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Possible careers for switching?

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Ferran Alcalde

Hi,

I've been working in the industry for 13 years... I did everything from runner, directing, editing, filmmaking, camera operation, AD, etc...finally I specialized in color, and I've been working in a post-house for 2 years as the main colorist. Since we are a small post house, even tho we have big clients and work mostly doing tv-ads for big brands, I'm also the only editor and sometimes even editor. It's a lot of work. A lot of hours. A lot of stress. But I do love it.

Sadly, I'm barely earning more than 15 years ago when I used to work selling tshirts in a store... And the cost of living is very high.

I've been offered an opportunity that will educate my in networking, computer systems and python in one year. It's basically a cybersec bootcamp done by Cisco and the government of my country.

Considering my years of experience in the industry, and the knowledge I will acquire soon, what positions are there in our industry that would be good for someone with my profile?!
Have you guys had any success or head about successful career switching stories?
 
You've been in the industry for quite a while, but each of those changes in position (directing, editing, camera op, AD, colorist, etc) meant there was somewhat of a reset as you gained proficiency at the new position. This is a big part of your earnings not getting as high as say, choosing editing or color and then doing just that for 13 years. That being said it can be hard to choose until you actually try something for a while. Even though, try your best to find what you like and stick with it.

Getting into cyber security would be yet another reset, plus a jump to an entirely different universe career-wise and none of your past 13 years of experience as an artist will really apply. If you're wanting to try a technical career track, there are lots of engineering positions in film and television where you can take advantage of your camera, editing, color, and film making knowledge. In engineering you're basically building tools for artists. Knowing what artists need and how shows are completed is a huge benefit. However, it will still be a reset. The tech world is also vast. That can be really fun though if you like to learn and enjoy finding solutions to problems.

If you liked the idea of cybersecurity and you want to find an engineering position where you can dive into computing, I would take a look at either a VFX or animation shop if there are any near you. They are generally very workstation, server, and network heavy, often with large shared storage systems, render farms, and quite a bit of network sophistication to manage it all. Post houses are great too, but from a tech standpoint they will be about 50% computer engineering and 50% video engineering (SDI routers, signal conversion, encoding, mastering displays, calibration, etc). It just depends on what's near you.

The main thing at this point is to look back and determine what you were good at and what you enjoyed doing day-to-day. Changing positions is OK, but if you want your salary to increase, you're going to need to choose a career path and stay with it long enough for higher pay to materialize.
 
Jason Myres said:
You've been in the industry for quite a while, but each of those changes in position (directing, editing, camera op, AD, colorist, etc) meant there was somewhat of a reset as you gained proficiency at the new position. This is a big part of your earnings not getting as high as say, choosing editing or color and then doing just that for 13 years. That being said it can be hard to choose until you actually try something for a while. Even though, try your best to find what you like and stick with it.

Getting into cyber security would be yet another reset, plus a jump to an entirely different universe career-wise and none of your past 13 years of experience as an artist will really apply. If you're wanting to try a technical career track, there are lots of engineering positions in film and television where you can take advantage of your camera, editing, color, and film making knowledge. In engineering you're basically building tools for artists. Knowing what artists need and how shows are completed is a huge benefit. However, it will still be a reset. The tech world is also vast. That can be really fun though if you like to learn and enjoy finding solutions to problems.

If you liked the idea of cybersecurity and you want to find an engineering position where you can dive into computing, I would take a look at either a VFX or animation shop if there are any near you. They are generally very workstation, server, and network heavy, often with large shared storage systems, render farms, and quite a bit of network sophistication to manage it all. Post houses are great too, but from a tech standpoint they will be about 50% computer engineering and 50% video engineering (SDI routers, signal conversion, encoding, mastering displays, calibration, etc). It just depends on what's near you.

The main thing at this point is to look back and determine what you were good at and what you enjoyed doing day-to-day. Changing positions is OK, but if you want your salary to increase, you're going to need to choose a career path and stay with it long enough for higher pay to materialize.
Click to expand...
Jason,

Excellent career advice for all.

:)
 
Ferran Alcalde said:
Hi,

I've been working in the industry for 13 years... I did everything from runner, directing, editing, filmmaking, camera operation, AD, etc...finally I specialized in color, and I've been working in a post-house for 2 years as the main colorist. Since we are a small post house, even tho we have big clients and work mostly doing tv-ads for big brands, I'm also the only editor and sometimes even editor. It's a lot of work. A lot of hours. A lot of stress. But I do love it.

Sadly, I'm barely earning more than 15 years ago when I used to work selling tshirts in a store... And the cost of living is very high.

I've been offered an opportunity that will educate my in networking, computer systems and python in one year. It's basically a cybersec bootcamp done by Cisco and the government of my country.

Considering my years of experience in the industry, and the knowledge I will acquire soon, what positions are there in our industry that would be good for someone with my profile?!
Have you guys had any success or head about successful career switching stories?
Click to expand...
I'd see if I could keep part time in that job until you have something else lined up. Never jump off a bridge, always wait till there is a connecting payment on the other side. Unless the bootcamp has a job guarantee at the end, I wouldn't count my chickens till they are hatched. Don't look at the job training and certifications themselves, but look at the actual job market itself.

Are you competing against a large, overqualified pool for a small handful of jobs? Do you want to be a single point of failure in the tech world? Most don't enjoy their job following them on time off or in the middle of the night/weekends. What quality of life do you want?

The actual few jobs that hollywood has for video engineers is usually the best of the best with 30 years experience. It's probably harder to get a tech job there than with a contractor for the government or a sales, bank, etc agency. It's who you know for the good jobs that usually aren't posted anywhere. You need to network.
And then are you in a union? Do you get paid a regular paycheck? Do you like stability?

Some of this may not apply to you since you may not be in the same country as me, but wisdom always applies.
 
Jason Myres said:
You've been in the industry for quite a while, but each of those changes in position (directing, editing, camera op, AD, colorist, etc) meant there was somewhat of a reset as you gained proficiency at the new position. This is a big part of your earnings not getting as high as say, choosing editing or color and then doing just that for 13 years. That being said it can be hard to choose until you actually try something for a while. Even though, try your best to find what you like and stick with it.

Getting into cyber security would be yet another reset, plus a jump to an entirely different universe career-wise and none of your past 13 years of experience as an artist will really apply. If you're wanting to try a technical career track, there are lots of engineering positions in film and television where you can take advantage of your camera, editing, color, and film making knowledge. In engineering you're basically building tools for artists. Knowing what artists need and how shows are completed is a huge benefit. However, it will still be a reset. The tech world is also vast. That can be really fun though if you like to learn and enjoy finding solutions to problems.

If you liked the idea of cybersecurity and you want to find an engineering position where you can dive into computing, I would take a look at either a VFX or animation shop if there are any near you. They are generally very workstation, server, and network heavy, often with large shared storage systems, render farms, and quite a bit of network sophistication to manage it all. Post houses are great too, but from a tech standpoint they will be about 50% computer engineering and 50% video engineering (SDI routers, signal conversion, encoding, mastering displays, calibration, etc). It just depends on what's near you.

The main thing at this point is to look back and determine what you were good at and what you enjoyed doing day-to-day. Changing positions is OK, but if you want your salary to increase, you're going to need to choose a career path and stay with it long enough for higher pay to materialize.
Click to expand...

Jason, thanks for your thoughtful reply.
I understand that another reset is not ideal, but I feel I've hit a dead end...even if things were to go really good, I only see myself earning maybe 2500 euros a month in-house...and well, that not enough with the cost of living here, I will always be a month away of poverty. Because of personal reasons, I've seen poverty from really close, and yeah, I'm traumatized by it. I've seen what it does, I've seen where it ends, and I also feel that by staying as a colorist, or maybe even this industry, I will always be worrying.
To be honest, the first time I started to think about switching to a more technical career was at the baselight presentation this year, were I met some of the baselight team and I felt that I would love to be part of it. Their energy, how knowledgeable they were about the product and the way they talked about baselight, made me daydream about joining them.
Once I finish the course I will look into vfx and animation houses as you recommended, and maybe post-houses hat are much bigger than the one I'm curently working at.
And again, thanks, your advice is very sound.

Chris Wright said:
I'd see if I could keep part time in that job until you have something else lined up. Never jump off a bridge, always wait till there is a connecting payment on the other side. Unless the bootcamp has a job guarantee at the end, I wouldn't count my chickens till they are hatched. Don't look at the job training and certifications themselves, but look at the actual job market itself.

Are you competing against a large, overqualified pool for a small handful of jobs? Do you want to be a single point of failure in the tech world? Most don't enjoy their job following them on time off or in the middle of the night/weekends. What quality of life do you want?

The actual few jobs that hollywood has for video engineers is usually the best of the best with 30 years experience. It's probably harder to get a tech job there than with a contractor for the government or a sales, bank, etc agency. It's who you know for the good jobs that usually aren't posted anywhere. You need to network.
And then are you in a union? Do you get paid a regular paycheck? Do you like stability?

Some of this may not apply to you since you may not be in the same country as me, but wisdom always applies.
Click to expand...

Sadly, I can't keep my job and study at the same time. My current position means that I even sleep at the office sometimes... and the bootcamp schedule doesn't match with my current job schedule. The cybersec job market in spain isn't the same as the US. Whilst the salaries are low, there is a huge demand and europe is going to pump up the tech infrastructures in the next years to avoid the over reliance on the US. No unions here.... or I would have joined one! And yeah, I do like getting paid regularly, that's why I'm not contemplating going freelance.
 
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