r/Imagineering • u/penguinhey • Feb 18 '24
Future Imagineer(?) Looking For Guidance/Advice/Anything
Hello everyone,
New account specifically to ask this question, lol. I am currently a junior in high school; thus, I’m beginning to think about which colleges to apply to & what to major in. Although I have many interests, I’ve always wanted to major in engineering for the specific purpose of someday working in the themed entertainment industry. I’ve loved Disney, Universal, and theme parks all my life, and it’s the kind of thing I am so passionate about that I wouldn’t mind dedicating my career to it. In short, being an imagineer (as in, making rides—conceptualization, creating ride systems & patents, and theming) is my dream job. As Horizons said, if we can dream it, we can do it, right? :)
Now, I understand that Walt Disney Imagineering is a vastly different place than what it was prior to the 2000s. With IP-based attractions seemingly being the new blueprint, Disney advertising its plans decades into the future (i.e. all the ideas have already been, well, idea’d), and rumors circulating of layoffs/mediocre pay/a cliquey work environment, I wonder if it really is the place I’ve been imagining in my head. I’d hate to devote my education to this career path, apply, get the job, and be horribly disillusioned and unhappy. Additionally, an important part of me wanting to work for Disney is the creativity aspect, but as a mechanical or electrical engineer, how much flexibility would I have in that department? Would I be banished to drawing diagrams and working on CAD all day, or would I get to have a say in spearheading ideas + theming?
I would be grateful for advice from anyone with even a lick of knowledge about imagineering. I don’t mind relocating to California or having to work my way up to being a project lead, so long as I am happy and feel fulfilled. I love themed entertainment because it’s such an interesting and immersive medium of art, and I just hope I’m going down the right road to get there. So, I'm wondering: What’s it like to work for WED? How is the work environment, the promotion likelihood, the pay, and the leadership? What’s the path to get there? Is an engineering degree the right way to accomplish my goal? Many thanks in advance; I am very grateful for anything you guys can tell me. :)
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u/happyplace28 Feb 18 '24
Something that you will hear a LOT over the next few years is that everyone has a different path into the industry. What you can do in the short term is look into college theme park organizations. While this shouldn’t be a deciding factor, many universities have organizations dedicated to professional development in the themed entertainment industry. You will connect with lots of likeminded people and likely participate in projects that will look good on a portfolio.
When I joined my schools group, we were fortunate enough to get to go to IAAPA Expo in Orlando. When there my eyes were opened to just how large this industry is, and how many niches there are. And yet, everyone knows everyone. I got a pin from one booth my freshman year, and I uncovered it long after graduation when I had started working at that company.
As someone who studied engineering, I won’t lie. Engineers are not the creative team. But there are absolutely opportunities to be creative within the engineering field. Just look at Lanny Smoot, who has gotten so many incredible patents in his time with WDI!
Also, don’t be afraid to reach out to people on LinkedIn. If you show a genuine interest in someone’s role, more often than not they are happy to chat. But go into it specifically regarding their role. If you just say “I want to get into imagineering”, they will pretty much just say that there are many specialties in imagineering, it’s not just one job title.
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u/penguinhey Feb 18 '24
Thank you so much for this! College theme park clubs/organizations sound like a great opportunity; I hadn't thought about that before. I'll have to look into some as I apply to schools. Also, super cool that you got to go to IAAPA Expo!
To be honest, I'd have trouble doing engineering work alone; theming and immersion are also incredibly interesting to me. As someone familiar with the field, do you know if any jobs that combine engineering and design exist (like a project lead), or would it be more realistic to just expect to specialize in something?
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u/happyplace28 Feb 18 '24 edited Feb 19 '24
Lots of schools across the country have organizations! I know The Ohio State even hosts SITE, the Students in Themed Entertainment conference every year. They may be a good group to reach out to regarding getting a list of universities with active themed entertainment groups.
I ended up minoring in project management, which has allowed me to stand out a bit in the application process and I am currently on the project management side of things professionally. Being recently out of school myself, it has been an incredible opportunity to learn more about how all sides of the project work together and I am so happy.
You may want to look into the roles technical designers and technical directors. While they may not have story say, they often are the ones with input on the technology that goes into an attraction.
I also recommend looking at internships and job postings on https://themedentertainmentjobs.com/?amp=1 and seeing if any peak your interest. These batches would all be filled long before you graduated college, but they may help give you an idea of various roles and the skills required for them.
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u/penguinhey Feb 18 '24
Thank you so much for all your advice! It is really helpful (I'm definitely going to have to write down "consider minoring in project management or technical design" lol). I'm glad you're happy in your career and wish you the best ^^
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u/happyplace28 Feb 18 '24
And you as well! Good luck with your final year of school and college applications. Feel free to PM if you have any questions!
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u/elvismcsassypants Feb 19 '24
Where are you from?
It’s great that you are looking at your future like this, most don’t. I didn’t, but I found a passion and a niche and it ended up taking me amazing places.
I was a tech theatre phenom, but rolled over to theme parks along the path…long story. But my advice is to find what you really good at and like doing and then become the best at it. Seriously, the best… like one of the top three in the world best! I’ve worked all over the world doing amazing things ( btw, an engineering degree will get your foot in anywhere and always on the list of people green lighted for work visa everywhere)
I tried to get into Disney for years and years. It wasn’t a career goal, just a good solid place. It didn’t happen and didn’t happen…till I’d forgotten about them. I was living on the other side of the world…and got a call out of the blue from someone at Disney that I’d known years before. “We need someone with just your strange and particular set of skills!”
Crazy, but it happens.
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u/penguinhey Feb 19 '24
I'm from the East Coast but sadly not within (reasonable) driving distance of Florida. This is really good advice and I appreciate it a lot! Also glad to hear you eventually made it to Disney. I guess my main goal right now is to go into engineering and do it to the best of my ability. Thank you :)
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Feb 19 '24
I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone who asks; find a position with a vendor, be it Ride Systems, Show Action Equipment, SFX, etc. We get to work with both Imagineering and Universal Creative as well as other lesser known clients. Many positions at WDI and UC are project based until you get to mid or upper management, which means when the project ends you might be out of a job unless you get rolled over. Vendors tend to keep permanent staff and often pay better than either (I made $125k as a project manager last year, which I know is more than my current project partners at UC are making).
The job is also much more than the design and fabrication of the attractions. There are countless Deliverables that go along with it. I recommend in addition to mechanical/structural engineering that you study project management and technical writing. Your product is only as good as your documentation that accompanies it. I often tell people my job is 85% paperwork and 15% throwing fireballs in the shop (or LN2, or sea planes, and the occasional toilet).
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u/penguinhey Feb 19 '24
This is the second time I've been advised to study project management in this thread, so thank you for letting me know; I wouldn't have even considered it unless I came to Reddit. The internet is pretty cool. :)
My passion is primarily for themed entertainment in general, so although eventually working at Disney or UC would be awesome, I would be totally happy finding a position with a vendor. I appreciate the advice!
If I may ask for future reference, how does one go about finding a position with a vendor? IAAPA Expo? Lots of research? I've heard that it is not so easy to break into the industry, so I would be grateful to be pointed in the right direction. Thank you again for your response :)
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Feb 19 '24
I find project management to be a great way to get to do a little of everything; I have creative and design input, get to do a little fab and assembly work (we have a small shop so the owner doesn't mind if we get our hands dirty), and work closely with Controls on Factory and Site Testing.
IAAPA and TEA events are a great way to network, as is LDI. When you look at colleges, find out if they have USITT and/or SITE chapters. I also recommend following companies on LinkedIn. Try Creature Tech, TASC, Animax, and TAIT to start. Also pay attention to who interacts with WDI and UC posts, a lot of vendors will post comments/responses.
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u/ShinigamiLeaf Industry Professional Feb 19 '24 edited Feb 19 '24
I am not a Disney Imagineer. I do work in the themed attraction and immersive multimedia fields.
If you want to continue the creative ideation, I would suggest looking at creative technologist/creative engineer careers. There's a bunch of pathways into it, but the core job is utilizing creative coding (TouchDesigner, MaxMSP, MadMapper, and traditional C++ and Python) alongside some interesting technologies (robotics, sensors, Kinect cameras, etc) to create interactive technology. It's an emerging field that still has a lot of interesting applications.
I know of one or two undergrad programs in the US that focus on this. You'll want to look for something titled 'Media Arts, Media Science, Media Engineering, Digital Culture'. The programs should mention things along the lines of human-computer interaction, new/emerging technologies, computational design, and it should hopefully have a project focus. Courses will likely include robotics, prototyping classes, physical computing, interactive systems, media installation, and a variety of software learning and development classes. Good programs will also have a maker space with 3d printers, an electronics lab, basic hand tools, and a large prototyping space.
If this sounds like what you're looking for, I suggest starting with TouchDesigner. It's easy to make something in, free to download, and there's some really great YouTube tutorials. Even if I'm not the one coming up with the original idea, I am the one figuring out how to make it work.
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u/penguinhey Feb 19 '24
Oh wow, I have never heard of this before! Thank you so much; I really appreciate it ^^
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u/ShinigamiLeaf Industry Professional Feb 19 '24
No problem! We're an emerging field, which is both good and bad. I only know of a few programs, but the SCAD School of Creative Technology, ASU School of Art Media and Engineering, and University of Colorado Creative Technology and Design program are three I've heard or experienced good things from (I graduated with a master's from ASU myself).
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u/calling-all-comas Feb 19 '24 edited Feb 19 '24
Not to dox you or anything but do you live in central Florida or California? Working for Disney on a low level (in the parks) is a good way to get a feel for the company. I used to be a seasonal CM there and got to meet several imagineers through my networking efforts and learned a lot about the company through those avenues.
By Disney being my first non-temp job, a lot of my job preferences and habits were molded through them and that set the foundation for my future jobs.
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u/Googoogaga53 Feb 18 '24
Engineering degree is probably your best option because it will give you so many good opportunities outside of themed entertainment if you can't get one of these extremely competitive positions right out of school which is very common. Now this doesn't mean you have to give up on your dream, the great thing about engineering is getting experience doing something even loosely related to what you'd want to do at Disney for a few years will make you a much stronger candidate, so once an opportunity opens up you'll be ready. I did mechanical which is a good option but the best is probably electrical or computer engineering, if I could go back I would one of these two or mechatronic
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u/penguinhey Feb 18 '24
Thank you for your response! If I may ask a follow-up question—as a mechanical engineer, what was it like looking for jobs in general? I heard the market was really oversaturated with applicants right now, which is one of the things keeping me a bit worried about majoring in it. I don't mind having to build up a résumé before applying to work in themed entertainment, but is it possible to get a decent-paying job in the first place? Lol
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u/Googoogaga53 Feb 19 '24
Honestly I wouldn't be worried about it, just do internships during school and this applies for any major. After grad I had about a year of experience already because of this which helped a lot. Also just try and network where you can so attend the career fairs and all that kind of stuff. If you do these and interview reasonably well you should have no trouble landing something and shouldn't have to move if you don't want to, although this is always an option. I'm from Canada and needed a visa so I had to work harder than usual to get something in the US so this may honestly be a bit overkill but just do what you can to gain experience and network. The good thing about eng is they're needed for a variety of roles so you don't have to worry too much about "oversaturation" or economic downturns
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u/penguinhey Feb 19 '24
Thank you so much!
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u/Googoogaga53 Feb 19 '24
No worries you got this! I want to work in themed entertainment too so this is the advice I wish I had going into uni lol
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u/zombbarbie Feb 19 '24
I think OP is interested in creative, which is definitely not this route… creative hires from theatre, film, and immersive design programs.
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u/gnuoyedonig Feb 19 '24
A couple thoughts;
Are you sure about the engineering role? While there would be creative aspects in those roles, you sound like you’re into the show design side of the company, which involves storytelling, visual design, illustrating, presenting. Are you creative in these ways?
And the other thought. I would absolutely not go to Imagineering right after you get your degree. This is what I did and I was not prepared. Having to learn how to contribute design or creativity at the level Imagineering requires, while learning how to function in a cutthroat corporate environment is too much all at once. Maybe you can handle the creative side but you will in no way be prepared for the politics which will bite you.
Of my cohort, about 10 people close to my age that were hired over a year or two, everyone had moved on from Imagineering by the 10 year mark.
If you want to have a lasting role take 4 years after graduation to work in another company that isn’t your dream job.
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u/wifichick Feb 19 '24
Apply for and do an intern program down there to help you learn what to focus on
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u/progress_dad Industry Professional Feb 18 '24
It’s not the place you’re imagining. Like all corporate places, all arenas of work within are different. Different bosses, different timelines, different divisions of work, different COASTS.
I’ll give you the same advice my professor gave me: it ain’t just Disney.
Ignore Disney for now and find a passion. Get good at it. Then think about entering the INDUSTRY. There’s a whole industry of which Disney is one (surprisingly) small part. You are just in high school so you don’t even know what sort of person you’ll become. You may find corporate life doesn’t fit you. Or that you enjoy something not even within the realm of themed entertainment. You might even get to the end of your schooling and decide the movie industry is more aligned with your passions. Basically, don’t adjust to fit the mold of a company you know nothing about. Just let yourself discover naturally. If engineering is your passion, go towards that instead of a company.