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FCP 7 Editors…need not apply!
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[Brett Sherman] “Northern Virginia means Washington, DC. I can assure you it’s not any cheaper than Los Angeles.”
I think that’s important to note both for people living in LA and people NOT living in LA. There are loads of places that are at least expensive as LA, and have traffic every bit as bad, if not worse. Places are just places.
Specifically, Fairfax County is the second-richest in the US. That said, the median income is $60,000 for men, $40,000 for women.
(Ahem. The 77% number we talk about for women’s salaries compared to men’s is for white women. The more minorities you include in the number, the further down it goes — hence in Fairfax, on average, women are only making 66% what men are.)
My point being that $40,000 is clearly an entirely respectable number, even in Fairfax County.
Two things jumped out at me.
“2+ years editing experience.” Assuming you graduate from college at 21 or 22, this job is clearly aimed at someone in their early 20s — which again emphasizes the reasonable-ness of the number, ESPECIALLY for a job with benefits.
Of course, since most FCPX editors are illiterate skateboarders, the job is actually aimed at 15 year olds. Score!
Kidding aside, this a genuinely solid job offer for someone with the called-for qualifications.
Which is the other thing that jumped out at me: what’s NOT in the job description.
We can all recall job descriptions mentioned in this forum that piled an INSANE amount of stuff in there that no one human could possibly have, for an offensively low salary.
I’ve already established that $40K is a nifty number even in Fairfax, but no kidding, look at the qualifications: editing, basic color correction, enough Motion to be able to do lower thirds, chewing with your mouth closed, being able to work in an office, and not being an idiot.
Surely at least half of FCPX users can pull this off.
Although the chewing with your mouth closed suggests applicants of at least 16 years old, which does in fact rule out about half of FCPX users, what with being illiterate skateboarders and all. Sorry about that, fellas.
Kidding aside again, one implication of this is the same as what other people have mentioned for other NLEs. “I use what the boss/client says, and I don’t complain.” I think it’s perfectly reasonable to say, “We’re not interested in applicants who are going to try to make us feel bad about choices, and we DO want somebody who’s using the latest version of the tool of choice. The rest of you can go back to your dinosaur caves.”
I do think that this is an interesting headline, though, and I’m sorry to sniff the possibility of the discussion being derailed by the salary. IT’S A GOOD SALARY for someone with 2-ish years of experience, even in Fairfax. They’ve probably already filled the job.
What with there being such a deep pool of illiterate skateboarders to draw from.
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I am functionally illiterate, but sadly not a skateboarder. The phrase…”need not apply” does turns my head back to more unpleasant times, though.
Tim
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“and the sign said long-haired hippies, need not apply….”
Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter -
Assuming the 40K is after taxes and etc. are taken out, that’s roughly $3300 a month. A very cursory check of tiny studio apartment prices in Fairfax yields $1300 a month to $1700. Subtract $200 for food and $100 for gas or public transit (should probably be the other way around), and free parking, the “respectable” wage leaves $1700 for the month for all the other bills and discretionary spending or savings. Doable, indeed, for a youngster, if you’re not “up in da club” every night and live on Top Ramen. And you don’t have major health costs pop up or a student loan to pay off.
It’s a better salary if earned in my town, where 2-3 bed apartments rent for 500 bucks, utilities are low, 200 bucks feeds five for a week, and health care is very available. And we have an indoor skate park/punk record store for the editors to meet in.:-)
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Whoops, I got my geography all wrong. That’s what I get for being a westerner (Montana). My wife (Born and raised in DC) would be so disappointed in me.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Mark Suszko] “Assuming the 40K is after taxes and etc. are taken out”
I’m curious what leads you to this assumption. All jobs we post in my corporate environment, and all jobs I’ve applied for post pre-tax salaries. My assumption when I read that is $40K is before taxes…his/her take home would be $30K-$35K depending on withholdings, outside gigs, and the money they make from customizing skateboards! 🙂
Still a livable wage for an energetic early-to-mid 20-something looking to grab the world by its tail, but with decidedly less money to “make it rain” in da club!
My experience is not universal so you may be entirely correct in your assumption. I just have not experienced that in my circles…
Ryan Holmes
http://www.ryanholmes.me
@CutColorPost -
Indeed. Puts me in mind of Todd Browning’s Freaks. “Like us…like us…”
Tim
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[Mark Suszko] “It’s a better salary if earned in my town, where 2-3 bed apartments rent for 500 bucks, utilities are low, 200 bucks feeds five for a week, and health care is very available.”
Holy crap, Mark! Where do you live? You can barely find a 600 sqft. 1 bedroom apt. for less than $1,000/mo. in my neck of the woods.
Shawn
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I know, it’s insanely cheap where I live; it was the only reason I could afford to take the job when it was first offered, because the wage wasn’t enough for Chicago living, (still isn’t IMO) but downstate is much easier. I make much more than 40K now of course, but I still feel like I’m just treading water, some days, when the unexpected bills pop up.
I assumed the $40k was before taxes, I was just making a point in my subtle way that the 40 wasn’t even a real 40, that the after-tax monthly amount was not going to make our skateboarding Walter Murch Jr. rich at three grand a month before rent and expenses.
I don’t know if the high schools do this exercise any more, but I think they really should: in my day, we had a one-week-long class on life skills after graduation, where we had to research all this kind of stuff, learn how to handle banking, mortgages and loan notes, finding and getting an apartment, furniture, and a car, how to pay rent checks and write receipts, total a food budget, etc. and come up with a budget and a P/L statement, and show what kind of standard of living we’d be able to expect in our leisure time in terms of entertainment/culture and The Finer Things. The room full of randomly-assigned boy-girl couples also randomly got assigned the extra expenses of a “surprise” baby in the mix, and it led to a lot of the kids in the unit getting a new urgency in their job hunting and career plans, once they’d worked up their “profile”. I got a b-plus I think on mine, but my fake wife and I had 2 jobs and expenses cut to the bone, we never ate out or did anything more expensive than a second-run movie with $2 tickets, a beater car, a fleabag apartment in the bad side of town, no regular health care, but at least we weren’t sleeping in our car, or a camper van, as some of the students’ budgets calculated.
Sadly, as some recent books and documentaries have shown, it hasn’t gotten any easier since the seventies, if you can’t get out of the minimum wage pit for a paycheck. We can argue all day about what a “liveable” wage is, what’s a frill and what’s basic survival. I stand by my premise that forty a year for a kid, fresh out of school seems like a lot, but really isn’t, unless they are exceptionally disciplined, financially.
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Actually Shane 40k in Fairfax Virginia is NOT a lot of money. It’s just outside if DC where the average government worker supporting a family makes between 60 and 150k a year. And I’m certain they’re not looking for a fresh out of film school grad but someone with years of experience already
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