Before College

As much as I would like to say "I do everything myself!" I do have people trying to help me out with my journey. My ex high school puts on a summer production to acclimate the new students to how the program is run and I was lucky enough to be hired to come back and do sound design and teach a little bit of basic lighting to the new lighting techs. Taking that summer job, even though it was ten hours a day four days a week for five weeks (talk about a third of my summer gone...and did I mention that I wasn't paid?), was a wonderful decision. It taught me, in a nutshell, to be aggressive about work early on.

What do you mean?

Well, I mean, get your resume (and your name) out there! Don't worry about rejection, it's unavoidable. (corny, but bear with me)

As a matter of fact, chances are that you wont get hired before you finish at least two years of school. Most people hiring aren't going to say "Oh look, someone who will probably be a liability and who I will need to take time to train! Yay!" I recommend going for volunteer positions as you start out. Things like "Laborer" or "Box pusher". Lots of places (churches, playhouses, theaters, convention centers, amusement parks...) need volunteers to help with the work.

Its a good way to get your name in the heads of people who can get you more interesting work later on. I'm going to a gig next weekend as a volunteer carpenter (not the knotts one).


I think that's all for now...to reiterate, I recommend you try as hard as you possibly can to get any work at all. Paid or un-paid. Skilled or un-skilled. Just go and work.

Oh. I almost forgot!

I'll do this quickly, beacuse I want to sleep.

You need a resume, which I guess I'll get into next time. Once you have it, start firing it off to people. Apply for anything you think you can do. Electrician. A2. I don't know your skill level.

Good place to start : Backstage Jobs

If you don't get accepted at all, don't fret just yet. If you do, good for you! Have a blast

That's all for now.

All the best

-Me.