A lot of times, people ask me what I do for a living. And, when some people answer this question, say a lawyer or an accountant, just saying "I'm a lawyer" seems to satisfy most people, even though - arguably - most people (including myself) don't *really* know what a lawyer does, day in and day out. But those answers are so common that people usually just kind of nod and move on. When I try and answer this question, I never know quite what to say. Of course the answer is that I'm a computer graphics engineer, but that doesn't mean very much to most people, and understandably so. Usually I follow up by saying that I've worked on video games and film (which is sort of true; I never really worked on a mainstream movie but it seems easier to explain). That makes most people think I'm a big gamer or that I build video games, which is kind of true but not entirely. It's like a civil engineer that happens to work on building bridges; she could probably build buildings and tunnels and train tracks too, she just happens to be using her skill on bridges. The skill that I have and employ is that of making computers draw, or render, graphics out of data, such as art, provided by others. I don't draw and model myself (well, I do a little bit sometimes). I take those drawings and art and I make them sing and dance on the computer. Most computers that have to interact with people these days - computers with a screen, let's say - have a little chip inside them which is a specialist at drawing images. I program those chips to do what app designers or game designers want. Sometimes I work on games, yes, but I've also worked on apps for meditation, on mapping software, and a lot of other things.
So perhaps the best way to understand what I do is that I'm an engineer that specializes in art, specifically the kind of art that computers make. I think that's the explanation I like best. :)
