Michel D’Urso – Project Manager

«The Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard has given me a broad view of computer graphics»

Hear, hear, wise computer graphics groupers!

Computer graphics… quite a vast field! And nevertheless after 3 years at the Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard you can juggle with 3D, Web and prepress. In other words you get the opportunity to enhance your knowledge, be it general or specialized. You get an overview of the profession and then everyone goes their own way depending on their preferences.

One of the advantages of this training is undoubtedly the high level of teachers and the available equipment. The trainers know the field and some of them are professionals.

I was pleasantly surprised by the subjects we learnt all along the curriculum. Of course the teachers are there to give us basic knowledge and skills and it’s up to us to go into depth and to learn by ourselves. And then the work placement in the last year is the most feared but also the most rewarding moment of the training. To be confronted with real clients is very enriching.

It also needs to be said that there are several possible paths after this Bachelor’s degree. For instance, I did not pursue my career in the application of techniques learnt at the HEAJ, but I chose project management. During group works at the HEAJ, what attracted me was to look for ideas, to create, to find the best solution to the needs or even to coordinate the different stages of the project. From then on I’ve been doing that every day: I am project manager in the New Media centre at Expansion (a communication agency located in Namur). In short I am responsible for the progress of a project (website, e-mailing, animations,…) until its outcome, all this in a set financial and time framework. The Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard has given me a broad view of computer graphics that is useful for my work every day, but also a taste for learning while keeping in touch with a field that is constantly evolving.

To really understand the needs of clients I specialized as a “Marketing Adviser” in a training centre (Note: Michel D’Urso won the IFAPME prize in 2007). You can have good technical skills in Web but I think you cannot find optimal solutions for clients without this knowledge of marketing.

I would advise prospective students to have a passion for computer graphics and to be motivated by this field: it is a job for enthusiasts! During my bachelor and my two years at the IFAPME, I met several people who thought they were not able to succeed. However succeeding in a project is simply a matter of motivation, of priorities, of work and time.

I would like to conclude with a few words about the Cercle d’étudiants (Student society – see cercleinfographie.be). I have been a member of it since 2005 and the Cercle infographie is doing everything they can to help you spend a nice year, a must-have if you don’t know a lot of people at the beginning…

Good luck to you all and long live the groupers.”

Michel D’Urso
22 years old
Bachelor in Computer graphics
(Website)