Re: Realistic options for a music related career posted by jiwabi posted by jiwabi

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Realistic options for a music related career on August 30, 2019 @ 3:27 pmReport this post as inappropriate#1
by unam jiwabi  

Say you're in your mid thirties, you've been working as a web developer for almost 15 years, and you've been doing a mediocre job at it. While your peers change jobs every few years in order to advance their careers, take on new challenges and get a pay raise, you're compelled to change jobs whenever your current employer brings in a new technology, because you can't learn it fast enough to keep up. Whenever you're given a new assignment at work, you take so long adapting to the new requirements that someone else ends up doing it all for you while you continue to handle the increasingly trivial maintenance on whatever it was you were working on before. Every five years or so, you're diagnosed with another autoimmune disease, due to the cognitive dissonance of trying to act like you know what you're doing when you so clearly don't. That's my career in a nutshell, and I'm not exaggerating about the autoimmune diseases.

Clearly, it's time to try something else. It's been time. Now, I know that there are many jobs I can do well enough to make a living, and probably without injuring myself any further. Pragmatic jobs that can draw on my existing experience, or that don't require much experience but still pay enough to get by. I could do like a lot of failed developers and become a project manager. Someone told me bartending is a decent way to make money, or I could try to salvage my design degree even though I've never really applied it professionally, and don't really have a passion for it.

I'm really, really not looking for fame and fortune. This is what I want: when you put two people on the same task, I want to be the one whose genuine enthusiasm gives my work just a little bit of an edge. Just like the people I work with today, who go home and work on their own apps in their free time, then come in the next day and apply the experience to their day jobs. I'm good at something, and I want to have that be relevant in some way, however small.

Unfortunately that something is music. And we all know a music career is a huge gamble even when you're 18 and thinking about college majors. At 34, it just doesn't seem like a realistic option. It might be realistic if I were already good enough at an instrument to teach, but I estimate at least 5 more years before I get to that level. It doesn't help that I've got the stereotypical programmer's smooth, charismatic personality. But one thing I do have going for me is I'm really interested in anything and everything music related. I'd be happy just getting to hear a lot of interesting albums, wade through the samples sent in by aspiring artists, write about music, do research, find songs with lyrics that go with today's podcast theme.

So I'm posting here in the hope of getting advice from someone who knows. Maybe someone at a radio station, an advertising agency, maybe an administrative staff person at a record label, who might be able to tell me this: if there's just one music related career option out there where I stand any chance of success, which one is it?


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Re: Realistic options for a music related career posted by jiwabi on September 15, 2019 @ 9:52 pmReport this post as inappropriate#2
by Richard Eric Burnette Richard Eric Burnette is currently offline. Click to send a message.

On August 30, 2019 unam jiwabi wrote:

Say you're in your mid thirties, you've been working as a web developer for almost 15 years, and you've been doing a mediocre job at it. While your peers change jobs every few years in order to advance their careers, take on new challenges and get a pay raise, you're compelled to change jobs whenever your current employer brings in a new technology, because you can't learn it fast enough to keep up. Whenever you're given a new assignment at work, you take so long adapting to the new requirements that someone else ends up doing it all for you while you continue to handle the increasingly trivial maintenance on whatever it was you were working on before. Every five years or so, you're diagnosed with another autoimmune disease, due to the cognitive dissonance of trying to act like you know what you're doing when you so clearly don't. That's my career in a nutshell, and I'm not exaggerating about the autoimmune diseases.

Clearly, it's time to try something else. It's been time. Now, I know that there are many jobs I can do well enough to make a living, and probably without injuring myself any further. Pragmatic jobs that can draw on my existing experience, or that don't require much experience but still pay enough to get by. I could do like a lot of failed developers and become a project manager. Someone told me bartending is a decent way to make money, or I could try to salvage my design degree even though I've never really applied it professionally, and don't really have a passion for it.

I'm really, really not looking for fame and fortune. This is what I want: when you put two people on the same task, I want to be the one whose genuine enthusiasm gives my work just a little bit of an edge. Just like the people I work with today, who go home and work on their own apps in their free time, then come in the next day and apply the experience to their day jobs. I'm good at something, and I want to have that be relevant in some way, however small.

Unfortunately that something is music. And we all know a music career is a huge gamble even when you're 18 and thinking about college majors. At 34, it just doesn't seem like a realistic option. It might be realistic if I were already good enough at an instrument to teach, but I estimate at least 5 more years before I get to that level. It doesn't help that I've got the stereotypical programmer's smooth, charismatic personality. But one thing I do have going for me is I'm really interested in anything and everything music related. I'd be happy just getting to hear a lot of interesting albums, wade through the samples sent in by aspiring artists, write about music, do research, find songs with lyrics that go with today's podcast theme.

So I'm posting here in the hope of getting advice from someone who knows. Maybe someone at a radio station, an advertising agency, maybe an administrative staff person at a record label, who might be able to tell me this: if there's just one music related career option out there where I stand any chance of success, which one is it?

Have you heard much of silicone valley lately? I was always told that the musicians who across the board, who tended to do the best were people who also had another type of work like a family store or who worked at the post office or phone company too! More than not music is the mos t steady thing so far! I got spunged op from grade school concert bands to playing hotel ball rooms and som pretty big jazz fests! When between gigs(Hi Teck too) I can always compose and work on new tunes. I' ve found that playing in the park can be lots of fun too! I havent seen a Bell logo in a long time and AT@T looks like something that should blow up! 'Im sticking with it!


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Re: Realistic options for a music related career posted by jiwabi on September 19, 2019 @ 3:19 amReport this post as inappropriate#3
by Hurma Hurma is currently offline. Click to send a message.

I don't think that it's a good thing when you plan a music career. Maybe I'm too romantic but music and art, in general, becomes someone's career by chance. I play the guitar a lot, order different music appliances from time to time (and before ordering I check my zip code here worldpostalcode zip code lookup). I try to get noticed, to be more known but I don't do something special for it.


Edited by Hurma on September 24, 2019 @ 1:59 amReply to this message by quoting it
Re: Realistic options for a music related career posted by jiwabi on September 22, 2019 @ 5:25 pmReport this post as inappropriate#4
by Harpnbanjofella Harpnbanjofella is currently offline. Click to send a message.

On September 15, 2019 Richard Eric Burnette wrote:

On September 15, 2019 Richard Eric Burnette wrote:

Say you're in your mid thirties, you've been working as a web developer for almost 15 years, and you've been doing a mediocre job at it. While your peers change jobs every few years in order to advance their careers, take on new challenges and get a pay raise, you're compelled to change jobs whenever your current employer brings in a new technology, because you can't learn it fast enough to keep up. Whenever you're given a new assignment at work, you take so long adapting to the new requirements that someone else ends up doing it all for you while you continue to handle the increasingly trivial maintenance on whatever it was you were working on before. Every five years or so, you're diagnosed with another autoimmune disease, due to the cognitive dissonance of trying to act like you know what you're doing when you so clearly don't. That's my career in a nutshell, and I'm not exaggerating about the autoimmune diseases.

Clearly, it's time to try something else. It's been time. Now, I know that there are many jobs I can do well enough to make a living, and probably without injuring myself any further. Pragmatic jobs that can draw on my existing experience, or that don't require much experience but still pay enough to get by. I could do like a lot of failed developers and become a project manager. Someone told me bartending is a decent way to make money, or I could try to salvage my design degree even though I've never really applied it professionally, and don't really have a passion for it.

I'm really, really not looking for fame and fortune. This is what I want: when you put two people on the same task, I want to be the one whose genuine enthusiasm gives my work just a little bit of an edge. Just like the people I work with today, who go home and work on their own apps in their free time, then come in the next day and apply the experience to their day jobs. I'm good at something, and I want to have that be relevant in some way, however small.

Unfortunately that something is music. And we all know a music career is a huge gamble even when you're 18 and thinking about college majors. At 34, it just doesn't seem like a realistic option. It might be realistic if I were already good enough at an instrument to teach, but I estimate at least 5 more years before I get to that level. It doesn't help that I've got the stereotypical programmer's smooth, charismatic personality. But one thing I do have going for me is I'm really interested in anything and everything music related. I'd be happy just getting to hear a lot of interesting albums, wade through the samples sent in by aspiring artists, write about music, do research, find songs with lyrics that go with today's podcast theme.

So I'm posting here in the hope of getting advice from someone who knows. Maybe someone at a radio station, an advertising agency, maybe an administrative staff person at a record label, who might be able to tell me this: if there's just one music related career option out there where I stand any chance of success, which one is it?

Have you heard much of silicone valley lately? I was always told that the musicians who across the board, who tended to do the best were people who also had another type of work like a family store or who worked at the post office or phone company too! More than not music is the mos t steady thing so far! I got spunged op from grade school concert bands to playing hotel ball rooms and som pretty big jazz fests! When between gigs(Hi Teck too) I can always compose and work on new tunes. I' ve found that playing in the park can be lots of fun too! I havent seen a Bell logo in a long time and AT@T looks like something that should blow up! 'Im sticking with it!

I always wondered about trying to do little commercial or tv chase scene type bits but how does one even think about trying to get into it. Obviously I know only the best of the best make anything of playing harmonica but sometimes hope is all one needs. I assume samples have to be sent out but to who would you aim it towards. Anyways cool discussion.


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Re: Realistic options for a music related career posted by jiwabi post on October 14, 2019 @ 9:15 amReport this post as inappropriate#5
by TimM TimM is currently offline. Click to send a message.

CONTACT: ASCAP- There is the business of music, and there is always a place for someone who really loves music. Tim


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