Vray Certified Professionals

[joconnell]

You're right - admittedly it can't hurt!

To be honest I think a lot of that helps fine with managerial staff and HR departments as they've no idea what they're looking at in terms of peoples work. A vfx company is only going to look at someone's showreel and not their cv - ideally a senior 3d or creative director should be looking at your work and talking about how you go about doing things.

If I was talking in a lofty / pissy fashion I ideally wouldn't want to be talking to or having my work judged by someone that I didn't respect or didn't know what they were talking about in a 3d sense!

[glorybound]

The market is being flooded with graduates. They couldn't get jobs after their BA, so they stayed in school for their masters. Now, they are replacing all the experience people, who were laid off, but don't have the degrees to get back in the door. The first step in the interview process is the resume algorithm. If your resume doesn't have keywords, like degree, you get spit out and never make it to a person. So, certifications might be the next best thing.

[joconnell]

I getcha on the interview front - the majority of the places I've worked for have been far more direct and I've never gone through a recruitment department. That said though any places I've worked for's primary business is vfx / post production as opposed to an industrial design or architectural firm where visualization / 3d is only part of the business.

[Pixelcon]

I have no degree or any training (nor did I even go to University) and I landed a spot at the largest company of it's type in the country without experience purely because my folio was solid. Even though our new job descriptions state a degree is mandatory, I still believe a cracking folio is worth more than a piece of paper with your name on it in fancy writing. Of course there will be exceptions as joconnell has mentioned above.

[glorybound]

I think that is the key, your new job description. I think things are changing, and changing fast. Hard work isn't paying anymore.

I have no degree or any training (nor did I even go to University) and I landed a spot at the largest company of it's type in the country without experience purely because my folio was solid. Even though our new job descriptions state a degree is mandatory, I still believe a cracking folio is worth more than a piece of paper with your name on it in fancy writing. Of course there will be exceptions as joconnell has mentioned above.

[Pixelcon]

What I mean to say is that even though our new job descriptions say a degree is mandatory, an amazing folio would still win-out over a graduate with no skills. Even if a job description says a degree is mandatory I would apply anyway and state that I have no degree but that my work speaks for itself. It's worked for me before.

Very few grads are going to have as good a folio as mine. They just won't have had the time to develop the skills unless they've been doing it for a handful of years. At that point they're 30 and signing on as a junior artist? There aren't enough decent artists that have a degree in interior design or architecture for companies to be that picky. It doesn't make sense in a field where institutional learning is all but non-existent. Companies complain that they can't find any 3D artists but they're shutting out prospective juniors by asking too much and paying too little. They ask for an artist with a degree and 5 years experience and only offer $50k. BS.

[glorybound]

I am on your side. We have 5 interns that spent a year, after their masters, going to a portfolio school. I'll find out the technical term, but literally a special school to build a portfolio.

[Morne]

Yes but one of the requirements for ChaosGroup certification is that you should have a gazzillion forum posts, and 95% of those should be ANSWERS, and not questions.
Just kidding, but imagine if we were judged like that...

[Neilg]

Hard work isn't paying anymore.

I think it still does, it's just that some people have wildly differing definitions of what that is.

[joconnell]

Indeed, and knowing the right work to do.

[glorybound]

Yes but one of the requirements for ChaosGroup certification is that you should have a gazzillion forum posts, and 95% of those should be ANSWERS, and not questions.
Just kidding, but imagine if we were judged like that...

Funny guy!

[joconnell]

To be honest Bobby I think you're the best example of the benefits of owning a legal license of vray and by that I mean having access to the forum. While you're not getting the work to allow you to work to the standards you want consistently, the jump in the level of your work over the years has been huge and long may the chaos forum continue to be so useful. It's great that you can ask a question directly to THE guy behind vray and get an answer pretty damn quick or have insights from some amazing artists. More of that.

[glorybound]

Believe me, I am appreciative! I don't mind at all looking stupid to get the best help in the industry.

To be honest Bobby I think you're the best example of the benefits of owning a legal license of vray and by that I mean having access to the forum. While you're not getting the work to allow you to work to the standards you want consistently, the jump in the level of your work over the years has been huge and long may the chaos forum continue to be so useful. It's great that you can ask a question directly to THE guy behind vray and get an answer pretty damn quick or have insights from some amazing artists. More of that.

[joconnell]

I've no doubt you're grateful for it and I think it's brilliant that people are getting benefit from it. I'd love if there were more forums to a similar standard for different aspects of 3d or comping as it isn't always possible to be surrounded by people you can learn from - a lot of the times I'm either working solo on a project or the most senior person on a project so I feel like I'm making it up as I go along. Even though it isn't feasible I'd love to go into a really high end vray based company and be the worst guy in the place so I've a similar attitude to learning as yourself!

[glorybound]

did you guys say I was the worse guy on the forum? (joking)