Michael Castillo
Digital Media
Jobs in Digital Media
Landing a job within any Digital Media field can be rewarding! While a complex and mixed discipline, digital media allows the pursuer to direct their focus on whatever they may desire. Career selection in this field include: game designer, social media marketing, marketing, video editor, production assistant, visual designer, interior designer, artist/illustrator, web designer, and anything else in between. While obtaining a degree in a related field may be beneficial, an outstanding portfolio may just be the kick employers need. This is so because these artistic careers are well sought after, making the fields very competitive to get into. In other words, if you are talented enough with just the amount of drive, opportunities will await you and making a name for yourself in any area will ultimately be worthwhile.
Becoming a Visual Designer can be far more complicated than one may think. Visual designers achieve visually appealing designs by considering a variety of principles, such as space, hierarchy, proper use of whitespace, balance, contrast, and scale. These elements, as well as others, may take days, weeks or even years to achieve the altogether product. A successful visual design ensures engagement between the customers, a clear message, and a beautiful outlook. Other duties a Visual Designer may have is having basic coding knowledge, designing logos, icons, resizing assets, creating layouts for various of platforms etc. All in all being a Visual designer is oriented toward what a user sees on a screen; unlike other digital media fields where it is more so about behind the scenes work. Aside from what they actually do, Visual Designers make 1% above national average making the average salary a bit over 76 thousand (in New York City) Which in a sense is a decent landing job!
Web App Developers focus on the development of web based applications. These positions are one of the highest paid areas within the digital media spectrum. A Web app developer are the people who complete a variety of computer needs. These include coding for applications, creating page links, uploading web content, developing websites, and installing software programs. The average, annual pay for web developers was roughly $103,000, in 2017. This fast-growing career field is expecting a 24 percent growth in available positions, from now until 2026. So a job as a web developer may be one to consider!
Video/Digital editors is one occupation one may enjoy if they prefer working independently and at their own pace. A video editors job is to primarily manipulate and organize footage to capture a desired essence. They add special effects, music, glitches and plenty more to convey a message. This job can suffice for tons of needs. Including, advertising and video marketing. Most video editors work as freelancers however in some cases production companies may have talented editors on sight. Annual salary for film and video editors was $60,000 in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Overtime, photography has become a liberating career in digital media. Photographers use photography to express themselves and to capture the beautiful things in life. The meaning to
“A picture is a 1000 thousand words” proves to be right in this field. This is so because employers look for talented photographers who can snap break-taking photographs. A decent understanding of digital photography equipment is needed to be successful in this field. Mastering the use of image sensors, picture depth, pixel size and white balance are a few of the skills needed to excel in this field. Aside from snapping photos, photographers use their skills
and knowledge to edit images to further enhance whatever they’re going for. Digital photographers mainly work as independent freelancers and have an annual pay of roughly 33 thousand.
Everyday social media use may turn into a full time job! The use of social media platforms is a huge factor in marketing and branding. Organizations use social media to advertise events, announce new products, and educate the public. These people, known as social media specialists, use social media to sway consumers in their direction. A solid understanding of social media platforms is a necessity for this career in digital media. As for the pay, the annual pay for these specialists was around $56,770, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Another popular job in Digital Media is a videogame designer. In addition to being naturally creative, with conceptual designs, a video game designer must have an extreme level of expertise within a range of softwares. Often, a person working in this career in digital media does so independently, as a consultant. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average salary for a game programmer was $70,000, in 2017. Possibly more, if you work for a larger company, or if you have several clients as an freelancer.
An animator has a career in digital media that brings images to life. Working in the television, marketing, and film industries, an animator creates moving images to illustrate cartoons. For example, spongebob, dora, so on and so forth . In 2017, the average, annual pay for a multimedia artist and animator was $70,530, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
If wanting to make money is your goal, then going for a career in Digital Media is a wise choice. However beware that these career paths come with hard work and dedication! As an undergraduate myself, I spend countless amount of days designing the simplest poster. The simple tasks my professors give me often take days, cause headaches, and often mess up my sleeping schedule. If these small bumps cause all this, I can only imagine what’s yet to come. In spite of this, expanding my mind creativity is the most important factor to me. So, if experiencing all this rain to finally get to my sunny days is something worthwhile then I am willing to pursue that in order to get where I want to be.
