Uncertain future

[stevesideas]

Me and my wife are currently in the process of purchasing a house. It is quite a step up from our current place and finances will be tight for a couple of years whilst we catch up with payments etc.

It started me thinking about the future of my work and I was wondering how technology and my income/work would change over the years. Would people like me/us be as required in the future ? Would clients use the more and more readily available real-time visualising software ? These would obviously get better over the years and it feels to me like this is the way things are going, with regards to arch vis anyway. I wonder if 3d/cgi people will adapt as new technologies appear ? I guess they will, but I wonder if we are facing a fear of being replaced by software...the same fear people working in factories had of being replaced by robots, and then it happened !

I just left a bitter taste in my mouth thinking that I might not be doing this work in 15 years time...I wonder what I will be doing ?

Any thoughts from others would be interesting.

[lukx]

Oh my, don't let me start ... get ready to be depressed ... for a long time I can see dark clouds coming every year! And most things had been written in past threads about work pricing etc...
Now I'm basically waiting when finally the sh.. will hit the fan. Humans like to have and pay for things that they can touch or use... our "visual" services don't have much of a value for normal people. Only we who are doing it can see the amount of work it have to be put into it... while nowadays things are getting faster and faster... you need to work fast, produce results fast, fast but still it got to have spectacular quality but do it cheap. Recently I read Steve Jobs Biography. Oh my those were the times when they just smoke weed, took lsd and make money based just on ideas nothing else ! You could start small in garage and grow. Now big boys gonna destroy you before you start anything "someone will do it cheaper". I got to say you got balls of steel , planning to purchase a house in this economy while THEY are saying that it's gonna get even worst.

[stevesideas]

The house buying is a calculated risk and work is good at the moment but for me the 10-20 year future is uncertain. I think maybe that things should start to improve with the worlds economy within 5-10 years...maybe before, if going by the 80's is any indication. I think it will happen again as people get more carefree and greedy with money and then we'll be back here again. I guess its just a case of riding the wave whilst this is happening. All the same, I wonder how technology will improve and how our jobs might change.

Luke, are you finding work hard at the moment ? I'm just wondering if you need to get your portfolio and skills known by more people by adding your website/portfolio to agency sites and freelance sites. Have you tried that ?

[Spikeadeliv]

Redemption Receipt

Hi
your thread struck a chord, there are not enough hours in the day for me to play with VRay but after being made redundant 14 months ago reality hit big time, not being able to find another job finally one arrived, this meant I had to relocate 130 miles, my house sale is attracting zero interest even after 7 months, so will probably be taken off the market, I am now renting for the first time in 15 years, but what made it all worth while was............. I paid my mortgage off, so no matter what happens I have a house that's mine, I still keep looking at the Redemption Receipt........... so work hard, save all you can and pay that mortgage off, the feeling of not having to rely on rent or a mortgage is awesome, something a few years ago I wouldn't dare dream about.
Not quite the same vein as your thread but all the obvious fears, paranoia reared its ugly head about my career, visualising, younger, cheaper vis people etc after the redundancy. Good luck anyway!

laters

spike

[stevesideas]

Nice position to be in...I don't think that's likely to happen any time soon unless I win the lottery. Whilst work is good I will be putting as much as I can into the house. Lets hope it stays like this for some time.

[glorybound]

We can't live in fear.

[tricky]

Job security has been slipping away for years now - even before recession/economic downturn. It certainly isn't just the CG industry. You are fortunate in any career to get a contract for more than a year.

I strongly think that the immediacy and the nature of the media (news, tv, newspapers etc) feed on scaring the nation and promoting economic doom. Yes, we are all in difficult positions financially, but there is more to life than this alone. I rarely watch the news these days.

Everything is a calculated risk.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

Everything is constantly evolving guys.
One day you go across the street, get hit by car and youll have to face new consequences and challenges...
thats life.

WE CANT LIVE IN FEAR

if for some reason were not able to do 3D for living, we will be doing something else and do 3D for fun only like we all used to.
the beauty of human life is its ability to adapt.

I am not going to jump on the same FEAR WAGON as the rest of the panicking Europe or world.
I am not going to give up my job to cheap Chinese (no offence), instead i will work on myself and expand my abilities and of course keep my price where applicable and possible.

Lets get over the pesimism that seems to spread here for some time

If its not you having health problems (or your family) then SHIT HAPPENS.

Just my two cents

[tricky]

Lets get over the pesimism that seems to spread here for some time

Here here!

[stevesideas]

I often wonder what the world would be like if there was no news. Would people be happier...probably. Even if a little ignorant. They do say ignorance is bliss

I probably shouldn't have called this thread uncertain future. I think my "fear" was probably justified considering the move me and my family are making, but I guess I wanted to get peoples thoughts on how they think their jobs might evolve over the next 10 or so years.

I think honing/developing your skills is a sure way of increasing your chances of success and I consider a lot of people on these foums and many other places to be doing that. The bar is a lot higher in terms of quality and results than just 3-4 years ago.

[tricky]

It is interesting thinking about the world we have created for ourselves. I'm considering starting a commune: live in a shack, grow my own veg, educate my own child etc. Fancy joining me?

[pixela]

I don't see future bad. Maybe real-time software can have a negative impact on 3D-Business but I suppose only people who download pirate Evermotion scenes and furnish it with pirate Evermotion models will get upset because there will not be need for them anymore. But who has KNOWLEDGE, who creates, who makes will always be in need in one form or another. Probably clients with low-budgets who need cheap work will try to utilise this software. But in the meantime, 3D will be getting more popular in different production and pipleines for more serious jobs.

[glorybound]

architects aren't doing it, developers are not doing it, nor are engineers. When things start to pick up in the AEC industry we'll be in demand again. Everyone is slow and we have always been a luxury.

[glyph]

what Glorybound said "you can't live in fear"
it's up to your own wit and intelligence to move to a new career when or if the time comes

of course things change - nowadays they change faster
(try and keep several strings to your bow and remain interested in the world and what's around you)
you make your own luck...

as for a bigger mortgage, here in the uk, *now*, well, I'd have waited at least a year for prices to drop more..
but my crystal ball is as cloudy as yours

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

its ridiculous how costly the living is in UK...i once worked on a roofing for someone who had spent 1.000.000 pounds on the bare building and compared to some nice houses in Czech, that guy could have built 4 of those here...
Madness

i am stuck paying mortgage already...its fun ...i "love" it