A bit about myself

[silvia]

I haven't posted on this forum in the longest time, so I'll make it up by writing a veeery looooong post, where I will tell you about myself and what I am up to.

I am Silvia, I was born in Italy, but moved to the US (San Francisco Bay)almost 10 years ago. I always loved arts, but was pretty much forced into the technical field by family and circumstances. So I had to endure microelectronics and software engineering for 7 long years.

When I came to the US, I decided to follow my true passsion. I got a degree in Computer Science, with specialization in Graphics Algorithms, and learned Maya on my own. After graduation, while looking for work, I enrolled in a Computer Animation program in college. Right when I was really getting into it, I got a job from Sun Microsystems which I took, because money doesn't grow on trees. While there, I got my first and only CG jobs: architectural renders for an interior designer, and a short animation for the San Francisco Museum of African American Diaspora.

In the meantime I networked quite a bit with CG studios, which built my confidence enough to apply again to my favourite 3: ILM, Pixar, PDI. ILM never called back, PDI brushed me off, and Pixar left a message on my answering machine, which my husband picked, deleted, and promptly forgot all about for several days... Eventually I called them back and got an interview. Well folks, I got the job! I will be starting working at Pixar this coming Monday!

Now, from the amount of stuff I have written about my work, you can probably tell that I have practically no life to speak of, it is all work and CG. Ok, not entirely. I go to the gym, swim, lift weights, and play soccer and table tennis. I also like to watch soccer and Formula 1 racing, which I often emulate on the local freeway. And I haven't been caught yet!
I like to vacation in Hawaii, where I snorkel and scuba dive. I have a dog (black sheperd, lots of fun, but no Lassie when it comes to brains, and a worthless guard dog) and two rescued cats. The cats have the dog like a puppet on strings: stealing her food, using her as a pillow, and making us blame her for any trouble they cause.

But back to CG. Now I am in the middle of a really bad artist's block, I have run out of inspiration, so I haven't come up with a half decent piece of work in quite a while. I hope that working at Pixar will get my creative juices going again. Wish me luck!

[TheAllusionist]

Congratulations Silvia!

Wow that is fantastic, you landed a dream job, I am very happy for you and will let it slide that you haven't posted in a while

Heres to your bright future, and don't forget to stop by once in a while and let us know how it is working out!

[silvia]

Wow, thanks Rus, you are the best!!!

[pradipta]

Hi Silvia,

I am happy that you got what you wanted for long. It's a great start for the year 2007. Working with PIXAR will be an experience of lifetime. I wish all the best for you

[kiittea]

Wooooow .. Awesome .. Working for Pixar .. That's what most of us dream for....Wishing you a wonderful time over there

[neha]

Wow!! Great to hear you got a job at Pixar!! Best of luck and I'm sure you'll have your creative juices flowing all over once you start off with them

[bokkins]

Congratulations! that's so cool! wish you all the best!

[silvia]

Thank you all for your best wishes, I am going to need them!!! It is a tiny bit terrifying to be going to such an animation giant, with everybody knowing tons more than me, but I guess I will be doing my best.
My work will be in the software development department, developing their proprietary animation software. Of course, in the future, I would like to try my hands in production, if I can. I will have all the wonderful courses of Pixar University to choose from, I can't believe how much I am going to learn! Of course, I can already see that my spare time will rapidly go from almost none to absolutely none...

[neha]

I'm sure you'll do great there!! I can only imagine how exciting it must be for you right now...again all the very best to you for this venture

[coca]

Pixar !!!

wow congratulation~ how lucky you are! I feel so happy for you~ try your best, i am very sure you will learn a lot and do well !