A few weeks back, I was checking out a thread on GearSpace (formerly GearSlutz, before the #MeToo movement caught up with it), about the type of work available for someone with audio engineering training.
The replies were not inspiring.
Most of the posts were in the form of complaints about the usual stuff – there wasn’t enough work, very competitive, etc., etc. A few – presumably teachers – even stated they could not in good faith suggest audio engineering as a viable career choice to their students.
Naturally, the idealist in me was riled by these remarks. Especially since there happened to be a second, much smaller group of repliers in that thread, who actually had something useful to say.
These brave souls weren’t there to complain and re-enforce the status quo. Their message, broadly speaking, was “yes, it’s very hard to find exactly the job you want to start. But there’s plenty of things you can try that can lead you towards that job.”
For example, one user mentioned there were still lots of opportunities to build the resume doing work anywhere that music was played and/or recorded, including:
- Convention centres.
- Auditoriums.
- P.A. rental companies & production houses.
- Small ad agencies.
- Large schools, colleges and universities
- Audiobook publishers
Another guy talked about how he hired an audio engineer he’d gotten to know through repeated jobs helping to soldier his cables and audio components.
Even Harrison Ford was a janitor before he became Han Solo.
I get that sometimes it just feels like there’s no opportunities out there. But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking our feelings are always a reliable representation of reality.
Motivational coach Les Brown talks about the concept of mind-sight. When we’re faced with a number of disappointments in a row, it’s easy for our mind-sight to become skewed, so we only expect more failed interviews and missed opportunities down the road.
And since our brain is a deletion device that only notices the things we’ve primed it to think about, all-too-often those expectations become prophetic.
Our faith in most things can be pretty fragile, if we don’t maintain them. Sometimes when I’m feeling frustrated and lost, I write about the beliefs that brought me down the path of music production, until I’m reminded that no other choice really makes sense.
Hold on to what you believed in the light; When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight.
Mumford & Sons
It can be particularly hard in the artistic field since we don’t tend to be at our most creative when we’re frustrated with a lack of opportunity to showcase ourselves.
Though a lack of shame can be helpful..
To break out of that mind-sight rut and think about the problem laterally, we need to reawaken that creative spirit. My favourite way to do this is with the 20 Idea Method. Here’s how it works:
- Grab a pen and paper, or open up a word document.
- At the top of the page, write the question you want answered, like “how can I increase my chances of finding work in the music industry?”
- List quickly, without thinking more than a few seconds on each one, 20 ideas for how you might answer the above question. But first, read the points below:
- EVERY IDEA COUNTS. Don’t try and reinvent the wheel – just push out ideas as fast as you can.
- I MEAN IT. For example, it could be as simple as ‘start research an hour earlier and an hour later every day.’ Come to think of it, that’s two ideas already!
- The next day, add on another 20 ideas, and so on, until you really start struggling to think of anything.
Once you start running out of steam, take a look at your mountain of ideas. Most of what you come up with will likely be crap-tacular. BUT, here and there, you may find an unexpected gem you wouldn’t have come up with otherwise.
This strategy works because it gets you out of your head, away from that depressing mind-sight, and reawakens your creative, spontaneous side. It works best if you let it run completely wild, so try not to censor yourself during the process.
This is all to say there’s always something you can do to keep you moving towards that dream job, or anything else you want. Just keep moving forward, no matter what.
Credits:
‘Crop woman with tarot cards’ by Lucas Pezeta from Pexels
‘Person Writing on White Paper’ by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
‘Post-It Bulletin Board Pensioners’ by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay