016 — AMA: Being Self Taught vs. Going to Art School

In this episode, I answer an AMA (Ask Me Anything) question involving whether it's better to be self-taught or go to art/design school.

The short answer is, in my own personal opinion, you don't need to go to school for design. You should definitely take courses to learn essential art and drawing skills, but when it comes to design, you can easily pick that up on your own accord.

When you go to college, you're spending a large amount of money for a piece of paper at the end of 4-6 years (or more) of taking classes, some of which you'll never need or don't even pertain to your career path. It becomes a trap that has drawn in so many creatives (like myself) into thinking we need a college education to be successful in the creative world.

Nuggets of Wisdom:

1) Is College the Right Answer Decision for You. - Only you can adequately answer that question. I'll be the first to admit that having a college degree is a good fall back in case you decide to switch career paths or have it as a fallback. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have gotten a degree in business or marketing. I even have a dream of when I'm old and retired from getting a degree in history and teaching courses at some university.

Yea that's right, you just read me say that I want to eventually go back to college. The reason I say that is because it's our own choice to go and get degrees and spend tons of money that we may never pay back. Just make sure that you're not going to do it for someone else, that you're going to college for YOU.

2) Learn On Your Own Time & Never Stop Learning! - Whether you go to college or not, spend your own personal time, your free time, learning the craft you want to work in. While I was in school, I realized that my classes weren't teaching me much in what I wanted to do for my career, so I looked elsewhere and found courses, reached out to professionals already in the professions and asked them questions.

Even today, as I'm writing this, I'm 28 years old, graduated from college 6 years ago, and I'm still spending half an hour to 2 hours a day learning something new or reading more to improve my knowledge base. So don't think that just because you're out of school or a "grown adult" that you're done learning. Go out and buy a book and read it this weekend. Plan to learn something new each day (whether it progresses your career or not).

3) It Doesn't Matter Today, It Matters What You Do in the Future. - As you read this or listen to this episode, you could be a ditch digger, working at Staples or working as a bank teller, what you do today is just a means to an end. Its what you do tomorrow that really matters, and the day after that and so on. If you want to become a product designer, but you're currently making change for sweet old ladies for your day job, then spend your nights taking online courses and watching YouTube videos to grow the skill set of what you want to do.

We all start somewhere in our path for knowledge, and you don't have to spend $100,000 to become a success. Sometimes its as cheap as $14.99/mo for a Skillshare subscription or free with YouTube.

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