What is the best path for starting a video editing career? – Requesting advice from professionals.

[Joseph W. bourke]

As everyone has said here, in one form or another – the degree is just a piece of paper which will open certain doors. It’s the knowledge and experience you’re after, and you can get that through an internship, textbooks (used on *bay is a great source of these), web tutorials (but you’ve got to be self-motivated), and studying what’s on the air, cable, and the web.

I started my education as an English major (pushed in that direction by guidance counselors – and knowing I wanted to go into music), transferred to music school at the end of my first year, went three and half years to music school, then went on the road (I wanted to perform, not teach). I earned a living in music for twelve years, then was guided into advertising and television production by a mentor – I’ve been working in electronic media ever since, with no degree…

Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com

[Tim Wilson]

[Evan Thompson] “I just needed to know the balance between getting a degree or bypassing it”

Okay, here it is taken to the extreme:

“Dammit I’ve learned too much! I know so much about so many things, and have so many options that it’s keeping me from being a good editor.” LOL

There are noooooooooooooooooooooo disadvantages to getting a degree. None. None. None.

Now, if the question is, can you do what you want in this life without a degree, the answer is obviously yes. But less so by the second. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were college dropouts. Wanna guess how many they hired?

To once again say it in the extreme: not having a degree creates obstacles. Having a degree creates opportunities.

So, how much do you love obstacles? How much knowledge, experience, and potential are you willing to sacrifice in the name of an obstacle-laden career with fewer opportunities? That’s crazy talk, man….but then again, maybe that’s exactly what you want.

I’m not being condescending. Getting a job is a challenge under the best circumstances, and some people need extra challenges in order to excel. Maybe that’s you, in which case, go for it.

[Joseph W. Bourke] “I started my education as an English major….transferred to music school…”

Opportunities.

I’ve told the story here many times of beating out much more experienced people, as well as many people who charged a lot less, for a natural science-related TV show with a 6-figure budget because I knew biology and geology. I lost the gig when I more than doubled my price….then got it back a few months later at my new asking price when they realized that the new guy, whose work was really pretty — arguably prettier than mine — just didn’t know enough science. They’d gotten spoiled by what my knowledge brought to my work, and never actually aired the episodes they’d paid him to create.

I was also more than a shooter/editor. I was a co-producer because I had the experience to manage a lot of moving pieces that had nothing to do with video. Almost all of it came from doing the day to day stuff that students have to do, irrespective of the content of the classes — preparation, pacing myself with a million things on to-do lists for different people with conflicting needs, delivering on time no matter what. Word problems. Pretty much every problem you’ll face will boil down to a word problem. That stuff gets easy with practice.

The fact is that you’re going to start any job pretty far down the food chain. I didn’t step into a management job. But I had experience in things besides shooting and editing that made people think of me when management jobs became available.

Again an extreme example, but even if you want to gallop straight into a video production career, you never know what’s going to give you the edge. It might even be the one thing that “you’re never going to use in real life.”

[Joseph W. Bourke] ” web tutorials”

I know that you and I agree on this Joe, so I’m going to just expand a bit on this.

We obviously post a bunch of tutorials here at the COW, and I’ll put ours up against anybody’s on the net — but no amount of online training is good way to teach yourself anything big. It’s a great way to help answer specific questions or teach specific techniques, but even something massive and comprehensive like lynda.com or fxphd, both of which will teach you good stuff — if I saw those on a resume, I’d toss it out. I don’t want to know what books you read or TV shows you watch either. That’s not the BASIS of anything.

It’s also worth noting that the number of people who finish online degree programs is somewhere in the 30% range. It’s one reason schools love them so much. They’re like gift cards or subway passes. The school keeps all the money without having to provide all the service. One of the great false hopes of our time.

On the other hand, actual certifications from Adobe, Avid, etc — THOSE are good. You pay money, you take tests, you have to PASS them. When I was working in that field, the goal was a 50% failure rate. If more than half the people passed the test, we failed as test-makers. You could retake the class for free until you passed, but these certifications are far from gimmes. Certifications tell me that you want RESULTS, something that will last longer than the latest cool preset you downloaded.

[Joseph W. Bourke] “It’s the knowledge and experience you’re after….”

Yep.

Most of us geezers have been talking about straight-up liberal arts degrees. I certainly have. I loved mine, and loved the long, twisting route it helped me take to everyplace else I’ve been.

That may not be fore you. There are many different, equally valid approaches. There are technical and business oriented programs, both of which also provide plenty of production opportunities on the way to potentially different career paths.

I’m also a HUGE fan of programs like Full Sail. As well as 4 year and Masters degree programs, they offer a 2-year associates degree jammed into 13 months with a massive range of internships at major companies, many of whom sponsor programs there. You have to hustle like a ninja demon to get through that thing. Another of my favorite things is that you take drawing and painting classes before they let you touch a computer — but it’s a hardcore focus on doing the WORK, a true gauntlet for people who know what they want.

There’s a heavy seminar component, which brings up another advantage of formal education we have’t really talked about — working with, competing against, and being inspired by passionate, driven peers. You may even find some of them more valuable to you than some of your teachers.

Being around other students will open your eyes to what’s possible, and sober you up that you’re not just facing “the market,” but people more skilled than you who want the job more. If you don’t have blood dripping from your fangs, you have to find a way to get ahead of the people who do. You can, and this too comes with practice.

I want to also be clear that everything Bob Zelin said is absolutely true — and it’ll still be true after you have your degree. You will still have to be a dripping fangs ninja demon, and like I said, if you’re not one naturally, you’re going to need to figure out how to beat them at their own game, or somehow change the game. School’s a good place to do that.

And it’s fun. LOL

[Simon Faris]

Hi Evan,
The only thing I could chime in on is being 49 this year. Re-inventing myself 5 times via career changes and interests. It has always boiled down to “Show me” Never had a piece a paper to get any job at any career I ever wanted. Not saying it won’t help. Some of the gate keepers as Kylee eluded too. Only understand certain pre requisites. Missing 101, but you got 201,301 the gate keeper is confused. If they are stuck in 2nd gear maybe you don’t need to convoy with them?

Determination is the key to success. No matter your field. I take online classes amongst other lessons like on here at C.Cow (That is how I learned about C.Cow) You can pay the test fee, to prove you know how to do something that may never be asked. However, like me, when looking for actors, I ask Got Reel? When I talk with Indy’s to help out on a scene, or the whole thing. They ask Got Reel? When I was asked to shoot a series, guess what? Got Reel? That is the real ‘nuts and bolts’.
Mark was straight and had elaborated on the whole deal. One thing rang out…Got Real? When he says, revisit your old stuff and tweak it, and know what and why you are tweaking it (Theory) What I knew yesterday, is not what I know today. Sure your reel can always use updating. See Tom Cruise and Risky Business vs M3…
The hardest, easiest, most rewarding job, is the one you create. Your Reel….I see a ton of people in my neck of the woods with nothing but talk and pro websites they paid for. impressive, but where is the reel?
No Reel….=’s fake. Unless they can say; “Umm did you catch Star Trek? Yeah, I did that”. A reel. Not that your reel needs to be Star Trek caliber, however it help you meet others on your playing field so they know what you know and how they jibe with you.
Be professional and you will be treated professional.
You can do anything you set your mind to. You might have to look a few things up along the way…
Peace,
Simon

S.Faris
https://www.NetCommercial.Net