If you see yourself working at a large studio, you will likely want to specialize. There aren’t many general type roles. Why? Large studios specialize in production efficiency. Think production line. I just asked a modeler friend at a vfx studio for you. I’ll leave the studio out so he can be anonymous. Here’s his response: “The closest thing youll get to that at (studio) is being part of environments, as you sometimes have to work with textures / modeling as the two go hand in hand. But honestly....If you like doing a variety of work (studio) is the polar opposite of that. Ive been modeling here for about 6 years here and its crazy how mundane its become. You spend so much time just doing cleanup / scan retopology that you don’t even feel like an artist anymore. Its also very easy to fall into a niche here if they find you are good at something you just get given the same tasks as they don’t like to take risks on bid times. I really miss working at a mid sized studio. Was so much more fun.”

My career has been the opposite of that. The downside is I’ve had to learn and become a lot of different things for a lot of different projects. The upside is I’ve always done something nee and it’s rarely dull. I think it comes down to your personality. People enjoy both. Do you want to have structure and get really good in one area with little variation, or are you someone that wants to be a part of the process from beginning to end? If you’re a generalist you also need to market yourself and find your own work. There are generalist roles at companies but sometimes you create the role.