Has anyone attended Centre for Arts and Technology?

[blondewithbrains]

I work at a not-so-little games publisher in Burnaby. The department I work in deals with building and managing their web properties (ie., an internal digital agency). There's also a plethora of other folks around that do media related to the games (environment art, media assets, video, audio, etc.) I'm kinda in tune to what the industry wants and needs - and a diploma or a degree won't get you a job in media. Having skill, and being able to prove it with actual work samples and being able to perform (via an Art Test - aka, doing a comp) will.[/quote]

Well my daughter is into the print end of graphic design...not digital media or does much of the web side...and the job she got in Vancouver wanted a current student or someone who has complete a course....

[delSol97]

(environment art, media assets, video, audio, etc.) I'm kinda in tune to what the industry wants and needs - and a diploma or a degree won't get you a job in media. Having skill, and being able to prove it with actual work samples and being able to perform (via an Art Test - aka, doing a comp) will.

HR depts. WILL use it is an excuse not to promote you or pay you less, unless you are some sort of exception that they feel makes you irreplaceable (which is very few and far between).

[rustled]

Back in the 80s, when home computers were in their infancy, my brother attended SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) in Calgary. He had to work while putting himself through school, and managed to find a part-time job in the computer industry.

He said that what he was learning at work was more valuable than what he was learning at school, in part because the technology was evolving faster than the curriculum. In terms of finding full-time work after graduation, he figured the work experience was more useful than the school experience.

I wonder if that's still the case?

[LoneWolf_53]

I wonder if that's still the case?

Always!

Though important to a degree, far too much emphasis is put on book learning and a piece of paper, which all too often, produces people, who when they get a job, require a significant amount of hand holding.

IMHO nothing will ever beat hands on training.


The other day I stopped by a mobile phone store, mostly to put my hands on a couple of the phones I'm considering when my plan comes up for renewal.

Though nice enough, the clerk who helped me, whom I know has been there at least three years, demonstrated that he clearly doesn't grasp the difference between the memory (RAM) in a phone, and it's storage capacity (16GB), as he repeatedly stated it's memory was 16GB, when in fact it contains 2GB RAM and that was the number I was after.

It may seem trivial, but my point is I run across such a lack of knowledge all too often, which is concerning, since I don't have a computer science degree, yet seem to know far more than many in the business.

[jasond_71]

I would agree that in the computer industry work experience is way more valuable but you have to get hired first. Doesn't OUC have very similar courses for 1/4 of the cost of Art Institute. It is very expensive.

[rustled]

I would agree that in the computer industry work experience is way more valuable but you have to get hired first. Doesn't OUC have very similar courses for 1/4 of the cost of Art Institute. It is very expensive.

I suppose it helps if you're able to work for low pay, take the "crappy" hours, and do grunt work, considering it something of an apprenticeship while the boss figures out whether or not he should take a chance and invest in training you. If you're in a position of having to put a roof over your head or food on the table, that's always harder to do.

[36Drew]

The OP was asking about media design (Web design). That's not "computer work" as most would think - it's media. I'm a 20-year IT veteran that is currently a WebOps manager for the largest game publisher in the world, working within their digital agency. I have an understanding of what is and isn't conducive to landing a job in the field. A degree won't do it for you. If you're going to school, do it to actually learn the skills that you need - but you'll actually need to use the skills and have passion about the work in order to land the job. The degree won't even get you in the door - your portfolio is what art producers will notice.

[Ktownhan]

I went a couple of years ago and a fair amount of the teachers I had were previous students who couldn't find work in the industry. Most of the people I knew in classes are not working in the industry let alone anything close to it (restaurants and retail).

[Nelalen]

Just a correction for everyone. I'm looking more at the Web Development aspect with the addition of graphic design. Though I know a large part of this program is the design and software for that. I don't want to focus majorly on either part but lean more towards web dev. From what I've heard I think I'll be staying away from CATO but wondering as a program (design and web dev) is that in any way valuable in the industry? Thanks for all the replies so far!

[36Drew]

HR depts. WILL use it is an excuse not to promote you or pay you less, unless you are some sort of exception that they feel makes you irreplaceable (which is very few and far between).

What are your qualifications for speaking towards the media industry? I'm a manager at EA Canada and have a unique insight into how art talent is found, hired and consumed. What are your qualifications?

[36Drew]

I would agree that in the computer industry work experience is way more valuable but you have to get hired first. Doesn't OUC have very similar courses for 1/4 of the cost of Art Institute. It is very expensive.

Media isn't the computer industry. Web "design" (as the OP was asking about) is media. It's art, not technology.

[Captain Awesome]

I work at a not-so-little games publisher in Burnaby.

I'd say the technical institute across the street from you is above and beyond CATO's technical programs.

[36Drew]

Just a correction for everyone. I'm looking more at the Web Development aspect with the addition of graphic design. Though I know a large part of this program is the design and software for that. I don't want to focus majorly on either part but lean more towards web dev. From what I've heard I think I'll be staying away from CATO but wondering as a program (design and web dev) is that in any way valuable in the industry? Thanks for all the replies so far!

If you're after actual web dev, as I've already said, web design isn't dev. If you want to learn skills that teach you art concepts, how to use graphics-related toolchains and the like - then CATO is where you would want to go. If you want to write the next big app in Ruby, Python or PHP using your framwork-du-jour and a flashy AngularJS frontend... go to OKC and take a programming course. Design and Dev, although very closely related, are not the same thing.

Our artists do art. Our developers write code. We even differentiate between frontend (UX) and backend (logic) developers.

[36Drew]

I went a couple of years ago and a fair amount of the teachers I had were previous students who couldn't find work in the industry. Most of the people I knew in classes are not working in the industry let alone anything close to it (restaurants and retail).

That's because there's very few jobs for media in the Okanagan. If you want to use your skills and get paid for them, you'll need to move about 350km south-west.

[36Drew]

I'd say the technical institute across the street from you is above and beyond CATO's technical programs.

I would agree with what you're saying. Unlike CATO they're also rather up-front with their costs:

http://www.bcit.ca/files/pdf/admission/2013-14-high-tech-tuition.pdf