Students opt for offbeat courses

Updated on: Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Smart youngsters are now opting for offbeat courses such as animation and graphic design, despite the lure of engineering and medicine courses, to make big money in growing job opportunities in industries like gaming, multimedia design and others.

Mr S. Karaiadi Selvan, managing director, Dream Zone school of creative studies, said, “There are a set of courses like graphic design which are known as alternative professional programmes. Those aspiring to do challenging jobs with huge pay packet choose these programmes, especially graphic design.”

“As far as the graphic design industry is concerned, demand and supply are high. A person who specialises in graphic design can join any kind of industry, including gaming, entertainment, media, etc. At age 18, one can become a professional and earn a big salary. They can also do their graduation simultaneously as several universities offer courses during weekends and in correspondence mode,” he added.

A trained student with excellent creative skills has a chance to earn up to `40,000-`50,000 per month. And Chennai companies being one of the early entrants in the sector provide good scope for such students.

The animation and gaming industry in India is poised to cross the $1 billion mark by next year. As per a recent Nasscom estimate, the Indian gaming industry alone is expected to touch $1,060 million by the end of this year, with an expected compounded annual growth rate of 50 per cent.

Mr Uthay Villvamani, senior animation and VFX instructor at Reliance Big Aims, said with a lot of movies using animation, the demand for animators has increased manifold. “Several persons resigned and joined animation course to have a lucrative livelihood. At trainee level, a person gets a monthly salary of Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000,” he said.

Taking cognisance of the thriving gaming and animation industry in the country, Karnataka has brought out an exclusive industry policy focussing on the sector. This is the first time that a specific policy addressing the animation sector has been brought out in the country.

Another emerging area is social gaming, a concept that promotes social networking via online games. “Over 500 million people worldwide play social games and in India alone, more than 10 million or over 50 per cent of India’s facebook users, play social games,” says Mr Ashish Khoria, country manager of MOL AccessPortal Pvt. Ltd., a leading payment service provider for online games.

By including local nuances in the gaming environment, most social games are becoming more realistic as they represent the user’s daily endeavours. And this calls for immense local talent that is fresh, young and innovative, say experts.

Students opt for offbeat courses

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