I’m a junior in college double majoring in Graphic Design and Interactive Media/Game Development with a concentration in 3D Art.
I’ve practiced graphic design independently for 10 years so I figured why not get a degree for it.
I knew I’d be bored with that so I decided to double major. I’m learning game/app development, 3D modeling, and 3D animation. This can lead to a career in movies, visual effects, not just video games.
Now the thing is, I took some programming electives for fun and love it. I’m looking into adding programming as a minor, or possibly a triple major. Programmers make so much money, so an extra semester or 2 would be worth it right?
But this leaves too many career options that it’s overwhelming. I don’t know what career would let me use most of these skills.
I know I should just pick one, but I don’t want to regret choosing the wrong thing. Plus I’ve put a lot of work into both majors already. I’m easily maintaining a 3.8+ gpa, 6 classes per semester, on top of a job tutoring 3D modeling and graphic design. I take summer classes too to stay ahead.
I’m considering looking into getting a masters at WPI, MIT, or Northeastern for something design & tech related. I want to help make interactive media that helps people. For example maybe simulation virtual reality that measures brain levels. Inventions that help people.
My advice is to do an internship/co-op. That way you will get a chance to see for yourself what career options are out there and talk to people in industry to see how they got there or any career paths they would suggest for you. The summer between your junior and senior years of college is the perfect time to do so since companies will sometimes give you an offer to come back full-time once you graduate if they like you and you can make a more informed decision about grad school vs. industry after graduation.
If you want to go to graduate school right after undergrad, you should start thinking about taking the GRE soon. Grad school applications follow a similar cycle to undergrad applications so now is the time for standardized tests.Going into grad school not knowing what you want to do is not going to help you much actually.
Programmers making a lot of money has a lot of qualifiers to it. Sure you’ll hear about a programmer at Google in San Francisco being paid 6 figures right out of college, but it comes with a high cost of living being in San Francisco, long hours, and hard work. Its not for the faint of heart.
Internship for sure, doing some informational interviews and exploring.
But the straightforward answer is that you’ll never be 100% sure and you just have to pick something at some point. You can’t live your life fearing regret. You have to pick what seems like the best idea for you at the time and go with that.
But picking one career doesn’t mean you’re trapped; your training and skills don’t suddenly disappear because you go in one direct. People change careers all the time. If you choose graphic design and do it for 3 years and hate it, you can pivot into interactive media or programming or something that straddles 2-3 of those areas.