So after 6 weeks or so of looking I’m really excited to say I’ve got a new job, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with who it’s with!

Before I go on to say who, it’s worth saying that I’ve held back from posting any updates about the whole job searching process as, given the url for this site is on my CV, I didn’t want to prejudice my chances or a potential employer’s opinions by musing on how interviews and applications went in blog posts here. However, I can now summarise the process fairly succinctly…

• There were a lot less jobs for Creative Technologists than I hoped there might be
• 3D non-technical skills pay really (and in my view unfairly) badly
• There’s a lot of interest in Unity/Unreal/VR developers but you generally need to have experience in gaming studios
• Creative Director roles still(!) assume you were at one stage an Art Director or Copywriter so my more digital specialisations worked against me
• I saw most interest from recruiters for Technical roles but…
• A lot of those look for either full stack skills or enterprise platform architecture experience, not really my thing!

So, you might be able to tell that I did quite a lot of job applying but not a lot of job interviewing. In point of fact the company who has hired me was my first and only interview. I think I fell into a pattern of applying for something every day to attain a sense of achievement but it’s a short-lived fix. On reflection I’d have been better focusing on only applying for the jobs where I really stood a great chance of being in the top 10% of applicants (LinkedIn Premium is really good for giving you this insight). Focus on quality not quantity of applications would be my advice.

So, to the role in question. I’m really thrilled to say I’ve been hired as Technical Director at Stink Studios. Stink Studios! Of Honda ‘The Other Side’ fame. Or ‘Inside Abbey Road’, with Google. If you’d asked me on the day I first finished up at MRM who my top companies to work for would be, Stink Studios would have definitely been in the top three. So much of what they produce and the way they go about it is exactly what I’m passionate about creating. I guess that must have come across in the interview! 😉

I don’t want to say too much about the interview process itself other than that I think the Showreel got me to the first interview and my PowerPoint deck got me to the second. My new line manager was kind/patient/interested enough to sit through the entire deck so even though it meant the interview overran, it obviously achieved its intended purpose!

So my career has seen me rise up the ranks to Creative Director and now transition through Creative Technology Director to Technical Director. I don’t think many people get to do that and I’m both grateful for the opportunity and proud of the work I’ve put in to make that story a credible proposition to my new employer.

So, excitable selfies in the new office to follow. In the meantime I hope these blog posts prove useful to someone else looking for work. Hang on in there, you’ll get something you deserve with a little focus and perseverance!

Feels good to write this post. So after three months, 5.74Gb (not including source files), and ~9,000,000 vertices I’ve finally uploaded the reel to Vimeo. Get in! It’s set to private for the time being while I make some key additions to this site – not least an About section, always useful when you’re looking for work. 😉

In reflecting on the work I’ve put into the reel, and the time it’s taken, I’m struck by two things. First, it has undeniably been an indulgence. I doubt many people get to take 3 months out of their career and devote so much time and energy to polishing something to this extent. The pressure to find work doubtless means ‘good enough’ wins over ‘perfect’ in most cases. I’ve been fortunate in that my tenure at MRM meant I’ve had a bit of financial breathing room on leaving and I’ve been able to translate that into really crafting something I could be proud of.

And that brings me onto the second observation: I honestly don’t think I could have done any less. I haven’t striven for perfection: my relative novice experience with After Effects and some VFX techniques means shortcomings in those areas will be obvious to more experienced specialists. But I have absolutely wanted to ensure the work featured is at the highest level of execution I can offer. There are still a hundred things I could change in it but the return on investment at this stage is not worth the additional time spent. It’s good enough for me, and I’m likely to be its harshest critic. We’ll see what people think!

Spent today mapping project tasks in Trello and catching up with an old colleague. Hadn’t used Trello before but I like it’s stripped back drag and drop approach. Going to be useful as I try and coordinate 8 parallel workstreams! Had a great catchup with Louis from weareformation.com. Good to chat about the industry and developments in 3D. Worth checking them out if you’re looking for animation work.