Some advice for a young whipper snapper in a dilemma?

[Awedeeoh]

Well, I'm going through an odd period right now and some advice would be good.

I'm an audio engineering student, living in LA and I'm going to be graduating in 3 months. I've been interning at a smaller studio which has been cool because they actually let me do stuff. I've also been recording people on the side at the studios at school. BUT..I'm still working a job at a retail store to make money since right now I don't get paid for any engineering work I do.

I'm at a sort of cross over point where more and more of my time is starting to be demanded for engineering stuff which usually leaves me with the choice of either turning it down to work at my paying job so i can make some money, or not working at my paying job so that I can do more engineering. 90% of the time I will call out of work if I even get a call for a chance to get coffee for the head engineer in a session. Now..since this is happening quite often now I find myself going broke because I'm working alot more at the job I love that isn't paying me anything than I do at the job I hate but pays me.

So lately I've really been looking for basic audio work that will allow me to quit my retail job. A couple of people suggested things like basic editing jobs (editing radio shows together, editing audio books, editing audio promos etc) but I have no clue where I'd find people that are looking for people to do these kinds of things. Im not expecting to make great money doing it...but i figure it would pay at least as good as retail (pretty much any job does haha) and at least it would be somewhat in the field i'm trying to work in.

Any advice or ideas?

Thanks guys

[joelpatterson]

Originally Posted by Awedeeoh

I'm an audio engineering student, living in LA and I'm going to be graduating in 3 months...

If there isn't anyone at your school who has some idea of where to find a job in the field you're studying.... you need to go to a different school.

[Henchman]

It's stupid to be turning down paid work, for unpaid work.
Unless the studio is paying you to get coffee for the head engineer, then what are you doing there?
That's what an assistant does. Take notes, set-up, get coffee.

An intern/runner helps around the studio running errands, answering phones.

You will have to decide wether you want to be a poor, struggling engineer for the next 10 years or not. There are a ton of smaller post studio's in LA. Start hitting them up, and keep an eye open on Craigslist, entertainmentcareers.net, and mandy.com