Where to find Talent

[JHalton]

As a potential employer looking for the best talent pool, where are the best university courses in the UK and Europe to source graduates with CGI skills?

 

What are the courses called and why are they the best at the moment.

 

Thanks in advance guys.

 

Dan

[JamesTaylor]

Hi Dan,

 

I think finding people with CGI skills that are architecturally literate can be a bit of problem, especially if your looking at university graduates etc.

 

i graduated from De Montfort Uni, Leicester last year after studing Multimedia Design, the course taught a variety of subjects including web design, digital video, games design etc.

 

Part of the course however, allowed students to study computer animation, we were taught Maya primarily but could use max if we wanted. The problem was that we were only taught character animation which was of little interest to me and when i asked can i go down the architectural visualisation route i got knocked back and had to do character animation. I ended up fulfilling this criteria but only so i could learn the software to be able to do architectural visualisatoins after.

 

I imagine that this is typical of many courses.

 

My brother studied architect at the same uni having moved after his first degree gained a John Moores - we overlapped in Leic for a year or so - but the problem with that was he was never taught how to use a computer or how to do visualisation, i ended up teaching him CAD in his final year.

 

So i beleive that there is a problem in the fact that if like me you want to train in architectural viz there is no real route to allow it. If you study architecture your not really taught the CAD / Viz elements but gain architectural knowledge, but on the other hand if you study Multimedia you gain the CGI skills but lack the nessecary architectural knowledge needed.

 

I was lucky in the fact that i had an brother who was an architect and picked up a lot of experience from him which gave me the nessecary skills to gain a job placement in the Arch Viz Industry.

 

The fact that my tutors didn't really recognise the Arch Vis Industry as being a valid industry and allow students to train for jobs in the sector shows the problems that are present and i still beleive that the people are who do the work are quite a rare breed in what is still a pretty underground industry.

[chowia]

that is sooo true, and guess what I got off my ass and decided to do an architectural degree after obtaining my multimedia degree , now working in an architecture practice as well as studying (soo tough on time management). But then I found out that architects rarely want really fascinating rendering, it is more of a design tool to see the form and relationship it has with its site.

The only time you get to put in more visualisation work is for the client or marketing material. And that usually mean impossible deadlines coz they rarely give you enough time to make it perfect with the amount of changes they make throughout the design process

[Charles Gaushell]

Good luck. If you figure it out, please let me know. It is very difficult in the US right now. Especially with our current immigration constraints. We offered a guy a job and he can't even be considered until October now because all of the slots were gone within the first few months!

 

It is really hard finding the talent balance with a good work ethic as well. We've found that some of the people that do really nice work are so slow that you can't make any money by having them work on real projects.

 

Sorry for the rant, but I feel your pain.

[JHalton]

Yeah. I've seen people do the most mind blowing stuff but they took so long to do that unfortunatly they are unusable.

 

I suppose a massive team of people can produce the same sort of work quickly. I'm never happy with the stuff I produce because it has to be done so quickly in order to get the profit.

 

Which is just the nature of the industry I suppose.

 

Its cool what you said jat10005. Its gonna exlode one day and maybe it will be a very recognised industry one day.

[Arnold Sher]

It sounds as though this is a pain around the world... We've been training people in house only to find them leaving us and becoming our competitors.. Needless to say that has not been making us happy.. It is a very rare gift to find a person that knows what they are doing and if you do they usually work for themselves. It is a never ending pain... Impossible to find university grads fr this job as there is no course in university you can actually take. I am qualified interior designer who always had a thing for 3d and now i hardly do any interiors as 95% of our work involves massive developments usually exteriors only.. Go figure.. Should you stumble upon a course that is being offered, would love to hear about it... Good luck...

[joseph alexander]

You have to pay for talent. You also have to take care of your employees. There's no way around it, if you don't they'll leave you, there's way too much of a demand for people with viz skills in architecture.

 

If you can make your office appealing, you'll get talent. A certain office that begins with an N in Boston completely blew me away when I visited. Their space seemed as if it was designed by Tony Hawk, big tvs, ping pong tables, everyone had a smile and was nice. I think this company really has what it takes to get top talent. Their obviously was an effort to take care of their employees and people didn't seem too overworked. Currently I think they do some of the best commercial work in the industry. So this office would be an example of one that gets talent because they give.

 

A lot of other places seemed like sweat shops, and I got a very bad vibe from them, that or they didn't do work that I would aspire to do. I also got the sense that they were really worried about people leaving.

 

I think as far as talent goes now, at least in NYC, you'll get what you pay for. I think if your intent is to get top talent cheap right out of college your asking for disaster. Some one who can read blueprints and model correctly and understands the workflow involved is worth allot more right off the bat.

 

Any rate just trying to give you the employee perspective.

 

-joe

[JamesTaylor]

One day i think that all architectural designs will be done in 3d. it is a more advanced tool than 2d CAD and gives a much greater insight to the workings of the design, it is easier to visually understand and can act as a much better communication tool to the general public than 2d dwg which have to translated mentally into 3d perceptions of a space.

 

on top of all this the relevant 2d data which is supplied to the contractor can also be derived from the 3d model and as software develops and the design process becomes more integrated into 3d the transition between software packages and and the different stages of the design process will be greatly improved and modifed to suit.

 

the day of the architect being top dog may be changing as we all have the ability to design but we don't all have the ability to use the tools of the trade - its not going to be today but i think slowly and surely it will happen and hopeful dan as you say its gonna explode and become a very recognised industry

[Dan J]

Dan,

 

I've been on every side of this issue. I have a degree in Architecture, but I have found few Arch programs that teach students to use these tools, but only found them in the last few years and not in my area. I’ve had to teach my self over the last several years.

 

Most Arch grads are set on the path to licensing or haven't come down the intoxication of design studio and haven't met professional reality yet. So getting the newbies is rough.

 

I've also been an employee of firms, a freelancer and an employer. Always issues in every facet. The firms don’t have the funds for the quality equipment, never budget for the work, usually use tools for design development and don’t want to spend a lot of time on the marketing material. The client wants the work yesterday, the budget is usually tight, the client keeps making changes and doesn’t want to pay for them. The staff wants to be paid well, work few hours and the profit isn’t always what it’s supposed to be.

 

I have to agree with Joe. You really have to take care of your staff and work to recruit top talent or potential top talent. If your company’s work isn’t inspiring, how can you expect to attract the top talent? And if you’re not willing to pay a competitive salary to bring on talent that produces inspiring work, I guess your firm might fall by the wayside.

 

I think you need to also step back and take a look at which industry the top talent gravitates towards. It usually isn’t Architecture. Not to say there isn’t plenty of top talent in this field, just take a look at the current CGA competition. Though I did notice one person works in the game industry. I wonder how many others will post their bios and state a different industry? This becoming a competitive market and everyone wants an even cut on the $$ and talent goes were the $$ is.

 

Couldn't resist the rant.

 

Good luck.

 

PS-

Texas A&M supposedly has a Design Viz program under their Arch program, but I guess that really doesn't help you folks in Europe.