cross-discipline

[egypturnash]

I can draw. And I can program.

Why does it seem to be that people with one foot in the world of technology and the other in the world of arts are so rare? Maybe it's just the way our culture channelizes us: you are ONE THING, and ONE THING ONLY.

Comments

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

I have an English degree. I work as a sysop.

We're out here.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I can program, and find my way around a decent chunk of fancy mathematics, and write a critically-acclaimed fantasy role playing game, and make mugs and bowls and masks and dragons of clay.

[wolphyn.livejournal.com]

What game is this...? :>

I don't have the patience for most technological things, but I do think that I have a good selection of skills at my disposal. Many I have not seriously pursued and so do not have proof of my talent for them, but it's nice to know they're in there somewhere if my top career choices don't work out, which has already been the case with the most technologically-oriented occupation I'd considered.... Art seems to be leading to a dead-end as well.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

World Tree!

[synnabar.livejournal.com]

I think you're right about channelizing; fortunately, there are those like you and others who are versatile and prove otherwise. I work as a graphic designer, but in high school I didn't really have any art-classes; my schedule was too full of Advanced Placement classes for me to even take lunch. Everyone I was in class with went off to become doctors or lawyers or whatever; I loved art, so I went to art school. Of course, I'm poor and they're not, so I guess I'm not so smart, after all. Eh.

I did well in my "art-college" liberal arts classes; I'd get up early the day a paper was due, and write reports straight from my head. I do miss learning. I miss deep discussions about zoology or plate tectonics or evolution, like I had when I lived at home... but at work, it seems everyone thinks the art department just "makes pretty pictures and sharpens crayons all day". :P I don't mind it being known that I can draw, but I hate being pigeonholed as a "dumb artist" by, say, accountants and the like here.

I wish I knew more about programming... ah, maybe someday I'll have the time and money to take some classes.

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

I can doodle, crunch out minor code, cook, garden, dance, draft celtic spirals with a compass (a nifty cross of the two worlds), have a deep love of chemistry.
It isn't that the two knacks togeather are rare. I think that the time it takes to get profficient is a limiting factor, and once you've invested time in one side it is easier to keep going that way than to hop over to something else. Or, at least the school accredidation system is set up that way. Once you've done an engineering degree, you are about 3 classes away from a double major in some kind of math but years away from a Theater degree. Which is too bad because historically, anecdotally, in personal experience and in research skipping around in focus tends to lead to insights and better work.
Umm I had no idea I had an opinion on this. Cool. Thanks.

[supersocks.livejournal.com]

I have an entomology degree, but I make maps and draw things, and occasionally make computers do neat things.

It's handy to be multi-skilled. Should you find yourself in the job market again, it will be to your benefit.

[uhusted.livejournal.com]

*raises hand*
Sculpture/Graphic Desgin major with a heavy Japanese minor who teaches Lego Robotics. I just like to keep busy, 's all. ;)

[revar.livejournal.com]

Actually, I know enough folks who are both programmers and artists, that I had the impression there was some minor affinity for the two.

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

When I was doing graphic design I was part of the engineering group before the marketing group was formed, and I much preferred the former. Engineers make things; administrators just push people around.

[maui.livejournal.com]

This is part of the basis for my frustration with school. I want to be the "Renaissance man", being at least proficient in several fields, and more than competent in a few. Unfortunately, like you say, the university system is not set up for integrated learning, which has been a thorn in my side for the almost two years I've been within it. I want to go to Evergreen (http://www.evergreen.edu/) - they specialize in the kind of integrated, holistic learning that I want to do. But that's a rant that's better suited for my journal.

In a few words, I completely agree with you. And I share your frustration. Yes.

[tabriscoonz.livejournal.com]

I'm still in college and that ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY is so relevant to a lot of weird comments/reactions I've gotten from people lately.
I started as a Graphic Design major and then switched to Business and then Switched AGAIN to Psychology with a specialization in Criminal Justice.
So recently I met this girl, we exchanged majors during the introductory small talk. She is majoring in Painting and is a year under me. She showed me a work in progress (and let me note Boston University's painting program is AWFUL) and I made some comments like "Blah Blah value contrast volume, pop-out blah blah blah" and she gave me the "How dare you critique MY work you filthy Psych major" look. I don't want to have to introduce myself with every major I've had and class I've taken or weird obsession I've had just so I can have credibility.

Also when I was a business major I had a marketing project were I had to do market research for a new brand of shoe the Airwalk company could sell. And I looked up fabrics and stuff and made a bunch of sneaker designs. After my presentation everyone kept asking why wasn't I an art major or a fashion design major. I can make balloon animals too, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go to clown school.

Gods, it IS a pain...

[wolfwings.livejournal.com]

The school system wants to find that one almighty skill you're good at, same as the military or any number of other things want to, and funnel you into there nice and quick to slot you up so they can pull you down like a Warm Grey #50 Prisma Marker off of a shelf. :-P

I can program decently, and do wiring and phone system work. But I'm just looking forward to finally getting the chance to go to school again and take some basic art classes so I can get the blasted ideas out of my skull and down onto paper again like I did years ago. =-.-=

[electricdog.livejournal.com]

Of course, that takes on a further dimension when you consider those people (such as myself, I readily admit) that make their art by means of technology. The boundaries between one and the other are becoming more and more blurred as technology comes closer to accurate replication of the real world. Is digital photography art or technology? What about digital music?

There's a lot of ideas to be discussed there, thanks for the inspiration...

[prickvixen.livejournal.com]

You are one thing and one thing only because it is a more effective use of resources. That means YOU are the resources.

This recent 'many hats' phenomenon is because companies aren't screwing enough money out of de-skilled workers; now they have to make people do more than one job. Having one person (who is probably already working overtime) do the work of two or three works about as well as you might imagine.

[dour.livejournal.com]

Dunno... I've found that there are plenty of people who are proficient in both, however most of them choose one as a profession (so that becomes their public image) and the other as a hobby (which they don't share as openly, because it's mostly for their own personal enjoyment). I've known countless techies who also sketch, or play guitar—and vice versa.

I've noticed a tendency among younger people to concentrate on just one thing, but I think that's usually an identity issue, which is grown out of by the early 20s. Our culture isn't nearly so channelizing as it was even twenty years ago, and in fact, I don't think it was ever our culture in the first place—I think it was just a lack of opportunity. People have more time to blow, and easier access to information, so they learn more things than their parents.

[pobig.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm just about the diametric opposite; programming is about the only thing I like to do. I would have taken only science and math in high school if my parents had allowed it, and I probably owe my small breadth of skill to their insistence on history, English, and languages.

Sheesh.

[deraptor.livejournal.com]

My first job was as a web programmer using coldfusion. I wrote my first messageboard in perl (simple as it was) and the really-needing-to-be-updated php portfolio currently on my website.

Of course I didn't do so well when I tried to major in computer science, but uh...I guess C (not ++) and me just don't get along.

Oh and I can draw things too. Sort of.