So I have a friend who's really into music. He started playing guitar about a year before I picked it up, we jammed, had a band for a little while, but now I'm doing my own thing (it was always just a hobby for me) but he's dead set on pursuing a career in something music-related. He worked at a studio in Nashville over the summer last year, purely volunteering for I think just over a month. Currently, he's in undergrad. close to finishing his major in Mechanical Engineering. Despite this however, he HATES this field and finds it incredibly boring, and a few weeks ago, withdrew from all his classes (with just ONE semester to go before finishing and graduating!!!) and packed all his things and was ready to move to Nashville, without even telling his parents what his plans were. He had $300 dollars to his name, no job waiting for him (though I guess he could have found one from previous experience at other stores), and a friends place to crash at.

Thankfully, as he was leaving for Nashville, he felt bad and called his mom telling him his plans. Not surprisingly, she went ballistic, and forced him to come back home. So, crises averted... temporarily. I think he's reinstated into his classes (I THINK, I don't know if you can just jump back in after you formally withdraw), and is going to finish getting his degree. He plans to move to Nashville after he graduates however, and wants to actually try to follow this dream. I'm moving to New York and he says he wants to go there with me after he uses his "connections" in Nashville to pursue his music career in the big city.

To me however, I think it's a big mistake, especially compared to something like Mechanical Engineering. The kid is 21 years old, never lived on his own, and I think this is all just incredibly immature wishful thinking. Life isn't something that'll be FUN for everyone. I think 90% of people out there dislike their jobs and do it to get by. I'm going to medical school, and I know my life'll be tough, but I'm ready to do it because that's what it takes to survive (granted, this will be tough but more fun than a cubicle desk job), but my friend is just set on this and I don't think he has really thought about the ramifications of his decision. Anyway, what's life of a studio tech. like anyway? Can he make it? He wants to form a band and tour and stuff also. Aren't we too old for THAT kinda' thinking? Feels like college/high school dreams that we should have let go and faced reality cold.

Am I being too pessimistic? Granted I don't know much about the music field as a career, but I'm just getting the vibe that, 10-15 years later, my friend'll look back and go "well shit, I shoulda done something better with my life."

Do you really have to care so much about what your buddy does? He's not going to rob a bank. Mind your own business.

Yeah I am building a studio in my room. I am also studying for a MEng in Electrical and Electronic Eng.

Your friend should do it as a hobby until you become good enough at it to succeed then he can switch if you get the opportunity but burning bridges is not the best idea.

This is my opinion for all arts and entertainment related disciplines. You should primarily do something practical that is going to put bread on the table and use your spare time to do what you enjoy and maybe one day you will be talented enough for financial gain.

Once you are paid to do something you enjoy you might not enjoy it. For instance if a guy wants to develop videogames he might not find it as enjoyable as if it was his own idea when he's coding someone else's mundane drivel of an idea. In the workplace you're pretty much always going to be someone else's bitch do the bread on the table + hobby approach is the best option.

weren't you the guy who was going to leave GW because we made fun of V

oh no its was flashforward

still a goddamn terrible show

I really have no idea but it could be a semi-legitimate job but wouldn't he be like producing uh, music. Like music people actually listen to not the very specific stuff he likes. Or music for TV, like any music that actually gets heard by normal people. As long as he realizes that and can tolerate that much popular music

reminds me of when my brother wanted to be a DJ and he did do it a couple times and he was so jaded because he had to DJ, uh, stuff people actually listen to? I dunno Kanye West and people like that I just try to channel out the radio these days (I don't know what music he liked at the time but let's just say DETROIT TECHNO or something else only 2 people on the internet listen to, I don't think you could gather enough people in my state that like that particular kind of music to have some sort of venue, even if everybody happened to come)

Edit: on a related note this guy looks just like Dwight from The Office

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgeon_%28musician%29

PEOPLE SHOULD HATE THEIR JOBS MY FRIEND IS A MORON FOR THINKING OTHERWISE

dropping out when he only had a semester to go was a dumb idea for sure

it's much better to TRY to do something, realize that there's a reason you can't do it, than to have never tried in the first place. i for one am definitely not going to try to BECOME AN INSURANCE CLAIMS OFFICER right out of college

really the only inherently dumb thing he did was not completing the last semester of his degree. he'd have been in a much better position to do this afterwards, i'm pretty sure an ENGINEERING DEGREE would get you into a few circles and i don't know his situation but people often get given gifts for graduation??? cash gifts...

PEOPLE SHOULD HATE THEIR JOBS MY FRIEND IS A MORON FOR THINKING OTHERWISE

dropping out when he only had a semester to go was a dumb idea for sure

his goal isn't the problem it's the way he went about it that makes him a moron

instead of finishing school he just quit and planned on RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME with only $300, this is why he's a moron, not because he wants this certain job

that's why he's a moron but that's not why XxNemesis29xX is digging into him.

he had $300 and was staying with a friend while he looked for work, this isn't DOOFUS stuff but yeah what was with the timing that he had to do it RIGHT NOW? maybe he does have a connection in nashville who's setting him up with a job

He wasn't actually going to be staying with a friend, but rather moved in with him and would have to pay rent. You're right, I'm not ragging on him for PICKING this career, I just don't think he's going about it wisely. Parents severely oppose it, he doesn't have much money to his name, and from talking to him, it seems like he's just winging it.

Best route for him is to graduate with an engineering degree, work a job using his degree a year or two while staying at home and save up a lot, so he can start small and work his way up...but dude's a bit stubborn and he wants to go head first after graduation to Nashville and test his luck. I'm not against music-related jobs, of course not, I play guitar and love it and wish I could do that for a living - but I was just raised with practicality over preference in mind.

He look like Matt Damon to me, but he's definitely sporting "The Dwight" (haircut).

matt damon as dwight in the office the movie comming this summer

the only reason why you should consider interfering with this is if he absolutely, totally sucks at music and is just tragically unaware of it. even then i'm not so sure you should really be interfering with what he chooses to do with his life. there's something to be said for people who believe in something enough to want to devote their whole life to it. i don't know if it specifically applies to your friend here, but all the people in the history of the world who did "great" or "significant" things were people who did unconventional things THEIR WAY rather than adhering to the norm or taking the safe approach to life. i meet so many people who decided against pursuing some dream, or great ambition, and ended up living the remainder of their lives consumed by doubt and the frustration of an unfulfilled life. that great question always lingers in the back of their minds, asking if things could have gone differently. that doesn't just go away. those thoughts are just as vivid on your deathbed as they are in your youth.

there isn't usually a safe approach to doing something out of the box like this. you suggest that he should get some money and a career started first, but with those responsibilities come a growing obligation to that way of life. uprooting yourself after you've started on a distinctly differnet path is exceedingly difficult to pull off. if he wants to make this work, it IS in his best interest to dive into it early. if you're a tax accountant for 5 years and suddenly decide to become a musician, people will think you are a TAX ACCOUNTANT, not a musician.

also, you have to be aware of the distinct possibility that he may be able to make this work, and your interference might do nothing but prevent him from finding what makes him happy. are you really prepared to shoulder that sort of burden?

well, you know guys, I'm not going to DO anything to obstruct him and his dream to pursue this path. I actually helped him pack for Nashville, and helped him keep it from his parents, so of course my loyalty is to him before what I think he should do.

I was just trying to gauge any input YOU guys had for this whole situation. I might be wrong, but I have a feeling you all at GW are more inclined to know about liberal artsy things than me, career-wise, politics, you name it. I'm just a sciencey med. guy... but as you said Hundley, you have to jump in with both feet, that's a risk but he said that too: if he doesn't do this now, he'll always wonder what if.