Working at VFS

During the course of my life and career, I have been fortunate enough to call Vancouver Film School a place of study and work for many years.

From Technical Lead to Teaching Assistant.

My first industry job was at an unknown company at the time called Ironclad games. A few employees from Barking Dog left to set up their own studio focusing on creating their vision for a Homeworld-type RTS space opera. I was thrown into the fire as not only their first employee but the only person on staff with any 3D knowledge. I was given the role of Lead Technical artist and worked closely with the Engine Programmer to get everything in place so we could create a visually stunning game. With it being my first job and having no experience in balancing work and life I quickly found myself getting burnt out. Instead of packing it in, I reached out to VFS about any openings. I was asked to come on board as a teaching assistant. While it may seem like it was a step back. That year I can honestly say helped me gain a lot of knowledge that went beyond what I learned on the job and at school. Learning to work with and fix inexperienced individual work built a solid foundation for me which I still use to this day as a Supervisor.

Mentorship and Guidance to be a Successful Employee

Few years gone. Had the chance to come back to VFS as an industry mentor. While critiquing and helping solve technical issues is part of the job. I tried to use that time to impart some wisdom to my students. Much of what VFS teaches is technical and artistic. Since the course isn't only a year, isn't much time to emphasize the importance of being a good employee and someone wants to work with. I used to spend my time after my weekly rounds sitting with each of my students and talking about the day-to-day of what the job is like. Explaining to them how small the industry is. That their peers maybe their boss one day. Even going over resumes and how to act in interviews. Things that can be easily overlooked. I enjoyed my time at the school and hope to go down that road again in the future.