I'm an 18 year old living in Melbourne who has to start University this year, but I don't know what I want to do

I'm an 18 year old living in Melbourne who has to start University this year, but I don't know what I want to do.

Right now, I've got two offers. One is to study a Bachelor of Communication (Advertising), or Computer Science at RMIT. The other is to study a Bachelor of Film and Television at Deakin University.

My parents are strongly advising me to not study Film and Television, and to instead study Computer Science. But I don't want to study something I may hate. And I don't really give a shit about whether I get a job straight out of University or not.

Anyways, to bring this back to business related stuff. Has anyone here studied Advertising? What's it like? What kind of career can I expect to have?

The only thing I know about Advertising is from the show Mad Men. And it looks pretty cool.

Do not ever, ever, ever do what your parents tell you to do because of MUH MONEY. You'll just be shit at it and won't make said money in the field they want you to go into.

You're planning what you're going to (ideally) do for the rest of your life. You better at least enjoy it somewhat.

That will tell you the answer.

Ad agency work is toxic. Lots of attractive women in yoga pants sitting around on macbook airs with very little to do. If you're a male, be prepared to carry their useless asses. I attribute working in advertising to my becoming a misogynist degenerate.

Yeah I told them that.

They seem to think that the whole Film and Television thing is just a hobby, and that I can study it if I want once I've completed my Bachelor of Computer Science and have a stable enough job to pay for it.

Like, what the fuck. I barely have enough time to study for shit when I don't even have a job, how am I going to study at a University while working a full time job doing something like programming?

I'm already a bit of a misogynist degenerate, so I guess it's okay. Is it nothing like it is in Mad Men though?

I assume that there aren't really that many advertising agencies anymore, and companies all do it in-house.

Tell me more about the useles women user.

I've been there before. I made the mistake first time around of choosing the lucrative field despite having no passion for it.

The result of that? I wasted 3 years of my life and had to start over again studying what I actually had an interest in. I always thought the whole 'money doesn't make you happy' and 'do what you love' things were memes.

But I was more of a dumbass back then and have come around on where people come from when they say that.

It's not that you have to love what you do, but I think you need to have at least something that you have an interest in, something that you actually care about doing. You will crash and burn otherwise. The world expects us to become literal robots in the workforce, but we're a bit more complicated unfortunately.

Study something that
A) Has good job prospects
B) You are motivated to learn about
and C) You are actually capable of being good at, because it fits you well

Some kids fulfill A and B and try to be doctors and then wash the fuck out. Some kids go for B and C but then graduate and can't find a job and end up working somewhere that has nothing to do with their major, or they do find a job in their field but it pays shit and they can barely support themselves or afford the lifestyle that they want.

Thanks.

For Film, it'll be B and C for me. I'd say I'm good at it already, I've made short-films before, and studied photography during high school. But the job market here in Australia for film is practically non-existent.

For CS, most likely A and C. I did pretty well in my programming class in high school, but after the first year it was just boring to me. I didn't feel motivated to learn any more than I already do.

As for Advertising, well I don't really know what kind of job I can get here. And I don't really know whether I'm good at it just yet. But if I base my level of coming up with ideas and things like that from the grades I got in my English class, then I should be fine. But if it's anything like it is in Mad Men, then I'm definitely interested in learning more.

>But if it's anything like it is in Mad Men

Worked in online marketing department of large telco for a year, can't speak for more classical marketing jobs, but online marketing is definitely fucking boring.
Basically you sit in front of a computer and play project manager, which means you'll hire agencies for everything and manage ad-campaigns (mail,search,impressions) and try to justify money spent on zero returns.

Pro's:
- more women than any other "tech" field
- office work with a "social" touch (less aspie than programming)

Con's:
- every coworker is basically a failed finance major, neither creative nor smart nor successful
- training is practically non-existent
- job prospects to move out of marketing jobs are bad

>- training is practically non-existent

Isn't this every organisation though?

>But the job market here in Australia for film is practically non-existent.
Don't fucking do it
>but after the first year it was just boring to me. I didn't feel motivated to learn any more than I already do.
Don't fucking do it

I'm an Ausfag too, recent graduate. The only guys that were having a decent rate of finding work were people in the Service industry and Finance. And I don't mean people who did those degrees either. I met more engineers in Finance than people who studied Finance. I'd do Advertising if you can enjoy the work. Good career prospects if you can join PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, EY or the Big 4 banks, there's room for you to move laterally in those companies too if advertising isn't your thing.

Only problem is you're doing the degree like 50% of people here do, so there will be tons of competition

Doesn't really sound like you should do any of them to be honest user.

Basically what he said. Realistically you are going to struggle to make a degree in film work for you in any way. You might be one of the lucky few to make a decent living out of it, but theres a reason why arts degrees are a meme, it will probably end up being a waste of time and money. Conversely, if you hate something or are bored/apathetic about it, thats also bad regardless of how good the job prospects are.

I fell for the "muh good career" parent recommendation. I started off studying construction management on the advice of my mum, wondered why the fuck I was learning how to measure concrete slabs and walls, and promptly dropped out after 1 semester. I then fucked around with a few other bits and pieces and took a gap year off, which really drove home the point that I should probably get my shit together.

If you are really confused then I would advise you to take a gap year. Best case scenario you dabble in a bunch of new and different things and get a taste of things you may be interested in long term, worst case scenario you waste the whole year working part time in retail like I did and then think "holy fuck I better actually make an effort to make something work". I'm finishing off my last year at uni this year in something that I'm interested in (Economics) and as a result of actually being curious and getting more involved with internships and extra curriculars, my job prospects look pretty good.

>The only thing I know about Advertising is from the show Mad Men. And it looks pretty cool.

probably the dumbest way to figure out what yo want to do is to watch sexy dramas. watch sopranos and you'll want to be a fucking greaseball mobster too. watch scrubs and you'll want to be a doctor all of a sudden. fucking retard

I guess you could summarize with: do something that has a reasonable combination of practicality and interest value, not either end of the extremes

Thanks. Unfortunately, I won't have the luxury of being able to take a gap year. I wanted to, so that I could find myself a job or possibly even an internship relating to one of the courses I've been offered while deciding what I really want to do, but my parents are forcing me to begin my tertiary studies this year. And I can't really say no because I'm completely dependent on them.

Yeah I guess you're right. The show made the process of coming up with advertisement ideas seem really interesting and appealing to me. But I guess it has to if it wants viewers to keep watching a show that focuses on an advertising agency.

That sucks. In that case, I would stick to whatever best fits the interest/practicality rule. You need to start doing research asap.

Two ideas:
1) Could you wrangle a double degree of some description? For example do Film/Advertising with a more practical double degree in finance/economics/accounting. Or on the other hand do computer science with a double in some creative major. My double major has made study more interesting because I can switch it up, it leaves more options at the end of the road, and guarantees you will come out with some assured practical skills.

2) Get a linkedin account if you don't already, sign up for the free month premium, and send inmail messages to people currently working in jobs you might end up in. I did this, looked up random people that had done my exact degree at my uni, then caught up with them for coffee to see where they were currently at. Lab guinea pigs to learn from for the cost of a cup of coffee, and most are more than willing to help. Added bonus: a contact in the field that may help with employment come graduation time.

Thanks user.

I'll have to check out what kind of double degree I can get myself depending on which University I go with. I know that Deakin has some pretty good Business-related courses, but they didn't have Advertising. Only Marketing.

I'll get myself a linkedin account , it'll definitely be helpful if I want to get myself some contacts for the future if I go with Film.

That just reminded me, Deakin offers internship work for the Film course, so that could be helpful too. Hopefully I do well enough to be remember come graduation.

You could probably end up in very similar positions with either a marketing or advertising degree. Employers care more about your "passions", so if you did marketing but could illustrate interest in advertising (I don't even really know what the difference is) through work experience or your own blog or project or something, then they won't care what semantics you studied.

Yeah linkedin is great, meet up with as many people as you can, the info and network is invaluable and chatting with them is great practice for future professional convos that actually count like an interview or company networking event.

Definitely get on board with internships. Thats another thing, your degree is what you make of it, so make sure to get involved with as much extra-curriculars and internships that you have time for. So long as you have like a distinction average grade, stuff that builds your character and experience is way more important than perfecting a 95% grade.

Whatever you do user, just get amongst it and involve yourself as much as possible, and then you can be sure that your degree was worth it regardless of what you studied. Best of luck!

Thanks for the help user, I really appreciate it!

Yeah I'm not too sure on what the difference between Marketing and Advertising is either. I'm just worried I choose Marketing and it ends up being something based on statistics and things like that. I'm hoping for something that requires creative work.

Don't do CS if you find programming boring.

>I'm just worried I choose Marketing and it ends up being something based on statistics
can't you look up the program curriculum and find out?

I checked the University's website for the course, and this is what comes up for the Bachelor of Commerce. That's the Bachelor I need to take to study Marketing, which will be a Major added to this course.

Other than that though, the website is pretty vague about the program structure of the course.

A film career is hard and takes years to become a steady job. Used to be Perth and now do film stuff in Melbourne, so I've got a rough idea of what you need to do.

First off: getting steady income in film is all about reputation. You'll spend about 4-5 years doing jobs for $50/day just building your experience and contacts. Never work for free, say "I'll work for free, but pay my petrol and batteries/camera tape" and they'll find at least a fifty for you. Eventually you'll be buying your own gear then be able to charge more until you become a freelancer with your own gear who is hired out for a few hundred a day. For those first few years though, you'll be working a second job or getting your parents to support your bills. If you're any good and you know how to save money you'll be able to repay them, but it'll be about a decade.

The trick is to get into broadcast. The film industry here is pretty much subsidised by the government through Screen Australia, but there will always be demand for news and sport broadcast, even in a recession so you'll have consistent work with the stations. Use your income there to buy the gear you want for the particular field you wish to pursue.

Use your time at uni to find people you work well with. A team of people who are amazing at 5 separate jobs (eg sound, camera and editing) will kick the shit out of a team of 5-8 all-rounders. You'll learn to work together and eventually help each other secure enough work to make a living. Once again, this is very hard and takes years just to break even.

For reference, I left study ten years ago. Out of the 30 people in our final year who graduated, only 4 people still do film/tv. The rest gave up and got day jobs. I'm now running my own studio with our own equipment and just finished doing camera work at the Australian Open. On about $90K/yr pre-tax now and I only need to work 3-4 days a week, but the first 5 years were less than $30K while I networked and learned for to be good at my job.

Thanks user, I appreciate the info.

That definitely looks like it's going to take some work, and a lot of time. I think I'd rather have to work hard for something I want, than to get myself a (fairly) easy career working on programming things, while hating myself for making the wrong choices.

Hopefully I can find the right contacts in the industry while in Uni so that I can get a head start when I've finished my studies.

That is, if I end up going with Film over Advertising.