Oliver Keane, an award-winning freelance motion designer/director originally from Galway took the Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) route after school before completing his degree and going to work for some of the biggest brands in the world including PlayStation, Xbox, Meta, Apple, and Google, creating award winning 2D and 3D animations.

Oliver loved animation and motion design from a young age, spending his time drawing characters from Dexter’s Laboratory on Cartoon Network and Spiderman on Fox. It wasn’t until he was introduced to Further Education and Training (FET) options that he realised that he could transform his love for drawing into a future career.

“I wasn’t the best test taker, and most subjects never really interested me – all I could think about was drawing. I would even get in trouble for drawing on desks all the time. Fortunately, one of my teachers, Miss Sweetman at Mayfield Community School, encouraged me to keep drawing, taught me how to paint and eventually guided me to Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa (College of FET - Tramore Road Campus).”

Oliver attended the Open Day at Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa, part of the Tramore Road Campus in Cork. After speaking with the Art teachers at the FET college, he applied for the Art, Craft and Design PLC course.

“Fortunately, I was accepted, and I absolutely loved the course. My favourite module was Graphic Design as I got to use a computer – I didn’t have my own computer until I was 19, so this was really exciting. This led me to explore different computer programs and in my spare time I would try to create animations.”

Through this PLC course, Oliver began to discover the career path that was right for him.

“I showed one of my Windows Movie Maker animations to my teacher, Lucy Phelan. She saw my talent and ambition and introduced me to John Halpin, the head of the Digital Media course. John showed me the room where the course was held, with all of the computers and equipment. He even showed me some of the student work, including a 3D model of a church, with light streaming through the church’s windows. It was then I knew that this is exactly where I was meant to be and what I was meant to do.”

After completing the Art, Craft and Design PLC, Oliver knew that he wanted to pursue a further qualification purely in animation and was accepted on the Digital Media course in Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa.

Through this PLC course he developed skills in animation, motion design, 3D, advanced graphic design, and web design. For Oliver, taking the PLC route better prepared him for his next step into university, where he studied for a BA in Digital Media Design at the University of Brighton in the UK.

“The PLC courses set me up for success – they gave me the practical tools to thrive in the real world. I was never the best test taker or the best in school, but because of the PLC courses, this didn’t keep me from a successful career.”

From university, Oliver started an internship, which became a fulltime job as an animator in Brighton. He then moved on to work as a designer at an advertising company in London.

Oliver has gone on to have a very successful career in animation and enjoys being able to see his work.

“The best part of my job is seeing my work out there in the real world! I once made an animation for the Natural History Museum in London. I went to go see it and it was so rewarding to see people looking at my work on the screens, smiling. Seeing their reactions made me feel grateful and love my job even more.”

As a lifelong Manchester City fan, a career highlight for him was to work for his favourite football club.

 “A few years ago, I had the pleasure of working with them on a video about how to become an official Manchester City supporter. It was a massive achievement for me as I’ve been supporting Man City all my life! I worked from the Manchester offices, seeing the ins and outs of how the club was run. For a while, I got to go to their website and see my own work! The video was also played around the city of Manchester. Definitely a career highlight.”

Now well established into his career, Oliver recognises how taking the PLC route after school helped him to figure out what he wanted to do and prepared him for university, ultimately getting him to where he wanted to go with his career, noting that “Over a decade later, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Ready to start your own journey? Discover PLC courses on offer through your local Education and Training Board (ETB) at FetchCourses.ie.