Leaving Industry

[hello_world]

Hi All

 

For a while now I have been contemplating leaving the entertainment industry. I have predominantly worked as a Sound Engineer and Production Electrician for 12 years. I'm "university trained" with a BSc (Hons).

 

This change isn't really due to the current pandemic, more something that has been brewing for a while. Does anybody have any stories of friends colleagues who have left the industry to go on to well paid (£35k +) jobs?

 

Just looking for some inspiration on where to start.

 

Thanks

 

EDIT - I should probably add, I am thinking a total change away from the current job. Not transferring into acoustic consultancy or interior lighting design for example.

Edited June 8, 2020 by hello_world

[gareth]

A few people I know have left the business - some just moving to its periphery, some turning to something completely new. Ask this question again in 12 months' time, and I suspect you'll have a whole load more people who've left the business!

 

To be honest, you've made me feel a bit better about myself - I was feeling like a bit of a lightweight because I'm seriously considering moving away (maybe partially, maybe completely) from 'showbiz' after 27 years... ;-)

[Mikey2018]

I know the feeling!

I had been considering it for a while and when the virus struck it kinda helped me make up my mind! I am actually heading to uni to study something completely different.

 

What ever you do, good luck!

 

Michael

[paulears]

Five years ago I sat in a theatre with Graham McLusky and his programmer, Ben Shipway - After panto, he decided he wanted to do something else. Now, he's a doctor! That's a great change of career.

[richardash1981]

For a while now I have been contemplating leaving the entertainment industry. I have predominantly worked as a Sound Engineer and Production Electrician for 12 years. I'm "university trained" with a BSc (Hons).

Depending on what the degree is in and why you want to move, see what openings there might be in the electricity industry.

Whilst there are certain things in common (electricity, big focus on it working reliably, sometimes antisocial hours as a result) the fact that everyone needs electricity makes it a relatively stable industry - and one that keeps complaining of skills shortages (for the last 10 years, and the retirement forecasts suggest it will get better not worse). Map here will find out which operator is local to you https://www.energyne...bution-map.html and their website will have a careers section. "Operational" or "field" roles tend to be just that - you end up in fields when the lights are out. But shift/on-call work is paid at a premium, as are "authorised" roles, meaning authorised to sign off switching, making dead for maintenance and so on. There will also be office-based roles with office hours on the design / planning side, and increasingly in data analysis and digital - it depends what your skill set is, because these areas tend to be fed more from graduate programs. I also suspect that it's pretty hard to progress without some "muddy boots" experience out in the field, and with good reason. On the other hand experience in venues and on shows should make hitting the ground easier than those straight out of university with no practical experience.

[sunray]

Five years ago I sat in a theatre with Graham McLusky and his programmer, Ben Shipway - After panto, he decided he wanted to do something else. Now, he's a doctor! That's a great change of career.

I worked in the AV sector and it took me 3 years before I discovered one of the engineers had worked at Guys Hospital as a Consultant Surgeon, every so often he would disappear for a week or so to be a GP locum.

[Jivemaster]

Moving straight to £35K+ isn't going to happen without some serious prep work on your part. Maybe you could look into other fields close to your degree or look into some other training but it may take a year or more. I drive an ambulance but now to be a paramedic you have to do three years at uni as a sandwich course and the shifts -24/7 doing a lot of sick party goers and a some time doing life saving stuff but few people stick it to retirement.

 

Law, accountancy all take those who study hard but there are exams between you and real money. Do you speak foreign languages?

[TomHoward]

The two alternative steady streams of work around our area with similar skill sets seem to be either rigger/technician jobs for BT, or work at a power station.

I think I'd either buy an ice cream van or become a builder.

[mikienorth]

I was having these thoughts last year, and this year was the year I was going to re-do my Electrical qualifications and prepare to go back to being an electrician, and then, well, we all know the rest. Personally I'm less than £1000 and four days of study away from being able to get my gold card, but finding that kind of money just now isn't easy. Currently applying for entry level positions at network rail (£26k) and seeing what else is out there, or persuade an electrical contractor to take me on with my old qualifications and work toward the new ones.

 

Everyone in the USA sees real estate as an exit plan as far as I can tell, over here I see lots of us building side businesses like bars, or event cateering, or distilling to build their own escape tunnels....

 

It's not that I 'want' to per se, it's that as I age I know the phone is going to stop ringing, and I need to be ready.

[Stuart91]

I worked in the AV sector and it took me 3 years before I discovered one of the engineers had worked at Guys Hospital as a Consultant Surgeon, every so often he would disappear for a week or so to be a GP locum.

 

I know someone who qualified as a doctor, but instead works (almost) full time for a small charity. He gets to do what he wants, but can dive off and do a run of lucrative locum shifts when he needs to bring some money in. It's a pretty nice safety net to have.

[Junior8]

I will only say this. Both my father and I for different reasons made complete career changes at 45 and never looked back. In my case it was teaching as after 21 years I was bored stiff and I sensed this was communicating itself to the students. (The decision was helped by the fact that I'd had too many old stagers going through the motions when I was at secondary school. It wasn't very motivating.) I think the saying 'a change is as good as a rest' has a lot to commend it. You have to have a plan - I'd saved up for several years to finance a masters and gone through months of mental SWOT analysis (and to be honest knew there would be supply teaching if it all went wrong) but based on our experiences I think both dad and I would say go for it if you feel you need to and have made the right preparations.

[kerry davies]

Is it possible to leave this industry and make £35K plus? Yes it is, my daughter did it. The question is, can it be done right now and the answer has to be; extremely unlikely.

 

Junior mentions preparation and sorta dorta left film and TV and London to doss about while she sorted herself out and set a training pathway in operation which has seen her spend ten years getting to where she aimed and is now pulling down around £55K. But even then she only broke the £35K barrier last year and she is incredibly specialised. She certainly could not do it today.

 

TomH mentions BT and they are not recruiting for the foreseeable future, Paul's junior doctors start on only around £28K after 5 to 7 years training. Vacancies everywhere are falling rapidly, unemployment is due to rise from 3.9% to 10% within weeks, investment collapsed after June 2016 and has gone through the floor since Covid so now is not the time to take risks.

 

My own story is relevant. I did some FE teaching which isn't happening right now. I consulted on community cohesion through events and events aren't happening. I trained live events crews and they haven't any money to pay for it. I ran generators for festivals which are not happening. So all in all I would be out of work but then I look around and so are the non-event generator guys, non-creative sector teachers, community workers, industrial trainers and everyone else. I agree that going for it is often the right thing to do just as I did at 47 but Junior would confirm the right thing at the wrong time could be disastrous.

[Junior8]

Yes I would agree with Kerry on the last point, now is perhaps not the best time to jump, but on the other hand I suspect now is the first time in years people have had time to sit back and reflect on what they have been doing all this time and why and where they are going.

 

And worryingly that applies even more to punters in this industry who I think will have been really looking at the money they are saving this year. Casual dining and hot food has been keeping the High Street and event catering business going. Unless landlords take a huge hit it is finished. (If I had shares in Costa I think I'd have sold them by now. By the same token I suspect the fashion for lavish weddings and funeral wakes is probably moving peacefully to a close.) Another thing - the venue I am associated with has been successful and is making hopeful noises about reopening - but with its core audience and volunteer cadre being largely firmly in the so called vulnerable age groups..?

 

My own view for what it is worth is that some of us who have been making a living from events and festivals have been riding what had become an unsustainable bubble, if we were in the trade show sector we were in an industry dying before the eyes to which this will simply have administered the humane killer. Also if I was a lecturer on any fees funded course in this sector I think I'd be dusting off the Whelk Stall, I don't see many funded by the now broke bank of mum and dad queuing up to pay £9000 a year tuition fees for a bit.

 

So in short the current situation doesn't mean that you can't think about making a change - I'll bet you'll join thousands made to think by the situation. But it makes holding on tight to nurse until you see a better nurse you can rely on coming along the sensible thing.

 

Make a plan for two years hence would be my advice.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Junior8

[Jivemaster]

NOW is a good time to make a critical appraisal of your own way out of the current situation, but a very poor time to simply jump onto another income stream. The "who can throw the most lavish parties" era may well have gone permanently but those with several means of earning a living may well see the next opportunities first and be available to take them.

 

Sooner or later all the tax holidays, rent holidays, and interest holidays will have to be repaid and the survivors of the next few years will be those who can earn a little and live on less. Even if you have a business there's little hope that all your clients still have money to spend with you.

[Stuart91]

The "who can throw the most lavish parties" era may well have gone permanently

 

We thought that during the last recession, and it was certainly true for a while.

 

I know that one well-known financial institution were regularly spending £50k+ a time on the technical provision for staff parties.

After they received a bailout, management couldn't buy pizza for their staff without someone sneaking a photo and selling it to the tabloids.

 

Whilst the same exuberance hadn't quite come back, there was still a very healthy market until Covid struck. So I suspect the market will come back, but slowly, probably slower than in 2008. If social distancing has to persist into the long-term it'll slow things further. But people will still want to gather together, and those with cash will continue to want to flash it.

 

Of course, looking forward and trying to make career choices is very difficult. All the more reason, perhaps, to sit tight for now and see what the lie of the land is like in 3 or 6 months.