X-Gote
06-26-2002, 07:10 PM
I am a programmer. About 2 months ago our graphic designer left, and I do his job (except without the design part of it) as well as mine for less money now then when I was first hired to the company as a programmer / database administrator. I have been working here for almost 10 months.
What I hate:
3. Bullshit work: Cutting up Photoshop files and copy and paste text into an html editor then correspond with non technical people about the format of text "wah this font is not big enough, this text should be a graphic, I want this link to make the page "jump" to this area on this page, oh wait I changed my mind (FUCK!)" .
2. Constant criticism: "Please structure your code in this manner: blablabla", "please use alternative syntax here".
1. No respect for my graphic design talent. I am usually not the one to express arrogance about what I am capable of producing, but I have been a serious graphic designer for more then 7 years and I like to think I have a high level expertise using Photoshop and traditional medium (illustration). When I first showed my portfolio to the people I work with, they thought it was more or less strong material. Whenever they had a question about Photoshop they always went to the designer for an answer until he didn't have an answer then I volunteered one politely without (we shared the same office). It was very obvious to everyone except the supervisors who possessed more experience working with Photoshop after my first 2 months even when it was staring them in the face consistently. The designer, who had almost a year of experience and was praised as the "the man", didn't even have a fundamental understanding of layer masking, which in my opinion, should be one of the things you know and are proficient with doing before you are earning a paycheck working with Photoshop a good portion of your day. Eventually I was asked to do a few designs for a big client of ours (still our biggest), and so did the designer. I put out about 3 or 4 drafts for them to look at and they where chosen to be used by the client. The project only required one of them to be used, but instead all of them where chosen. I still never received any amount of respect for my talent.. my ego was already crushed from mr. li0n telling me what a poser I was offering my design talent to him when he was doing rumble sessions. After 2 or 3 months I turned down any design project because they only offered little stale corporate projects with no creative freedom. One thing sticks sticks out in my mind that someone from management said to me, "we will just give it to [the other guy] who is a better designer". Since then, anyone in the company who has came to me for Photoshop help I have just flat out said "I don't know". My attitude since then has been "fuck it". Its not much of an issue now because the way the market is. There is very little design work coming to the company the last 3 months but plenty of bullshit work like copy paste.
But I suppose I am luckier then most to be working in this field considering the way the market is even if im not making what I used to or should be. I don't make allot of money.
What I like:
- I make my own hours (I work a consistent 40+ hours).
- Have my own spot in a big office only shared by 1 printer and a water machine.
- Covered parking.
- Own phone.
- Large desk.
- Someone to screen my calls.
- Listen to music while I code /w the bass turned up (but not freakin loud)
- View of the mountains.
My job is allright, but I don't want to be doing the sam thing in 6 months. I want to move away from web programming and either get deeper into database administration or a more serious programming job. Does your job suck or is it ok?
Im not looking to get my ego stroked but to convince anyone that i'm not a wannabe, poser or talking out my ass here is my portfolio containing noteable work from the past 2 years, not including the last 6 months (I just stopped designing seriously since then):
http://az.chromatics.net/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&do=showgall&gid=2
What I hate:
3. Bullshit work: Cutting up Photoshop files and copy and paste text into an html editor then correspond with non technical people about the format of text "wah this font is not big enough, this text should be a graphic, I want this link to make the page "jump" to this area on this page, oh wait I changed my mind (FUCK!)" .
2. Constant criticism: "Please structure your code in this manner: blablabla", "please use alternative syntax here".
1. No respect for my graphic design talent. I am usually not the one to express arrogance about what I am capable of producing, but I have been a serious graphic designer for more then 7 years and I like to think I have a high level expertise using Photoshop and traditional medium (illustration). When I first showed my portfolio to the people I work with, they thought it was more or less strong material. Whenever they had a question about Photoshop they always went to the designer for an answer until he didn't have an answer then I volunteered one politely without (we shared the same office). It was very obvious to everyone except the supervisors who possessed more experience working with Photoshop after my first 2 months even when it was staring them in the face consistently. The designer, who had almost a year of experience and was praised as the "the man", didn't even have a fundamental understanding of layer masking, which in my opinion, should be one of the things you know and are proficient with doing before you are earning a paycheck working with Photoshop a good portion of your day. Eventually I was asked to do a few designs for a big client of ours (still our biggest), and so did the designer. I put out about 3 or 4 drafts for them to look at and they where chosen to be used by the client. The project only required one of them to be used, but instead all of them where chosen. I still never received any amount of respect for my talent.. my ego was already crushed from mr. li0n telling me what a poser I was offering my design talent to him when he was doing rumble sessions. After 2 or 3 months I turned down any design project because they only offered little stale corporate projects with no creative freedom. One thing sticks sticks out in my mind that someone from management said to me, "we will just give it to [the other guy] who is a better designer". Since then, anyone in the company who has came to me for Photoshop help I have just flat out said "I don't know". My attitude since then has been "fuck it". Its not much of an issue now because the way the market is. There is very little design work coming to the company the last 3 months but plenty of bullshit work like copy paste.
But I suppose I am luckier then most to be working in this field considering the way the market is even if im not making what I used to or should be. I don't make allot of money.
What I like:
- I make my own hours (I work a consistent 40+ hours).
- Have my own spot in a big office only shared by 1 printer and a water machine.
- Covered parking.
- Own phone.
- Large desk.
- Someone to screen my calls.
- Listen to music while I code /w the bass turned up (but not freakin loud)
- View of the mountains.
My job is allright, but I don't want to be doing the sam thing in 6 months. I want to move away from web programming and either get deeper into database administration or a more serious programming job. Does your job suck or is it ok?
Im not looking to get my ego stroked but to convince anyone that i'm not a wannabe, poser or talking out my ass here is my portfolio containing noteable work from the past 2 years, not including the last 6 months (I just stopped designing seriously since then):
http://az.chromatics.net/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&do=showgall&gid=2