How to change a profession if a university education turned out to be useless
Miscellaneous / / June 29, 2022
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 relevant knowledge and skills, receive a diploma of professional retraining - and forward to 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 FVE is not a master's, graduate or doctoral program, so the academic degree will remain the same.
To study? But on who?
The creative industry is on the rise. At the same time, experts they sayCreative Russia: position for exportthat there are three times less real specialists in this field than the market needs. In Moscow, the most popular professions in 2018 becomeExperts named the most demanded professions in Moscow internet marketer and designer. The demand for mobile interface (UX/UI) designers is also expected to increase. According to the study, in Moscow they receive 110-120 thousand rubles, and the maximum salary is 250 thousand.
Okay, that's all great, but I've already spent five years at the institute! How much more can you?
It is not necessary to reduce studies only to obtaining 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, becomes obsolete. To keep up, you need to learn new information and skills throughout your life.
The British Higher School of Design (BHSAD) creates additional education programs based on the principle of lifelong learning, focusing on industry changes. Students receive the knowledge and skills that employers will expect from them tomorrow. Each semester the program is reviewed and supplemented.
There is no distance education here. During the training, emphasis is placed on practice: students are engaged in sewing, jewelry, ceramics and printing workshops, a photography studio, a VR lab, a 3D printing and prototyping workshop. Therefore, there is no remote format in Britain: it is impossible to organize a full-fledged educational process remotely.
You don’t have to quit your previous job and give 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 on one of the weekends. If you live in Moscow and work 5 days a week according to a standard schedule, you can easily combine this with your studies. And employers are often sympathetic to the fact that you devote time to education, and meet halfway, making a personal schedule, taking into account the class schedule.
Hm. What will they teach me here?
In Britain, programs of additional professional education 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, and architects are also "pumped" for the design of public spaces.
- Visual Arts. Programs for those who want to become an illustrator, artist or art manager, engage in modern scenography.
- Fashion & Style. Everything related to fashion in one way or another: image-making, fashion and jewelry design, fashion video and photography.
- Business and marketing. 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, to know how the business for which creative solutions.
Jewelry designers learn more than just sketching, 3D modeling and working with metal. A separate block of the program is devoted to intra-market processes: students get acquainted with working sales channels, the basics of positioning and business planning.
Photographers will benefit from knowledge of SMM, trend analysis, team management skills, and marketers and managers - design thinking.
See what else they teach in Britain
So, clarify, why should a designer also understand business?
Back to interdisciplinarity. If a designer wants to be engaged not just in creativity for the soul, but in creating demanded things, he will have to be partly a businessman. The product must be brought to market and made competitive. To do 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, the British has options for marketing and business: from the basic course to MBA programs developed in collaboration with MGIMO. Experts from these areas also teach at BHSAD design courses, and students from different programs can get to know each other and create joint projects with a strong design and business component.
Interesting. But to find a good job, you need practical experience. How to get it?
Thanks to networking. The good old connections still help. In the student community, you will have a lot of chances to get useful contacts. Representatives of leading companies and eminent specialists speak in Britain, curators organize meetings and acquaintances, excursions to the offices of the best employers, students are always welcome at conferences and exhibitions, in the organization of which BHSAD helps.
In addition, in order to quickly get used to a new field, you need to immerse yourself in 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 Britain, students try their hand at solving the problems of real customers who, upon completion of the project, can offer employment.
- During the Marketing and Brand Management course, students developed a commercial vehicle rental service for order Gazprombank Autoleasing company and collected kit marketing tools for the Pushkin Museum.
- Jewelry design students created jewelry collections for the exhibition in the New Tretyakov Gallery.
- Projects of the UX-/UI-design programs were ordered by Tele2, MTS, Yandex, Mail.ru, Alfa-Bank and other large companies.
Also, while studying, it is important to participate in exhibitions and competitions, this will be a bonus when looking for a job. For example:
- Student of the specialty "Interior Design" Ekaterina Tkachenko won competition among first-year students and presented a design for a room in a boutique hotel at the BATIMAT RUSSIA-2019 interior and construction exhibition, where she performed on a par with famous designers.
- Students in the Digital Product Design program received the prestigious Red Dot: Best of the Best - 2019 award in the Brands & Communication Design category for their mobile navigator project for the visually impaired.
- Art students (illustrators, artists, stage designers), with the support of the school, regularly organize Exhibitions, where they act not only as authors of works, but also as curators.
In short, when you finish studying, you will have a decent portfolio and useful connections.
There is a problem: I do not fully understand what exactly I want to do. How to choose the right specialty?
August 31 in Britain will be Open Day. Curators and teachers will talk about training programs and help you choose the right one. To make sure you have enough space, please apply in advance.
You can learn more about the profession at intensives - short courses from 2 to 4 days. In August and September, intensive courses "Design of residential premises" and "Styling and image-making" will be held. Classes are conducted by the same teachers as in the programs of additional education.
If you feel that you lack basic knowledge, sign up for training courses. They are suitable even for those who have never dealt with design at all. Classes last six months and go in two streams: from November and February. You will take a course on the history of design, learn how to work with graphic editors and go through career guidance, and then you will prepare for admission to a suitable specialty.
Convinced, I'll try to do it. 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 short questionnaire: tell us about your education and work experience, select the stream in which you will pass the entrance examinations.
Instead of exams, there are interviews with representatives of the school. For creative specialties, you need to build a portfolio: any of your projects in graphics, web design, photography or decorative arts.
Tuition for additional education programs starts from 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 places left in the group). Studies begin on October 1 and, depending on the specialty, last from 6 months to 2 years.
Apply