Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Too late to pursue an engineering career?

matyas · 27th February 2008, 08:53 PM

This thread should probably get moved, but I'll reply anyway.
No, it's not too late. In fact, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably delay it even longer. This isn't the kind of thing you do if there's anything else you can be doing. If there's anything else you can do, do it. In my reply to another thread, I was a little more optimistic about the state of professional audio than some people. That said, I'm extremely lucky to have the job that I do, and it took years of looking, getting experience, and basically just being patient to get it. I'm not making much - in fact, I ran into some car trouble last month and just getting my car fixed nearly bankrupt me - but that's okay with me. If you're not cool with just scraping by, consider something else.
So you got into med school? Go! If you hate it, quit and be an engineer.
Now, having said all that, I've got a few (non-mutually-exclusive) suggestions for you. I think these are kind of cool options, actually.
1. Go into audiology, and specialize in working with musicians and engineers. Lots of musicians and engineers get their ears checked yearly, and many of them are understandably protective of their hearing. If you're into music and recording, you'd have some additional insight into their needs, and maybe work with some cool people.
2. Go into psychoacoustic research. The neuroscience behind hearing and especially behind musical perception is still a pretty open field. You know all those stupid debates people have (digital vs. analog, 44.1 vs. 96, DSD vs. PCM, .mp3 vs. uncompressed)? Go into researching the science behind that stuff. Help come up with better-sounding codecs. And that's only the basics - the stuff that's pretty well-understood, actually. There's way more to psychoacoustics than that, and a lot more research to be done!
3. Make some money at medicine, and build an awesome studio. Save your cash, buy some gear, and gain some experience recording for fun. After you've saved some cash, build a room and be a studio owner. Continue to practice medicine but run the studio as a side business. Hire a full-time engineer to work there and do only the projects you really like.

Hope that helps.

27th February 2008, 08:53 PM	#5
matyas Gear maniac Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 204	This thread should probably get moved, but I'll reply anyway. No, it's not too late. In fact, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably delay it even longer. This isn't the kind of thing you do if there's anything else you can be doing. If there's anything else you can do, do it. In my reply to another thread, I was a little more optimistic about the state of professional audio than some people. That said, I'm extremely lucky to have the job that I do, and it took years of looking, getting experience, and basically just being patient to get it. I'm not making much - in fact, I ran into some car trouble last month and just getting my car fixed nearly bankrupt me - but that's okay with me. If you're not cool with just scraping by, consider something else. So you got into med school? Go! If you hate it, quit and be an engineer. Now, having said all that, I've got a few (non-mutually-exclusive) suggestions for you. I think these are kind of cool options, actually. 1. Go into audiology, and specialize in working with musicians and engineers. Lots of musicians and engineers get their ears checked yearly, and many of them are understandably protective of their hearing. If you're into music and recording, you'd have some additional insight into their needs, and maybe work with some cool people. 2. Go into psychoacoustic research. The neuroscience behind hearing and especially behind musical perception is still a pretty open field. You know all those stupid debates people have (digital vs. analog, 44.1 vs. 96, DSD vs. PCM, .mp3 vs. uncompressed)? Go into researching the science behind that stuff. Help come up with better-sounding codecs. And that's only the basics - the stuff that's pretty well-understood, actually. There's way more to psychoacoustics than that, and a lot more research to be done! 3. Make some money at medicine, and build an awesome studio. Save your cash, buy some gear, and gain some experience recording for fun. After you've saved some cash, build a room and be a studio owner. Continue to practice medicine but run the studio as a side business. Hire a full-time engineer to work there and do only the projects you really like. Hope that helps.