[crossword]

Hi
I apologize if this isn't the right place to ask this, but I saw no category devoted to animation.

Can you please answer the following questions:

Is there a demand for animators in the west, especially the US and Canada?

During the IT boom there was a demand for software engineers. Is there now a demand for people who know animation?

I am an Indian woman living in India. I have a Masters degree in English Literature and only very basic computer skills. I tried to learn programming but found it too difficult.

I would like to immigrate to the west. Will I be able to do so if I take a course in animation now? I believe animation is anyway not taught in colleges here, so even having an MCA would not have helped me learn that.

So would I be able to immigrate on the strength of having done a six-month course in animation or would any US or Canadian employer want me to also have degrees in computer applications?

Perhaps there isn’t the same demand for animators that there was for programmers?

How much, if any, knowledge of programming would I need to have to learn animation? Because someone told me I require no knowledge of programming at all to learn animation.

I would be very grateful if you could answer my questions and clear up my doubts. Thank you very much for your time.

[Duane in Japan]

Your question directly is can you migrate to the West based on your animation skills, or your computer skills. In the same sentence you are saying you do not possess these skills but it is your dream to possess these skills.

I am sure you are still young and that you have time to learn these skills, SO, I recommend to you that you migrate to the West based on the skill set that you do have right now and work on your dream set after you get here. If school is inexpensive where you are in India then continue with your programming education, the MS.Net Framework and all that it has to offer including C# language which is primary in gaming or C++, the older language but you have to stay up to date.

India is overloaded with computer people I think and you are going to need to complete with all of them in the computer world. You need a resume to get a job anywhere, when I think Indian people, I think computer smart. Continue your education and get a minor in programming, build something for your portfolio.

Everyone already knows that Indian people can already speak good English, the same as the Philipino people, and they are computer smart also, lucky for you, most Philipinos that come to the West are Nurses. That is also a high demand job.

I am learning Visual Basic and it is difficult for me too, but there are so many resources available on line and it is taught in college, if I would only make the time to go, I am 44 years old and I will go, not to get a job but because it is a dream of mine to be able to design my own software and use it in my world, which is Automotive, and I will become and instructor later in life when I am ready to do such a thing.

When I was young, I didn't know that if I made the smart kids in my class my friends that I could become smart too, that means if you want to learn computers better, and learn animation, then you need to hang out with those kinds of people and learn from them since they don't teach animation so much in college... Good luck.