alright flashers, you got me to post--


I also enrolled in a MM master's program when there were only 3 in the

country. I completed my masters in interactive multimedia design last summer

-- two year program that dealt with both theory (UI, CBT, project

management, 20th C tech history, quantitative and qualitative evaluation)

and production (director projects, flash stuff, midi classes, digital video

classes, etc). Here's my take on the whole thing:


1. Your master's degree won't mean diddily right when you get out of school,

but will prepare you to tackle anything you can get. It's so new people

don't have a clue what it means or how to value it.


2. You won't be specialized in anything, but you'll be able to make

decisions about what you want to do because you'll have been exposed to

everything (you can get a wide variety of experience at a job, but not as

easily)


3. Your job will be easier than grad school no matter what you are doing. No

company expects you to eat and breathe your work like a grad program (some

jobs can be pretty demanding, but i still haven't found one company that

expects more or that is as hard to get through because lack of support as

grad school), so working will be pretty refreshing.


4. In three years your degree will make all the difference in the world.

There are two reasons for this: a) you'll be well read whether you want to

be or not, and probably about a wide range of subjects, so you'll get theory

pretty well and that will help you in your job b) you'll have something up

on people who just have experience.


5. You'll be poor as hell in grad school (i was living on $400 a month) --

and sort of poor when you get out. but that will change too. just as i said,

once you have experience, then people care a hell of a lot more about the

whole grad school thing.


what it comes down to, like any graduate program, is whether you really want

to do it badly enough to make the sacrifices it takes. Only 6% of Americans

go on with edu after undergrad, and that's becuase it takes a lot out of you

without much more than personal reward.


As far as getting a degree in this stuff, you need to look for a program

with theory based courses -- the production courses teach you to manage time

and people, but the software skills themselves are transitory. If you do go

to grad school, it certainly helps to get experience beforehand. I didn't,

and it really counted against me when i got out -- couldn't "prove" i could

work, despite what i considered to be a pretty decent portfolio. Finally, i

doubt i would get a master's in the same thing as your undergraduate. If you

have an undergrad in Multimedia, get an MBA or Curriculum and Instruction

masters...something that will complement your degree. It makes your skills

much more valuable and less transitory.


hope that helps a bit..


travis


-- 


Travis Alber

Web Designer/Interactive Artist

Zatso, Inc (formerly Reactv.com)

808 Brannan Street, Second Floor

San Francisco, CA 94103

415.934.2915

www.zatso.net

www.zatso.com



>

From: "ilia pasymansky" <iliap75hotmail [dot] com>

>

Reply-To: flasherchinwag [dot] com

> Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 08:23:03 PDT

>

To: flasherchinwag [dot] com

> Subject: Re: FLASH: Salaries - MBA thoughts?

> 

> 

> I am in the same situation Sonya. I graduate next month from MM programm and

> really thinking now what to do next..??

> Go and get experience on the field ..Or go for the master . I really do not

> care for degree and I also agree that the best education is on the work

> place. So I'll probably take a first choise (if i'll find any :))

> Ilia

> ---------------------------------------------

> Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 02:49:55 GMT

>

From: "Sonja ***" <dear_sonjahotmail [dot] com>

> Subject: Re: FLASH: Salaries - MBA thoughts?

> 

> ---------------------------------------------

> I, like you am attending graduate school (9 credits a semester, which I was

> advised against) and working 50+ hours in the multimedia field. I will be

> done with a MS in Multimedia Technology in July, prior to grad school I had

> absolultely no experience in the field.

> 

> What I have I heard from many people who have been in the industry, but who

> have no formal education, is that those of us with master's degrees, despite

> our abilities ( or lack there of) are hired to "boss" those without degrees.

> 

> I have also learned that employers get bombarded with resumes and inquiries

> from people with exceptional talent that they are now weeding out the

> candidates based on their "education".  It turns out that I enrolled in a

> multimedia graduate program when there were only 2 schools offering such.  I

> have to be honest in saying that one of the primary reasons that I was able

> to land a job in the field, getting the salary that I wanted, was less about

> my "experience" and perhaps even "talent", but more about the fact that I am

> about to receive a piece of paper.

> 

> Ok, nuff gibberish :-)  Stick with your studies...all of the talent in the

> world will not help you should employers decide that they are only

> interested in interviewing people with degrees.



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