Not true, sorry. What you are saying has merit, basic skills are basic skills, but digital imaging skills ARE basic skills for getting employment now. They're far too important in this day and age to be neglected. You want a job making more than minimum wage you'd better have computer skills and lots of them. Even then, you're going to find it tough to get a job that will stick.
(In terms of design and such if you're smart and you cross train which software you use isn't really so important though in the field Adobe is king.)
My point was that the school I went to was so fixed on doing traditional design work that they were severely neglecting the modern way of doing things, which effectively made their degree certificates useless. You need a good mix of both now, period.
I studied design there not photography but their photography course is similarly backward. I sat there for two semesters painting mock ups, setting type, and learning about the principles of design and typography as done 40 years ago.
When I got out of school? There wasn't a job I could get where they didn't want you to be able to do it on a computer with computer software that they didn't even teach. Setting type properly, was the job of Quark and Indesign. Mock ups were drawn in Illustrator or Corel Draw, which was not covered by the school in that program. Those were essential skills for the job market I was entering, which was btw tough as heck to get into at the time, tech bubble burst about then, and it remains so even now, and they didn't even go there.
The only design software classes they had were electives and were not an official part of getting my design degree. Those were done on software that was so out of date none of the professional firms in the area were using any of it anymore. Fortunately for me I did cross train, elsewhere, and I learned the newer versions on my own or I'd have never worked at all in the field I spent 20K to get into. Even with all that work was so scarce that eventually I all but gave it up and went back to retail, CSR work, etc just to make a pay check.
Basic concepts are invaluable and I'm not saying don't learn them or don't spend time in the lab, but no, you cannot just teach the old techniques and no software use and expect your students to pay premium fees for the privilege of getting an education that is truly lacking in key elements that they will need to work in the real world. That's just insane.
Fact, 90% of the people out there in design and photography are working with digital tools now. They do use design software in their daily lives to make their paychecks. They're being handed digital cameras and most places don't have labs for them to develop film. They're doing their post processing on computers complete with the latest Adobe software installed. Almost nobody in design or photography sets type by hand, does mock ups with paint, or processes film by hand anymore. It's all computerized and if you try to walk through the door with only half those skills? Forget it, they'll hand the job to someone who does know both and you won't even get an interview let alone a good paying job.
Film is great, and I still shoot it, but I do that for ME, because I like the medium. Because I find some real value in doing it the traditional way sometimes, but unless you have the luck to find yourself one very old-fashioned employer you'd better know anything and everything you can about digital imaging and digital tools if you're not planning on working for yourself. Or you will be very poor and probably spend more time looking for work than actually getting it.
I checked out the schools here very carefully when I decided to go back for photography. When I realized that it was the same old story and that they weren't teaching both I decided to tailor my own curriculum and forgo the degree. No way I was spending another 20K only to lack vital skills I'll need to be competitive in my chosen field.
When I'm done I mean to be through with temping, waiting on tables, doing retail et all just to put food on the table. I want to be able to get real work doing my craft not have to work a f/t job to be able to do it as my "hobby!"
I personally prefer a more practical, technical approach to the liberal arts one. I may have ended up well educated from an artistic point of view doing that course, but it just didn't fly nearly as well in the real world. Honestly they didn't teach me all that much in that sense either. There's only so much they can fit in a few semesters. Any course you take in a school can only hit the highlights of what you need to know. Practical experience, detailed books, videos and one on one time spent with mentors on the other hand, they can give you far more solid skills that will serve you far better IMHO. I probably cover more in one month on my own and working with my mentors than I did in 2 years in college, seriously. College only held me back that way. It was a total waste of money for me.
When I can walk into a classroom and the person teaching me is admitting that I probably know more about the subject that they are teaching than they do that's just wrong! Then again I suppose I should have been used to it. I spent my whole childhood educational period dealing with exactly the same thing. The 2 states I grew up in had nothing by way of a quality education available to students. I can't speak for every state in the USA. Some are better, some are worse, but from what I can tell people elsewhere in the world seem to get a much better education than we do here in the States.
I'm the type who studies a lot on her own. I read a lot, choose subjects and tutorials that interest me and go from there, do whatever I can to supplement my own education as I feel I need to. It's a habit that has probably made a real difference in my life in terms of how much education I actually received and how useful it's been to me over the years. If I'd had to rely only on my local school system for my education? I'd have been fit for flipping burgers at the local McDonald's and not much else.
I made the mistake of going there to get my design degree. I got absolutely nowhere with it professionally with it and I really gave it my all. This time I'm doing it my way, with the help of people already in the field, and I'm really covering everything I can to prep for the career I want. I have to be more practical this time.
I just really don't have the time or the money to mess it up again. I should have been working in a good field for 20 years by now. Instead I spent 20 years just making a paycheck and putting nothing substantial away for lack of the funds to do it. In 20 more years I'll be at an age where most people start to retire. I don't really intend to do that, but neither do I intend to meet my 65th birthday with nothing in my bank account either.
I made some really dumb decisions in my 20's and 30's professionally speaking. In my 40's I have to get it right finally or learn to make do and exist in a state of near poverty for the rest of my life. Fact is I'm not at all crazy about being semi-poor. I'd like to have a roof over my head that belongs to me someday, not just one I rent, a car that isn't shared with 3 people, and a bank account that I can dip into once in a while to buy a new camera without having to bypass more important things, like my rent. I'm not looking to be rich, but I would sure like to be securely in the middle class for the rest in my life, not teetering on poverty line!
I'm not saying you can't get a decent education at a good college, but students do need to choose carefully and talk to people in the field before they just buy into what the schools are saying and plunk down thousands of dollars in tuition. There are too many schools out there teaching almost nothing that will get those students a real job and asking a lot of money to do it.
FYI, I'm 38K in debt for an education that wasn't worth a dime in real practice. Yeah, I consider that a huge waste of money. Wouldn't you?
Originally posted by ChrisPlatt Your digital photography skills become obsolete with the next software release.
What you learn behind a film camera and in the darkroom will last a lifetime.
Chris