Here is some good news for animation students. During the past 90 days, more than 4,000 jobs were advertised online that required animation skills, according to real-time business intelligence outfit Wanted Analytics. Demand for animators is growing due to increasing need for vfx in video games, movies, television and online outlets. Hiring over the past 90 days grew 25% year-over-year versus the same time period in 2011 and reached a new high during March.
These skills are most commonly required for technical and creative occupations, such as Web Developers, Graphic Designers, Multi-Media Artists, and Computer Software Engineers. In addition, with the high growth in hiring demand by employers for animators, the volume of job ads for teachers at colleges and universities to teach students these skills has grown 39% over the past year.
Potential candidates for animator jobs are often required to have knowledge or experience of several tools and technologies, including:
1. Adobe Photoshop
2. Motion graphics
3. Microsoft PowerPoint
4. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
5. JavaScript
6. Microsoft Office
7. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
8. Adobe InDesign
9. Oracle Java
10. Adobe Dreamweaver
The five metropolitan areas with the highest volume of job ads for animation skills were Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington (DC), and Seattle. Although recruiters in Los Angeles posted the most ads of any city, hiring demand over the last 90 days actually declined about 2% compared to the same time period in 2012. In comparison, recruiters in Washington, DC saw the most year-over-year growth over the past 90 days, with 77% more job ads than were seen online during 2011.
Nationwide, companies sourcing candidates with animation skill sets are likely to find them hard-to-recruit, with varying degrees of difficulty in each location depending on the available talent supply. According to the Hiring Scale, employers in Washington, DC are currently experiencing more difficulties than average when recruiting candidates with these skills. While growth in demand for this skill has grown, the local talent pool of qualified professionals does not meet the needs of employers. Recruiters in this area are likely to compete heavily to attract talent and may experience a longer time-to-fill than many other areas across the United States. The Hiring Scale also shows that the best places to recruit Animators are currently Grand Rapids (Michigan), Oxnard-Ventura (California), and Allentown (Pennsylvania). These areas are likely to fill job openings faster than the rest of the United States. Job ads in these areas are posted for an average of about 5 weeks, almost 2 weeks shorter than in Washington, DC.
The Hiring Scale measures conditions in local job markets by comparing hiring demand and labor supply. The Hiring Scale is part of the WANTED Analytics platform that offers business intelligence for the talent marketplace.
To see additional charts and detail, please visit www.wantedanalytics.com/insight.
The Hiring Scale is available at www.hiringscale.com.
Posting a short term spike in demand as being representative of the long term is irresponsible and a disservice to students. The analytics company mentioned is deeply involved with the colleges in the States and may be pumping the importance of the numbers. Also, the programs mentioned have more to do with motion graphics and graphics than they do with animation.
Posting a short term spike in demand as being representative of the long term is irresponsible and a disservice to students. The analytics company mentioned is deeply involved with the colleges in the States and may be pumping the importance of the numbers. Also, the programs mentioned have more to do with motion graphics and graphics than they do with animation.
Yes, but I do my art by drawing with a pencil and paper. If I thought I had a hope in hell, I’d take my portfolio on the rounds, even at the (chronological) age of 51!
If you are talented, you absolutely do have a chance. Your age is not as big of an obstacle as it seems popular to believe. There are men and women over the age of 45 working as animators at some of the top companies. Many of whom had switch careers to animation from a completely unrelated field. Take your analog knowledge and take it to digital. There are 2D software packages out there that are fairly inexpensive and very user friendly. Check out Digicel; it is used at places such as Disney Animation Studios for 2D.
Yes, but be prepared to never see your family again because of insane hours……which can possibly lead to health issues.
This is why offering a Health Plan in essential. But companies are being stingy. If they paid a little more, they could hire enough people to avoid the overtime, and most of all hire effective managers who know how to run an efficient production process.
Astonishing as it may seem, one does not really reach professional proficiency until one reaches their 40s. Being 45 does not spell senility. There were people still working in the industry well past 60. It’s not age that is the issue, it’s still talent, skill, and most of all knowledge, the type that is acquired after many years of experience.
I don’t understand this article…. Animation is not Web Development….
These analytics need to separate software and support functions from art and animation jobs, otherwise the information is practically useless. As I scour the job listings there are perhaps 50 support jobs to one art/animation job.
JT
Does anyone know how to use Microsoft Office for animation?
It was possible in the 97 version. I remember doing it when I was 11
Just because there has been an increase in animation instructors doesn’t mean anything. It means there probably isn’t enough work going on in the private sector for this field which is why overqualified animators are spending their time instructing. They are giving false hope and handing out degrees to students who will also not be able to find work and probably end up teaching also. My career is in web and graphic design. When I start seeing the best designers out there teaching, it is usually because of a slow economy.
ok