Apparently young folk with degrees are routinely expected to be workplace skivvies. Sometimes even without getting paid for it.
How the other half live.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Sun 15 Apr 2012, 19:21, 1 reply)

I worked for free for a year
before I could get paid work. Again, it comes down to the desperation people have to get into this industry. You have to do whatever you can to get more experience and contacts than the next guy.
( PMGT -Bacon., Sun 15 Apr 2012, 23:23, closed)

What if you want to break into the industry but don't have the necessary financial/familial support to get by with an unpaid full-time job?

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Mon 16 Apr 2012, 23:48, closed)

Then you have to work in your spare time.
That's what I did. I pretty much worked 7 days a week for about a year, between studying, working weekends and evenings and doing as much "freelance" work as I could in my spare time. I still do that now in fact. My hours are a little bit more forgiving these days, but I still work my fucking arse off to try and get to where I want to be. I currently work weekends doing technical support, three days/nights a week teaching, and on my days off I do any freelance jobs I might have on, which is usually about 40 hours of work a month.

If I'm totally honest with you, it's had a pretty adverse effect on my health, social life and home life. I make time for people when I can, but that's not as often as I like. I'm pretty ruled by my work at the moment, but I'm hoping I'm going to be in the position I want to be in within the next year. I'm a hell of a lot better off than where I was 12 months ago, so I'm hoping that pattern will continue. It's tough, but I simply refuse to do a job where I have to put a tie on and turn up to work and sell fucking insurance or something.

The other thing is, I fucking love the work I do. I make music videos and short films and write scripts and teach, and get paid for it all. My time is worth something now because I'm actually very good at what I do. And that's because I spent a long time gaining experience and practising the skills I need to make a living.

I also just found out tonight that a short film I did visual effects on has been accepted into Cannes. These are the sorts of things that keep me doing what I do.
( PMGT -Bacon., Tue 17 Apr 2012, 2:54, closed)