Hi there,

A woman at work has a son who wants to go and do multimedia design or something at QANTM instead of QUT IT/Creative industries to get into game graphics/animation type stuff. I remember there's a fair few of you guys who have at some stage gone there and no doubt have experience with these graduates. She asked me about it because her son really wants to go there because it's quicker (2 years compared to 4) and is "focussed" or something more than QUT.

Any truth to this?

She was also quoted $34k for a 2 year course, so yeah any advice would be good, I searched the topic but got results from 2002 of people saying it was balls and yes I'm going to print this thread out and show her.

Cheers

I did the Bachelor of Interactive Entertainment (animation major) at Qantm, graduating in 2006. I'm still not entirely sure whether I think the course was good or not.

On one hand, it got me an animation job at Krome pretty much straight away, which is obviously a big plus, and I did learn what I needed for the job while studying at Qantm.

On the other hand, they really don't have very high standards for the work the students produce. They let through a lot of mediocre work, meaning that a lot of graduates get a rude shock when they go to find a job afterwards, because it turns out that they're just not that good.

If her son wants to do it, the best thing for him to do is to REALLY make sure that this is something he wants to do, because unless he has that drive, he probably wont apply himself as hard as he should. It's not a hard course to pass, but if he wants to be sure that he'll land a job at the end of it, he's really got to stand out from the rest.

In summary, yes, he'll probably learn what he needs to know at Qantm, but it's up to him to make sure he makes the most of it. I'm sure that's a general rule for most courses, but I'm pretty sure that this is one of the few courses where the piece of paper at the end of it means sweet f***-all.

I haven't proof-read this post at all, so excuse any mistakes.

i graduated from QANTM in 2002 with a diploma in software engineering (games dev). It was 'ok', but i pretty much agree with Midda. Its not something you can just sit through and do mediocre at and expect to be able to get a job afterwards. You need to push yourself a long way above and beyond the degree requirements to make yourself employable at the end of it.

im actually currently at qantm, final year in my bach of interactive entertainment with an animation major.

Like all uni courses there's a few off subjects, but they're not to bad and give you a break from the everyday work load. Like it has been said, this isn't a uni course you can just cruise through (i did dick all work, never showed to QUT and still got 5s). Here im pulling like 30+ hrs a week every week to get 6-7's.

Also with the price, u can get FEE help now (pretty much same as hecs ... government pays for u... and garnish your s***). This just got brought in this trimester.

Note... it's trimesters not semesters, if you bitch about workload don't even bother.

Pros.

Most teachers know their s***, the 3d teachers have come from the games industry and know a s*** load about the programs and where you're going.

If you're a geek, it's heaven there... im just play casual games so im kinda the lowest of the geeks :d

Much more personal relationships with the tutors, some of us go out drinking etc.

Cons.

PCs... they've updated a few labs and will be updating more, but i've had to deal with some s*** machines in the past as i've been going through these. So if you're going to go to QANTM expect to get the dodgier PCs while the final years get the better ones (because we f***ing deserve it).

But ultimately if you like it (which i do) you'll do well, if u treat it like most people treat uni courses as a way to make a buck.. you'll probably crash and burn.

If you wana see what my course does...

http://brettholton.cgsociety.org/gallery/

These are a few pieces that i've created in the year i've been here.

edit: while i think about it, if you end up doing animation... some pretty cool stuff

life drawing subject, basic / advanced 2d animation (you make a small flash animation (hand drawn)), basic / advanced 3d (be it rigging, modelling, texturing etc), scripting / storyboarding, game design (we got to make our own game scope), group work (like all group work u got duds which piss u off to all hell, it's what ruined the subject for me).. but it was good we made a side scrolling game. Video editing and s***, that's mostly all first year.

Also, treat every assignment like you want to put it on your portfolio, because not many people i know have a lot to put on theirs.

last edited by Raider at 19:19:26 26/May/08

last edited by Raider at 21:15:53 26/May/08

Most teachers know they're s***,

hate to be the spelling nazi, but that could mean 2 very different things

Most teachers know they're s***, the 3d teachers have come from the games industry and know a s*** load about the programs and where you're going.

I've got to pull you up here. Yes, some of the lecturers know what they're talking about, but even with my mere 16 months industry experience, I'm quite sure I've got better skills in animation compared to some of the people there who were teaching it. That's not to say that what they're telling you is wrong, but I know for a fact that some of them are teaching skills they haven't developed themselves, which makes them far less able to properly judge your work.

For example, does Brian Vining still teach there? I remember him teaching us our introduction to animating, which back then looked impressive. Looking back on it now, though, it wouldn't land him a job. He's more trained in modeling levels and vehicles, but they had him teaching animation as well.

Tony White, on the other hand (I'm not sure if he's still there either), was a great animation teacher. Come to think of it, I don't recall ever seeing any of his personal animations, but he could always tell you what you need to do to improve your work. Most of the things that were in my animation reel (which got me my job) were things I'd done in his classes. If he's no longer there, the animation side of Qantm is at a serious loss.

But, I'm an animator, so they're the parts of the course which stick in my mind the most. I learned how to do everything else on the art side while I was there, but only enough to get me by, and developing those skills to something which I could use to get a different job is something I'll have to do in my own time.

EDIT: f***, I just realised that the OP said it's $34k now. I'm not really surprised, but it was $24k when I started at the end of 2004.

last edited by Midda at 19:38:59 26/May/08

I did a QANTM course right back when they first introduced it. It wasn't up to scratch and it has been improved since then. It didn't matter anyway as I didn't push myself to the degree that was needed.

There was only a small handful of people that went on to work in the industry, the best programmer by far was head hunted by QANTAS. This bloke pushed himself far beyond what was required to pass. A good chunk of the people there had talent, only a small handful utilized it to the full though.

As has been stated above, the only people to get jobs from the QANTM course are those that produce a lot of good quality work during their time there.

The QUT/QANTM course is only as focused as the person doing it. The mother needs to ask herself if her son will push himself, she will know if he will or wont. It may be better for the kid to get a s*** kicker job somewhere until he is ready.

i did graphic design at QCA Southbank (Griffith).

sounds similar in the way that they passed VERY mediocre students. anybody who applied themselves got a job though. But i think that is the same with any creative industry: if you are genuinely into it you will do alright.

What everyone else said...

Degree/Diploma is only worth what you get out of it, if you go for 4's your not going to get much out of it. Networking, design, concepts, some skills and a decent portfolio are the key. Essentially its just paying for the opportunity to gain those things, where you go doesn't really matter too much.

last edited by simul at 21:10:31 26/May/08

^^ fixed the double meaning in my original post

Don't know Brian, Tony is still there but he's only part time now working on his own project in his other time.

Some of the guys i was referring to were people like Tony Takoushi (spelling on last name?), the other Tony, Steve.. there's a new 3d tutor called Jake who's come in from the industry, worked on the new Hellboy game being released whenever the movie comes out.

When you compare the QUT course to QANTM, i was 1 of the original people in the QUT course when it came out, and it's the only course i've actually went f*** it this is a waste of time with. Some subjects with QANTM are a bit shakey.. like a law course.. if i need to know that i'll go to a lawyer, but it did help me know what i can get away with when dealing with cops :D

But like anything Midda, every game i've played i can pretty much honestly say i could probably make the models in them, except some of the s*** from crysis, that's some insane normal mapping.

But like most things, you only get out what you put in :)