Can You Get a Job After an Animation Bootcamp?

After completing an animation bootcamp, yes, you can find a job in animation, but you are not guaranteed to find work. One of the driving ideas behind bootcamps is graduating job-ready students with in-demand skills who will be prepared for an entry-level animation job. Many bootcamp curricula are designed to use real-world animation challenges, and in-demand software and tools, and prepare students for successful futures in animation with things like career support, mentorship, internships, and demo reel development. Many people are drawn to bootcamps because they want a fast education and better chances of securing employment in animation. If you’ve already completed a college degree program, attending a bootcamp can help improve your earning potential. It is possible to get a job after an animation bootcamp, but be aware that you’ll need to use every interview as a building block, learning something new from each prospective employer to help you to become the best hiring candidate you can be. Remember, bootcamps can teach you the animation skills you need to join the workforce, but it’s your job to make yourself marketable.

What Job Prospects and Career Paths are available for Animation Bootcamp Graduates?

After graduating from a Noble Desktop animation certificate bootcamp, you’ll be able to set out on the animation path of your choosing. A few of the possibilities include multimedia artistry, video game design, layout artistry, and motion graphics. Establishing yourself in one of these animation careers or another can change your life in many ways and can be very fulfilling. Many animation career paths include the use of design theory, animation principles, scriptwriting, 3D modeling, compositing, specialized software like Premiere Pro, and sound design. There are many roles animation professionals can specialize in from creating special or visual effects to designing realistic-looking textures, backgrounds, and crowds. Technical and creative skills are a must in any animation career, but an amazing demo reel with the training to back it up goes a very long way as you begin your job search.

Are Animation Bootcamps Good for Beginners?

Animation bootcamps can be a great fit for just about any learner of any experience level. While there are bootcamps that are specifically designed for beginners, you’ll also find bootcamps for more advanced and experienced learners. Although many bootcamps are beginner-friendly, they may have some prerequisites. Some of the more common prerequisites you may find when researching animation bootcamps include basic knowledge of computers or familiarity with specific software like Photoshop. Oftentimes you can meet the prerequisites through free online resources. As an alternative to prerequisites, some bootcamps will offer students pre-work, which is simply preparatory work that enrolled students need to finish before the start of class to ensure that students are starting from the same baseline and improve learning outcomes. 

Someone who has no prior experience with animation will require many hours of practice, commitment, and perseverance to gain professional-level skills that will make them an ideal hiring candidate. After completing an animation bootcamp it is a great idea to start looking for internships or apprenticeships. These types of programs can help you gain the kind of experience that employers are looking for in their animation professionals while also allowing you to make more connections within the field of animation. You’ll also want to have more than coursework in your demo reel to demonstrate that you have a strong command of a variety of animation skills. If you have adjacent experience in areas like graphic design, web development, or UX design, you can leverage that alongside your animation bootcamp training to begin your animation career.

What Career Services Do Animation Bootcamps Offer?

Training facilities are often judged according to how well their students do after completing the training, so most bootcamps are invested in helping you along with various career services. Every bootcamp is different. Even bootcamps offered by the same training facility can be different from one another regarding the career services offered. Oftentimes, you’ll find that the depth and scope of the curriculum will be reflected in some of the career services that are offered. For instance, a bootcamp that is geared towards teaching a single animation software like Autodesk Maya or Adobe Premiere Pro, will likely come with fewer bonuses than a career-focused bootcamp that focuses on multiple animation software programs and building a demo reel. 

A variety of career-support services are offered by training centers. Some popular services include hosting job fairs and networking events, providing internships, resume assistance, interview preparation, job boards, and workshops. While each bootcamp won’t offer all of these support services, you’ll likely find a few. Job fairs and networking events are helpful because they bring interested employers and peers together with job-seeking animation students. These types of events increase visibility for everyone involved while also helping everyone reach their goals. Resume assistance and interview preparation help students learn how to best present themselves professionally. This assistance sometimes includes social profile suggestions as well for a more well-rounded approach to introducing yourself professionally. 

What Jobs Will an Animation Bootcamp Qualify Me For?

Depending on your previous background, an animation bootcamp can qualify you for an entry-level career in film or television as a Motion Graphics Designer, Visual Designer, Web Designer, or Video Editor. The responsibilities of these jobs and others will vary according to the employer, but recent graduates can be good candidates for these positions with less than four years of experience in the field. When you are interviewing for any position as a new bootcamp graduate, you’ll have to rely on your demo reel heavily, so getting plenty of practice outside of your training is crucial to helping you hone your animation skills and land your first job in the field. While some employers will prefer hiring candidates who have a college degree, it is not a requirement for most positions because animation is such a results-driven field. You can become an Animator without a degree. 

Here are some of what you can do in these entry-level positions. As a Motion Graphics Designer, you’ll be ​​creating animated text and graphics to use in a variety of media, including websites, social media platforms, and online videos as well as in film and television. Video Editors shape content in many ways including motion graphics to enhance visual content in engaging ways to make it more coherent, visually appealing, and professional. Visual Designers make content elements more dynamic in many ways, including through graphic design and motion graphics, to attract and engage audiences. A Web Designer applies motion graphics and graphic designs to make static graphics more dynamic and appealing for online users. 

Can I Freelance After Completing an Animation Bootcamp?

Freelancing is a great option for animation bootcamp graduates who are self-motivated and want to work on a broad range of animation projects. Many people want to freelance because it allows them to have a better work-life balance, live abroad, or be in control of their income in a different way than their full-time salaried counterparts. Freelance Animators are quite common, and they have a knack for time management, communication, and meeting deadlines for completing tasks. You’ll also find plenty of opportunities for freelance work with motion graphics that provide scheduling and location flexibility for people who have skills with animation, visual effects, and video editing but crave a bit of independence.

Working as a freelance animation professional allows people who have the appropriate skills, experience, and talent to work with organizations that need someone with specific technical skills to get tasks done without committing to hiring a permanent staff member. Other organizations may want a Visual Designer, Special Effects Artist, or Video Editor on an as-needed basis, which can work for individuals who appreciate the potential income available for working with design technology without the obligation of a rigid work schedule characteristic of typical full-time jobs. Although freelancing has its merits, it’s not for everyone. If you don’t want to lose the stability of guaranteed income and benefits like automatic 401k and health insurance, freelance animation may not be the path for you. 

Are Animation Bootcamps Good for Upskilling?

Current animation professionals know how important professional development is. If you’re interested in upskilling, an animation bootcamp can be a great option. Not only are they time efficient, but also add to your resume. Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to keep some tasks in-house, or established in a related career and want to expand your breadth of knowledge, a bootcamp can help you learn some foundational skills that can have a long-lasting impact on your future endeavors. Upskilling is a great way to invest in yourself and become more marketable to employers and potential clients. It gives you more mobility in your career and can deepen your expertise. Bootcamps, although they are usually time efficient, can be expensive. You’ll need to weigh the benefits against the cost. Some animation bootcamps take a much deeper exploration than someone looking to upskill may want, and may not be what you need to solve your existing challenges or meet your current goals. 

What Does an Animation Bootcamp Offer Over Other Means of Finding a Job?

If you’re serious about learning professional-level animation skills several choices are ranging from a college degree program to self-education. Those who are self-taught have a much higher barrier to entering the animation workforce than a college graduate who have had a minimum of two years of in-depth and immersive instruction and training. Self-taught Animators have much more to prove than those who hold animation degrees from a four-year college. But in the middle of these two options is animation bootcamps. Bootcamps offer an immersive and fast education in animation that can help you enter the workforce in a fraction of the time it takes to earn a degree. Many of the same career services that are offered by colleges and universities are also offered by training facilities hosting animation bootcamps. Animation bootcamps also often offer demo reel and resume development support to help their students find employment in today’s competitive tech labor market.

Not too far away from bootcamps on the animation learning spectrum are on-the-job training programs. These programs are often designed to keep students locked into a job for a specified term after completion. While this is comforting for many beginning Animators, it also means that you’ll have little flexibility while you continue to gain professional experience. You’ll need to be clear on the parameters of employment including the length of the term and non-compete clauses. These programs may not include as many career services as bootcamps, however, as many are designed to funnel you into a specific employer after completing the training.