🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm from the paste-up photostat days, as well, by way of "I want to be a cartoonist someday, but I'll settle for commercial art to pay the bills" career choice.

My uncle, a self taught IC electronics hobbyist hired by Compaq with no formal training, told me back in '73 I'ld better forgo art and turn to computers. He said all imaging would be manipulated by tiny light bulbs turned on/off by "ones and zeros" Morse type code.

At the age of 13 it seemed too fantastic, complex and disappointing and I told him he was full of it. He then showed me his crude computer he made out of a cigar box and red, green and blue Christmas lights to prove his point. I still didn't want to believe him. I thought no way they could get light bulbs down to the size of a pinhead.

And now I come before you as a disillusioned unemployed self-taught cartoonist/production artist/graphic designer/digital imaging researcher with information overload and wondering from where the next change is coming.

And now with the internet, it seems the entire communication industry is saturated with tech, talent and content. And when you consider the outsourcing that's going on across all levels of skill based employment, how do you set fair pricing? How do you keep up? We're forced to becoming a nation of brokers where talent, skill and craft is a push button away, subject to the lowest bidder.

I'm trying to figure out where to compete in all this. What direction to take?

Do I teach? Anyone with an internet connection can learn this stuff. I did.

Do I create content? With templates, royalty fee and free stock art and what can be found on the internet in abundance, as well as "20 somethings" do it in their sleep, how cheap and how fast do I have to create?

Do I freelance or work for someone? Tried both, very hard to be accepted when you're unknown from being out of the loop teaching yourself this stuff because you cant' afford to go $20,000 or so in debt attending a tech school. And only then at best land an entry level position. And besides, I don't trust institutionalized learning, anyway.

Do I become a tech support guy? What are the job parameters in that? I've been a creative person for so long, learning code is impossible to keep in my head. I'ld strictly have to be a GUI end user tech guy. This I'ld like to try, but it usually requires a degree.

Is there a way to assess skill level in all of this that doesn't ask you to pay so much?

Sorry for the rant. I'm just a bit dazed and confused on what I'm an expert at in all this and would like some advise.

Just a thought, maybe I could be a career counselor? XD