What should I do with my life?

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Mamberg Jr
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What should I do with my life?

Post by Mamberg Jr »

So my first plan was to go to Chattanooga State (Community College) to their technical school to be an Electrician because they make good monies. I'm having second thoughts now. My original plan was to go into Audio Engineering but the job outlook seemed slim but apparently my mother used to do audio at a venue and met a lot of people so she kind of has my in...

If I were to go into audio engineering what should I take in community college? this one doesn't have anything for audio engineering so I'm SOL there.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by _ej_ »

No one I know who went to school for audio engineering actually does it professionally. They all do studio stuff on the side and have day jobs. The jobs that can actually support you are few and far between.

If you're super passionate about it find a well respected program somewhere in the country and go. Don't try and cobble together a quasi degree taking classes at community college.

What is making you have second thoughts about being an Electrician?
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by sleewell »

van


down


by


the


river
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Thurston
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by Thurston »

Do you like math? What about CC credits towards an electrical engineering degree?
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by fretless »

you are in TN so that is a big part of the battle , all the best audio production schools are there .
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by mortatone »

Fields like electrical, hvac etc aren’t very glamorous but they are super stable and you can make fairly solid money, especially if you get proficient enough and start your own business. They will always be in demand. But it is definitely hard work sometimes. You pay a price over time with your body.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by ajaxlepinski »

Get an electrical engineering degree and then, a First Class Radio Operator's License. Every radio station must have a licensed radio operator on the payroll... $80K to start on average.

Or, become an electrician. You can eventually have your own company, run a crew and make some very decent cabbage.

Recording engineer is tough... very tough.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by TurboPablo »

Mamberg Jr wrote:So my first plan was to go to Chattanooga State (Community College) to their technical school to be an Electrician because they make good monies. I'm having second thoughts now. My original plan was to go into Audio Engineering but the job outlook seemed slim but apparently my mother used to do audio at a venue and met a lot of people so she kind of has my in...

If I were to go into audio engineering what should I take in community college? this one doesn't have anything for audio engineering so I'm SOL there.



Stick with your current plan. Get your journeyman's license then move on to your master's license. At that point you can earn top dollar in the trade based on where you are located(prevailing wage). Or you can even go into business for yourself. Then, you'll have the time and money to mess around in the audio world.

Basically, don't think too much about it. Just get into the trade and get licensed. Everything will fall into place after that.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by Tortuga »

sleewell wrote:van


down


by


the


river


:rofl:

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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by itchyfingers »

1. Don't get married
2. Don't have kids
3. Do what you love, in lieu of that, do something that makes $

I fucked up on #1, but my wife is awesome so she's an exception to the rule.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by ajaxlepinski »

One concept that you have to get used to is that, ALL JOBS SUCK!!!! You just have to pull up your pants, STFU and do it!
Even being a rock star gets played out after a while.

Being a recording engineer becomes tiresome REAL fast... especially when you have to make ends meet by spending hours and hours, recording and mixing shitty songs for bands that will go nowhere....and most bands are recording their own stuff these days.
The best recording engineer gigs are at a movie studios but, they lay people off all the time.


Going to college is like a job. It's fun at first but, you just gotta go to class and turn in the work on time.

Electricians and plumbers make good money -and- they are in high demand... just call a plumber to fix a leak or an electrician to wire up your garage and see how many days it takes them to show up. They're often booked up for weeks.
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Walt wrote:But when the hour is nigh, and the lights are low, and I got a little toothpick of a shwag joint in my teeth, and my friends want to hear me play "Into the Void", or "TNT", "or "Cemetery Gates"...I plug my 600 dollar guitar into my 150 dollar amp, and I am a Rawk gawd.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by Mamberg Jr »

Yeah I felt like I'm pretty good with wiring stuff and reading schematics so electrician is a solid choice, but I'm afraid I'll hate it but i guess that's part of life

I have recently found out that I SUCK at calculus so I don't know about electrical engineer

Tennessee has the Tennessee Promise and Fafsa which will cover any community college so I'm gonna take advantage of that and go to school to be an electrician and save up if I want to go back to school later.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by TurboPablo »

Mamberg Jr wrote:Yeah I felt like I'm pretty good with wiring stuff and reading schematics so electrician is a solid choice, but I'm afraid I'll hate it but i guess that's part of life

I have recently found out that I SUCK at calculus so I don't know about electrical engineer

Tennessee has the Tennessee Promise and Fafsa which will cover any community college so I'm gonna take advantage of that and go to school to be an electrician and save up if I want to go back to school later.



Look at it this way....

You get your electrical licenses and you'll be in your early 20's making damn good money working with your hands. You'll also be avoiding any debt/student loans because if you decide you want to go to college, you will be able to afford it out of pocket. Even if you don't like electrical work(I loved it), you are young enough to make a move and still be ok. But even then, you have a very serious and in demand professional license and will be secure for the rest of your life.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by _ej_ »

ajaxlepinski wrote:Being a recording engineer becomes tiresome REAL fast... especially when you have to make ends meet by spending hours and hours, recording and mixing shitty songs for bands that will go nowhere....and most bands are recording their own stuff these days.
The best recording engineer gigs are at a movie studios but, they lay people off all the time.



This is the realest shit ever posted online.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by Pepi »

Process engineering. The future
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by primeholy »

Mamberg Jr wrote:So my first plan was to go to Chattanooga State (Community College) to their technical school to be an Electrician because they make good monies. I'm having second thoughts now. My original plan was to go into Audio Engineering but the job outlook seemed slim but apparently my mother used to do audio at a venue and met a lot of people so she kind of has my in...

If I were to go into audio engineering what should I take in community college? this one doesn't have anything for audio engineering so I'm SOL there.



Chattanooga State? That's a ways away from Clarksville to go to a community college. My daughter is currently enrolled there, and my youngest daughter will probably be there next year. If you go to Chattanooga State, I can stalk you in my spare time. Why did you pick Chatt state?
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by primeholy »

I used to be the highest hourly guy at my plant. We got an electrician, and he makes about 4 bucks more an hour than I do. My hourly pay is 28.98.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by EndTime »

Actually, I think it’s misleading to say you can’t find work being an audio engineer. You certainly can, but it’ll take an investment as you aren’t gonna get too far working for someone else Altho there are always places to start if you have to.

But you would need to open your own place. So having good gear and a good room will at least get some people in your place and hopefully you can he t some good results. But I’d also say it needs to be in a bigger city. You need to be around enough people who will still go to the studio to record. And you can’t just pigeon hole yourself to rock and/or other band related stuff. You’ll need to be good with rap/hip hop too if you want enough people to actually make ya money. I had a buddy start up a nice little studio(with a partner) where they rented out a pretty killer but smaller place. Had a few booths for isolation, a drum room and a nice control room and he was busy practically 24/7. But he was pretty big into the drum n bass scene here and he’d have a ton of those guys plus a bunch of rappers, etc. as well as metal, death metal some rock. Now he ended up getting in a bit too deep with the rap dudes, and I’m not trying to sound stereotypical but he was dealing with some hardcore dudes and eventually that came to be a problem as some dude wanted to kill him. Literally. And he ended up having to leave town! Haha. And the dude who wanted to kill him, did end up being picked up for a double homicide and rape where he burned the bodies. So yeah, he was doing good until that happened! He still hasn’t come back to town. Lol.


But beyond that. I am not a believer in that all jobs suck. That’s bullshit. If your mindset is you do t want to do anything you don’t want to do, the sure it’ll end up being a drag. Also if you DONT like working for peeps and like a little more freedom I think it is advisable to maybe learn a trade and cut your teeth and learn your skills for a few years working for someone and then start doing side jobs which hopefully end up being enough to start your own thing. This is the path I took and have been my own boss in a fairly tough trade physically but there is two levels of payoff that makes it not SUCK, even if the work at times can. On, obviously I make my own schedule for the most part and work at what works best for me. Some days that’s the 5 hours, sometimes it’s 12-14.

But perhaps more importantly, if you are a creative type, the trades offer results! Results you can see. In my job I have aspects where I can use my vision and/or experience to develop a look and style for people that brings some kind of pride and satisfaction when complete. And lastly, it took me awhile to realize, but because I’m working in people’s houses and bringing them some Improvement to their living space, almost every time people are incredibly thankful. Pretty much every job people are more than grateful with their words and sometimes their wallets. I used to be like Yeah, no problem. And didn’t give it much thought but after my wife went thru some rough times physically and mentally, her job was just exasperating her situation and it became clear why. Her job was to piss people off! Lol. She worked for a BS budget car insurance company and she would have to basically find ways to deny claims. People would spew hatred! Haha. I asked her how often people said “thanks”. She said never. And her desk was just a continuous paper pile. There was no results. There was no feel of a job well done and there certainly weren’t people who appreciated her work. Besides maybe her bosses hit wven they were just POS who I’m sure didn’t care what she did for them either.

So yeah you will likely have to do shit you don’t like and work hours you’d prefer not but if there is tangible results and people who appreciate what you do, then it’s not a job that “sucks”.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by GuitarBilly »

The money in audio engineering today is in broadcasting, tv and movies. I have a friend who makes serious money as an audio engineer to MSNBC. He handles audio for the news shows and sports events. He also has been involved in audio production for tv shows like Forensic Files and others.
The movie industry is also a huge field and It's growing a lot now with streaming services like Netflix buying smaller productions and making their own content. It's a mistake to think that audio is limited to music/bands etc. Where there's video, there's audio and that's growing a lot. It's a huge field with a lot of possibilities. That said, it's a very competitive field and it's helpful to have insider help.

Trade jobs are always in demand and cost a lot less to learn than a 4 year college.

Avoid student debt as much as you can, that's a real ball and chain for people starting out their professional lives.

My son Brandon gave up on going to college and he's studying HVAC now while being trained on a job as an apprentice/helper. He still lives in Las Vegas and being an HVAC tech in the desert is the smartest move ever.
I didn't have enough saved to pay for a 4 year college so he'd need a partial loan for that. But with his decision to go to trade school I am able to pay for his entire education with the money I saved up for him.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by Mamberg Jr »

primeholy wrote:
Mamberg Jr wrote:So my first plan was to go to Chattanooga State (Community College) to their technical school to be an Electrician because they make good monies. I'm having second thoughts now. My original plan was to go into Audio Engineering but the job outlook seemed slim but apparently my mother used to do audio at a venue and met a lot of people so she kind of has my in...

If I were to go into audio engineering what should I take in community college? this one doesn't have anything for audio engineering so I'm SOL there.



Chattanooga State? That's a ways away from Clarksville to go to a community college. My daughter is currently enrolled there, and my youngest daughter will probably be there next year. If you go to Chattanooga State, I can stalk you in my spare time. Why did you pick Chatt state?

I Need to get out of the house and a buddy of mine is going too and he's got a house we can rent so I just think it'll be fun

Yeah I don't know if I really want to do audio engineering professionally. I want money and quick

But for real I'll probably take the electrician route and see from there if I wanna go back to school later. I appreciate the help boys y'all really did help me out
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by K-Bizzle »

I have no idea of your specific interests or capacity but you mentioned you liked wiring things.

Consider a job in controls engineering. Usual path is an electrical engineering degree but there are many other options like getting a 2 year electro-mechanical certification and getting a technician role first.

The thing about controls engineering is as long as you're learning its automation proof for the foreseeable future. Most of the guys that know anything are all older than me (I'm 35) and we're already at a skill shortage. If you play your cards right you could end up in a 6 figure position while still in your 20s. If you don't play your cards right you'll still end up at $70k minimum in most areas of the country.

Now thats all the practical stuff. You know what I get to do all day? Design cool shit and make it work. Automated machinery, robots, etc. I feel like a kid getting to play with insanely expensive toys. Sure sometimes its tough, theres tons of math, geometry, safety considerations, asinine questions, but its at the end of the day an absolutely enjoyable career and I honestly don't know what I'd pick instead of this if I could just wave a magic wand and do anything.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by ajaxlepinski »

For working stiffs without $5 million to invest, there's no such thing as "quick money"... unless you're talking about $20 at the bus station or truck stop.
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Walt wrote:But when the hour is nigh, and the lights are low, and I got a little toothpick of a shwag joint in my teeth, and my friends want to hear me play "Into the Void", or "TNT", "or "Cemetery Gates"...I plug my 600 dollar guitar into my 150 dollar amp, and I am a Rawk gawd.
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Re: What should I do with my life?

Post by sleewell »

fuck bitches






get money
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Re: What should I do with my life?

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EndTime wrote:Now he ended up getting in a bit too deep with the rap dudes, and I’m not trying to sound stereotypical but he was dealing with some hardcore dudes and eventually that came to be a problem as some dude wanted to kill him. Literally. And he ended up having to leave town! Haha. And the dude who wanted to kill him, did end up being picked up for a double homicide and rape where he burned the bodies. So yeah, he was doing good until that happened! He still hasn’t come back to town. Lol.




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