How to change profession if university education is useless

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We graduated, worked in our specialty and realized that in fact you want to do something completely different. Together with we will tell you how to get a new profession.

Everything is bad. I’m tired of work, and I don’t know what else to do. How to be?

If you already have a secondary vocational or higher education, you can get an additional specialty and so change your profession. You will master the current knowledge and skills, receive a diploma of professional retraining - and forward into a new life!

As a rule, such training takes less time than the first education. On average, this will take from several months to a couple of years. But keep in mind that DPO is not a master's, postgraduate or doctoral studies, so the academic degree will remain the same.

Study? But on who?

The creative industry is booming now. At the same time, experts say that there are three times less real specialists in this area than the market needs. In Moscow, the most demanded professions in 2018 were Internet marketers and designers. Demand for mobile interface designers (UX / UI) is also expected to grow. According to the study, in Moscow they receive 110-120 thousand rubles, and the maximum salary is 250 thousand.

Okay, this is all great, but I've already spent five years at the institute! How much more can you?

You should not limit your studies to just getting a formal education at a university. In the world, the trend for lifelong learning is lifelong learning. Scientific progress does not stand still, university knowledge, unfortunately, is becoming obsolete. To keep up, you need to learn new information and skills throughout your life.

The British Higher School of Art and Design (BHSAD) creates continuing education programs based on the lifelong learning principle, focusing on changes in the industry. Students gain knowledge and skills that employers will expect from them tomorrow. Each semester, the program is reviewed and supplemented.

There is no correspondence education here. During the training, they focus on practice: students are engaged in sewing, jewelry, ceramics and printing workshops, a photography studio, a VR laboratory, a 3D printing and prototyping workshop. Therefore, there is no remote format in British: it is impossible to remotely organize a full-fledged educational process.

You won't have to quit your previous job and devote 100% of your time to study. Almost all classes are held two or three times a week on weekdays from 19:00 to 22:00 and one weekend. If you live in Moscow and work 5 days a week according to a standard schedule, you can combine this with your studies without any problems. And employers are often aware of the fact that you devote time to education, and are accommodating, making a personal schedule, taking into account the schedule of classes.

HM. And what will they teach me here?

In Britain, continuing professional education programs are divided into five areas:

• Communication design. It trains graphic designers, UX / UI designers, digital designers, interface designers, art directors and photographers for the commercial and fashion industries.
• Spatial design. At this faculty, interior design is taught from scratch, as well as "pumping over" architects for the design of public spaces.
• Visual arts. Programs for those who want to become an illustrator, artist or art manager, to engage in contemporary scenography.
• Fashion & Style. Everything that is somehow connected with fashion: image-making, fashion and jewelry design, fashion-video and photography.
• Business and Marketing. The programs provide a complete set of knowledge in order to manage a brand or company.

The main principle of any program is an interdisciplinary approach. A modern specialist must understand not only his business, but also understand how related industries work.

It is important for a designer of digital products (mobile applications, web services, and so on) to find a common language with developers and at least at a basic level know how a business functions for which creative solutions are ordered.

Jewelry designers learn more than just sketching, 3D models, and working with metal. A separate block of the program is devoted to intramarket processes: students get acquainted with working sales channels, the basics of positioning and business planning.

Photographers will be helped by knowledge of SMM, trend analysis, team management skills, and marketers and managers - by design thinking.

So, make it clear why a designer also needs to understand business?

Back to interdisciplinarity. If a designer wants to be engaged not only in creativity for the soul, but to create popular things, he will have to be partly a businessman. The product must be brought to the market and made competitive. For this, it is important to know the basics of marketing and be able to manage a team.

For those who want to delve deeper into the study of this area, Britain has options for marketing and business: from a basic course to MBA programs developed in cooperation with MGIMO. Experts in these areas also teach design courses at the BHSAD, and students from different programs can get acquainted and create joint projects with a strong design and business component.

Interesting. But finding a good job requires practical experience. How do I get it?

Thanks to networking. Good old connections still help. In the student community, you will have a lot of chances to make useful contacts. Representatives of leading companies and eminent specialists speak in Britain, curators organize meetings, acquaintances, excursions to the offices of the best employers, students are always welcome at conferences and exhibitions, in the organization of which the BHSAD helps.

In addition, in order to quickly get used to a new field, you need to plunge headlong into the industry. It is difficult to do this on your own: first you need to spend a lot of time studying, and you will have to start work from the starting positions. In British, students try their hand at solving problems of real customers who, upon completion of the project, can offer employment.

• In the Marketing and Brand Management course, students developed a commercial vehicle rental service for Gazprombank Autoleasing and collected marketing tools for the Pushkin Museum.
• Students of "Jewelry Design" collection of jewelry for the exhibition in the New Tretyakov Gallery.
• Tele2, MTS, Yandex, Mail.ru, Alfa-Bank and other large companies ordered projects of UX- / UI-design programs.

Also, while studying, it is important to participate in exhibitions and competitions, this will be a bonus when looking for a job. For example:

• A student of the specialty "Interior Design" Ekaterina Tkachenko, a competition among freshmen and presented a project of a room in a boutique hotel at the interior and construction exhibition BATIMAT RUSSIA - 2019, where she performed on a par with eminent designers.
• Digital Product Design students received the prestigious Red Dot: Best of the Best - 2019 award in the Brands & Communication Design category for a mobile navigator project for the visually impaired.
• Art students (illustrators, artists, scenographers), with the support of the school, regularly organize, where they act not only as authors of works, but also as curators.

In short, when you're done with your studies, you will have a decent portfolio and helpful connections.

There is a problem: I do not fully understand what exactly I want to do. How to choose a suitable specialty?

It will be in Britanka on August 31st. Curators and teachers will tell you about training programs and help you choose the right one. To make sure you have enough space, apply for participation in advance.

You can get to know the profession better in short courses from 2 to 4 days. In August and September, the intensives "Design of living quarters" and "Styling and image making" will take place. Classes are taught by the same teachers as in additional education programs.

If you feel that you do not have enough basic knowledge, sign up for. They are suitable even for those who have not dealt with design at all. Classes last six months and run in two streams: from November and February. You will take a course on the history of design, master the work with graphic editors and take vocational guidance, and then you will prepare for admission to a suitable specialty.

Convinced, I will try to enter. What do we have to do?

Go to the page of the program you want to master and click the "Apply" button. Next, you need to fill out a small questionnaire: tell us about your education and work experience, choose the stream in which you will take the entrance tests.

Instead of exams, there are interviews with school representatives. For creative professions, you need to build a portfolio: any of your projects in graphics, web design, photography or decorative arts.

The cost of training for additional education programs starts at 345,000 rubles for an annual course. If the study lasts more than one semester, you can pay in installments.

Applications are accepted until the end of September (if there are still places in the group). Studies begin on October 1 and, depending on the specialty, lasts from 6 months to 2 years.