In the past decade, the job market has extended into cyberspace.  Gone are the days when you dressed in a nice suit and drove to a conservative office building with a tidy brown bag lunch. Now, there are many more career options where you can work from the comfort of your own home. Many people are making a very nice living working in their p.j.'s, and setting their own work hours. One of the biggest emerging careers is digital animation.  Digital animators work for game companies, marketing companies, movie & TV production companies, and almost any company with an active web presence; all after completing a degree at graphic design schools that is.  

When thinking about a career move first consider what you do on your time off. What are your hobbies? Do you have any skill sets from those hobbies that can transfer over into your corporate life? For instance, do you like to play online games? Do you spend hours every week battling demons, dragons or racing through the streets after bad guys? Consider a career as a game programmer. Every year new games are designed, created then tested and marketed. For every game released there is a team of designers that have worked on its graphics, play ability and marketing strategies.

Are you the one that creates power point presentations at family reunions, birthdays and other occasions? Many companies now hire designers to help market their business on the web and in print design. Web graphic designers can make a great living free-lancing for small businesses that may need a designer for a specific project or to redesign their current logo. Another advantage to web design is that you can be an offsite employee. You can live in Colorado and work for someone in Ohio; working with the web enables you to become a national, if not international, employee. When your work place expands, so do your potential clients. 

Another aspect to consider when looking at a new career is your current skill sets. If you are thinking about a web based career make sure that you have the skill set to market yourself. Many graphic design school now offer classes from computer animation to art design to special effect programming for TV and films. Most trade schools offer a two- year degree or have the option of taking individual classes to gain experience. Many schools offer online instruction as well.

Once you decide on your new career, and have researched the skills needed, a great way to learn about the industry is through an informational interview. The informational interview helps you understand the daily tasks and skills needed in your new career. Contact someone who works in your field of interest; you can usually do this through a couple phone calls to your friends or business associates. Most schools also have alumni lists available. Alumni's are a great place to start when building up new business contacts. Once you have a few contacts in your chosen field contact them through a short email. The email should explain who you are, how you got their name, and let them know you are not seeking a job interview, but an informational interview to help you understand their business.

Once you get an informational interview, keep it short and have questions already prepared. Always follow up with a thank you note. In today's job market, most people change careers three or four times during their working years. Changing careers can be challenging at the beginning, but once you find a career you really enjoy, your work life becomes so much more rewarding. Search your hobbies and discover what you enjoy doing on a daily basis. How can those skills move into your career life?