[QUOTE=Drew;5340]avoid becoming critical path on more than one role.[/QUOTE]
You put it in words! I keep saying “I want to just do Tech Art”, but just the other day someone actually challenged that with “What do you mean by that?”.
What you are saying here is exactly it. Recently I have been “critical path” for Environments & VFX along with all of the regular TA tasks (tools, pipeline, shaders, etc). Its a ton of pressure.
I think that perhaps much of upper management in the game industry does not know how to handle/task a TA appropriately. They see someone who can do so many things and end up spreading them too thin. Ultimately it is up to us to look out for this and not bite off more than we can chew (if we have a choice that is)