Pixar Animation Studio-Technical Director Resident

https://purdue-csm.symplicity.com/students/index.php?s=jobs&ss=jobs&mode...

Employer: Pixar Animation Studios

Position: Summer-Technical Director Resident

While searching the Purdue Center for Career Opportunities, I discovered what I believe to be my “Dream Job” located at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. The job position is for a “Technical Director Resident” which is a mundane name for a really cool and exciting position which I feel I am well qualified for upon graduation! This position has all the job elements I am looking for in a job, career growth opportunity, exciting work, job location and cutting edge technology projects.
The Technical Director Resident job position is a paying twelve-month program internship program. Residents will be evaluated during their term and may be considered for ongoing employment, dependent on overall performance and Studio needs. The Technical Director Resident consists of real-world work assisting in the production of a feature film. The Residents would be working alongside the Technical Director and contribute as a full member of the technical team.
The Technical Director Resident will have to possess some experience in C/C++ or a scripting language, an art aesthetic a thorough understanding of physical motion, experience using high-end 3d software and experience using Linux or Unix Operating System. In addition, the Technical Director Resident would also have to be a new graduate with at least a Bachelor degree and meet minimum qualifications as listed. All These areas I have studied and am quite proficient in.
Becoming a Technical Director Resident at Pixar would provide a stepping stone toward my career goal of being a Senior “Lead” Computer Animator creating a feature animated movie for a distinguished animation studio such as Pixar or DreamWorks.
With an internship with heavy responsibilities and real-world work experience can only blossom future career opportunities. I have a strong passion to working with animation/modeling and have a strong desire to work in this area for many years. Working in an area I have a strong passion for will enhance my productivity with a company. Having experience at a power house animation studio such as Pixar, will aid my job search if I chose to move to another company.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Graphics Technology from Purdue, meets part of the qualification for the Resident position. While at Purdue, I have tailored my studies to build a foundation to help establish my knowledge, skills, and abilities to make myself marketable in Computer Animation career field. I’ve taken curriculum courses that involve, Post Production Special Effects, Computer Animation Rigging Structures, C/C#/C++ programming and Digital Environmental Lightning Rendering. The knowledge I’ve collected from these courses are essentially the abilities Pixar are qualifying. Strong proficiency using Autodesk Maya/3D Studio Max from 6 years of experience would make me a valuable contribution towards Pixar Animation Studio. I have a minor in Computer Information Technology which helped me obtain knowledge about C/C#/C++ programming, Linux and Unix Operating Systems. In addition, I have an extensive Art&Design background which is ideal for an animation position.
Furthermore, The Digital Environmental Lightning Rendering and Computer Rigging Structures courses have prepared me to produce quality render products. Through these courses I would be able to implement the rendering process to create the images themselves for scan-out onto film.
Pixar Animation Studio is an Academy Award winning computer animation studio. Pixar can afford to be choosy and hire only the best in the field, which means it’s a difficult company to get hired by. Fortunately, Purdue University’s Computer Graphic Technology department has built a solid partnership with Pixar Animation Studio over the past years. Our Purdue participations have built a solid reputation which has led to several Purdue Alumnus to be hired at the Technical Director position.

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Instructor commentary

jtirrell's picture

OK, this response demonstrates that you have researched this company and considered its place in your career track, both of which are good activities. I think your analysis could be improved in three ways: connecting concrete examples of your experience with what the job ad requests, turning your analysis to its effects on your employment documents, and careful editing.

Near the end of the analysis, you provide a list of courses that have prepared you for your prospective position. This is good, but because course content varies, you would be better served by providing tangible examples of what you have accomplished during these experiences. A specific story about using a particular software package or technique to produce a specific work has more impact than a list of qualifications. The golden rule of employment documents is show, don't tell. Specific stories stick; general statements don't.

This leads us to the second way you could revise this analysis. You should turn to a discussion of how this information shapes your cover letter (and other documents). Recall that the assignment description states: "Think of the Job Ad Analysis as a prelude to the Cover Letter." You should make tentative determinations about what the central theme or argument of your cover letter will be and how you will use the material in this analysis correspondingly. You want to treat this analysis as groundwork for the documents ahead of you, which means attention to both content and structure.

Finally, you want to make sure that you are editing carefully. I cannot stress this enough, because if there is a mechanical error in your resume or cover letter it will almost certainly be rejected without ever being considered. For a position with a company like Pixar, there are going to be so many applications that the only way to make the search manageable is to eliminate all the documents that aren't mechanically flawless. The common thinking here is that if you can't pay attention to details on the one document that is supposed to represent you, how can you be trusted with other projects? We are grading your employment documents as HR personnel would, so anything that raises a red flag is a big issue.

Overall, however, you've got a start, and you should be able to mine much of this content for your other employment documents.