My uncle, a retired news cameraman, told me to never take a job for less than $500 a day. I did one for $300 last month and it was a total nightmare.

3 comments

3 Comments

Forget the old rules, your uncle is living in the past. Taking a lower rate gets your foot in the door and builds your reel. That three hundred dollar job probably taught you more than a cushy gig ever would. You have to pay your dues somewhere, and no one starts at the top. Sometimes the bad jobs show you exactly what you never want to do again, and that is worth the pay cut.

ericw9315d ago

Yeah, the part about bad jobs showing you what you never want to do again really hits home. Reminds me of when I helped a friend wire up this awful, cheap restaurant reno years ago, just to get the experience. Everything was done wrong before we even got there. @rowan_barnes is right that you learn, but man, you also learn your own worth real fast after a few of those. Sometimes the dues feel like you're just getting played.

davis.olivia15d ago

Sounds like you already paid those dues.