Finding a Career in His Hobby

Six years or so after graduating from high school, Robert Schowengerdt realized he wasn't doing anything with his life…or at least not anything he was excited about. Not surprisingly, he wanted to change that by earning a degree. After a few uninspiring classes at a local community college, however, Robert knew it was important that he study something he was interested in.

An avid amateur animator, Robert did a search for schools that offered degrees in animation. He found quite a few. A self-professed "slacker," Robert decided upon the Computer Animation program at IADT Tampa because of how helpful the school was throughout the whole enrollment process. "Since I'm not always on top of things, I appreciated having someone always following up and explaining what I was signing away. None of the other schools were that thorough."

The school has done a really good job of giving me a basic understanding across all the different aspects of animation. Obviously my instructors did a really good job of preparing me for how the real world works.

Robert has found the Academy to be thorough in other ways, too. "I have one quarter to go and I feel like I'm set up to be a good generalist in the field of animation after I graduate," he says. "The school has done a really good job of giving me a basic understanding across all the different aspects of animation."

Robert says he recently went to visit an area animation studio and found that the way they did things was exactly the way he expected them to. "Obviously my instructors did a really good job of preparing me for how the real world works."

Robert is getting ready to put what he has learned in class and what his instructors have taught him about the real world to use in his required internship. (IADT Tampa requires all Computer Animation students to complete an internship before graduating.) He has interviewed at two different Tampa-area animation studios and is waiting to get a call back from one of them. Because these studios often treat internships as extended job interviews, Robert is anxious to see where he'll end up. "I've heard of several people who have gotten hired on at the firm they interned at," he says. "I wouldn't mind if that ended up happening to me too."