General Attitude

[niax]

I can not work out what stage you are at. Are you looking for something in the summer before returning to education or are you now at a point where you want to work permanently?

 

I've finished off my A-Levels and am waiting on the results to go to Uni. I was looking for something in the summer before, but have given up - mostly due to people just not replying.

 

Hi. Sorry, Niax, I'm not here to offer help, but this seems an opportune moment to ask. How afraid should we be to ask questions? i.e. should we admit to our stupidity, or try and work it out by ourselves for a bit longer. How many questions can we ask before it gets annoying?

 

I do ask questions, especially on equipment which I have never used before - in this case I will tend to ask for someone to give me a little guide to how things work or to oversee what I'm doing if I think the equipment is potentially unsafe.

 

I would too echo Genus' words about the Edinburgh Fringe, it is a great way to make new friends who are interested in the same things as you are. [snip] Something similar is the national student drama festival where you won't get paid (having to pay of food and accommodation) but you get an intensive week of technical experience and socialising in a very safe environment (Other draw backs are it is in March and Scarborough).

 

Part of me giving up on my plans for something over the summer was deciding to go away with my parents over this time, right in the middle of the Edinburgh Festival - a real pain now it's all paid up for, as it seems like something I would enjoy, especially as practice for Uni. I'm aware of the NSDF and currently intend on attending for the '09 Festival.

 

There can be a difference between being shy and struggling with small talk, I'm not particularly shy but have always had difficulty knowing what to say in social situations. Usually if I could just think of the right words I'd happily say them but nothing comes to mind. I can talk the hind legs off a donkey on subjects I know about but put me in a room full of strangers and tell me to chat to them and I'm in trouble.

 

I'm rather the same - I'm a particularly keen programmer (in the computer terms) and if you put me in a room of programmers that I know - we'll argue to hell and back about which language or OS or whatever is better. Put me in a room of people I don't know and I drown in lack of known conversation topics and awkward silences.

 

As ever, thanks for all the replies - It's great to get the variety of responses and gleam what I think will work for me off them all.

[LXbydesign]

I think everyone gets slightly intimidated/nervous going to a new job where everyone else seems to know each other and you feel like you're on your own a bit. I think your attitude towards work is (or at least seems to be) good, and that's really the most important thing. I envy those people that can walk into a situation like that and just chat away.

 

Have you tried finding work at the Edinburgh festival? To others, please don't shoot me down, but whilst some companies don't pay well, the experience, especially if you possibly haven't been working for long, is remarkable. Try the big venue companies, some of them may still have vacancies.

 

Best of luck

 

Genus

 

 

Indeed - check on Stagepro website. lots of edinburgh jobs on that right now. Dont expect it to pay your rent for a month , but the experience is invaluble and you will get to see a lot of other shows!

[lightsource]

After reading back through the previous posts, there is one thing that springs to mind with me...

 

I've been a guitarist for 27 ish years, keyboards player for 10 years and a drummer for 6. Whilst I wouldn't call myself 'acomplished', I can get the job done, weather it's performing...programming (midi) etc. I also have a decent gear list, including Korg Triton Synth, Custom Kramer Pacer guitar with HiWatt Amps, and a Tama Rockstar drum kit.....

 

Now, how many gigs have I done in the last 25 years?

 

5 (and 4 of them were in the same year).

 

I hate being on a sage (as a performer). With a passion. I don't like people staring at me in the performer cinareo ( spelling looks a little dodgey with that word :D )

 

I have no problem operating FOH, Lighting, or anything else.....Il'll even walk on a stage soundcheck the mics or instruments, fiddle with things in public view, whatever, not even a moments hestiation ( and I KNOW my voice is nasty).

 

But put a musical instrument in my hand, to do a performance, and I'd rather run a mile.

 

So I can simpathise with the OP, but from a different point of view. I've worked with (as a musician) some great local bands, but when it comes to gig time, I'd rather be behind the mixing desk, Or at least that end of the show!

[DomB]

I think its just one of the barriers that young people have to get past, we all went thro it when we started out in many different jobs.

 

My 1st job after leaving School (many years ago) was working in a car spares shop.

 

I worked in the "backroom" sorting all the stock out that arrived and that was fine it was just some basic maths and filling in paperwork.. But every now and then the shop would get very busy and I might have to deal with the "public" and I used to get hot and flustered and forgot how to work out VAT and could not work out how to deal with questions without asking the "boss" or other staff who were running around to busy to help me. And I hated answering the phone !

 

Now many years later I am working in a busy Box Office, answering questions all day on the phone and dealing with the public all day and dealing with large group bookings of over 500 people

 

I did work backstage for many years until a leg injury stopped me running up and down ladders and I miss all the backstage banter sometimes.

 

Once you have got your foot in the door and the 1st few days under your belt you will find that most people behind the scenes can be friendly and fun (and grumpy) just like everybody else in the world ;)

 

Good Luck

 

DomB

[gherriott]

Just going to quickly put my opinion across from the point of view of someone who is slowly moving from the person who is asking the questions, to the person who is answering them. When I started out, I learnt by doing and by asking questions, and LOTS of them! I probably drove my colleagues round the bend with the amount of questions I asked and the amount of times I asked if I could do a certain task rather than watching. Over the past few years I have become more and more confident in my knowledge and experience as a result of this and I think it has helped me to approach people higher up in the industry and start asking them questions...the whole process starts again! One thing that has helped me is building that confidence and just bearing in mind that the worst thing someone can say to you is no. When walking into a venue and meeting a new crew I make sure I am the one going round and introducing myself rather than waiting for someone to come to me.

 

The key to this industry is networking, and to network you need to have those social skills and in a way be somewhat a little bit cheeky to go and make those introductions and offer your business card and so on. If someone comes up to me asking if they can shadow me or work with me, I can tell pretty much within the first half an hour of working with them if they are truely interested just by seeing how many questions they ask and if they want to work rather than stand and wait for me to tell them what to do.

 

I am probably going completely off topic here and being totally irrelivant, but what I am trying to say is always present yourself in the best way you can. Be confident but not arrogant, don't be afraid to ask questions and concentrate on building contacts through socialising and showing a keen interest. It is a very hard industry for people our age to get into as there is that conundrum of needing experience to get a job, but needing the job to get the experience.

 

Good luck with it and don't let lack of confidence put you down, it will come in time if you work on it.