Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Please help me sort my education out.

Olulabelle

20:19 / 06.05.03

What's the most vocational and sensible subject to do an MA in, given that I'm not at all mathematical or scientific, and a bit, well, arty. I was thinking about interactive multimedia but people keep pointing out how badly the industry is suffering and how very unlikely it is that I will find a job at the end of it. (I know this, I was made redundant.)

I want to do something that will gain me a 'skill' as up till now my degree and my jobs have been somewhat academic, and not really skill specific.

Plumbing? There's lots of call for plumbers now apparently, but it doesn't really float my boat.

Lurid Archive

22:17 / 06.05.03

olulabelle, it is a shame that you feel like that, in a sense. Insecurity abounds, I suppose.

My feeling is that unless you have a career in mind, you can't really get a sensible answer. The more vocational the qualification, the less transferable it will tend to be and at the MA level I'd expect you to have a goal in mind if you want to go vocational. What degree have you got/will you have?

thats not much help, I realise.

Olulabelle

22:41 / 06.05.03

'Tis help Lurid.

I have a degree in Contemporary Arts, mine for several years now! I worked in film for a bit, and then for a production company as an all round 'creative' including some design work and some video stuff and then I was a website producer. I'm not a video director, although I have done that, I'm not a designer, although I can do that, but not to the extent most designers can. I'm all self taught, lacking in knowledge and I just don't seem to *be* anything.

And it's about time I was, you know?

That's why I thought about the interactive multimedia thing because it sort of seemed to combine my jack of all trades limited skills, turning them into one big skill. But not if I can't get a job after.

Lurid Archive

22:53 / 06.05.03

From where I am standing, it sounds like you have vocational stuff coming out of your ears. But then, you probably wouldn't want to be standing where I am.

TBH, I have no idea about jobs and stuff. I chose what I wanted to do a long time ago. Put it this way, I never wanted to be a fireman. It still may not pan out, but I'm monomaniacal enough to have a good follow through.

Anyway, given the many skills you have, I'm not sure an MA is going to be the answer to your employment problems.

Tryphena Absent

23:14 / 06.05.03

Are you sure you want to do an MA? It's probably not a great idea unless you fancy it purely for the sake of furthering your education. Of course you should bear in mind that I'm about to finish my undergraduate degree and more academic work sounds a little like stepping in to hell. What kind of film work did you do??

w1rebaby

23:46 / 06.05.03

I agree that you seem to have the vocational stuff pretty sorted, in a broad way - with experience as well, which is the main thing. In fact if you've done all that work you probably know more than me about how easy it is for you to get a job; I certainly know people with less experience than you who've done well for themselves in the media.

I'm a bit sceptical too about the MA as a means of getting a job. Unless you're really sure about what you want to go into.

Is it more of an unfocussed "this isn't really suiting, I want to move on to something that's really me" kind of thing? If you can direct videos or design, and you want to be one, then you are a director or designer....

Olulabelle

06:53 / 07.05.03

Anna, I did a lot of Art Directing on loads of little shorts. I loved it, and I think if I could be anything it'd probably be an Art Director, but I appear to have been channelled off in the wrong direction.

It's an 'I am not anything specific' feeling Fridge, and I thought doing an MA might a/help me think and b/focus me a bit more.

Most people can define themselves by their jobs, right? They can say 'Oh, I'm a mathematician' or 'I'm a salesperson', or 'a designer', but I've done so many different things my CV looks like it belongs to about 5 differnt people!

Leap

10:32 / 07.05.03

Olulabelle -

The MA is not really a vocational qualification but is more of either a step towards a Humanities/Arts PhD or a qualification done for your own pleasure / interest.

If you want a vocational qualification you need an MSc tied to / suggested by a chartered professional body. Have you considered a post-grad diploma (PG-Dip) or certificate (PG-Cert, eg: "PGCE")(the cert is lower then the dip) which are between BA and MA in level?

Add Your Reply