NationStates Jolt Archive

:rolleyes:

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Is there even such a thing?

Seriously, are there really hundreds of thousands of beautiful young people in the UK, with dyed spiky hair (even the girls), wearing designer jeans, t-shirts and lots of chrome accessories, sitting in open-plan offices in converted mills and townhouses, working away on their laptops creating 'cool' New Media stuff?

Does anyone here know anyone whose life fits that description?

Because every time I open the media, education and careers pages of the Guardian, or any other broadsheet for that matter, I am informed that the solution to graduating with an undervalued arts degree is to go work for a "trendy media company".

Uh-huh. Is there really so much advertising space out there, so much TV and radio time, so much bandwidth, so many fashion publications, that a quarter of all graduates in this country can realistically expect to stumble across an address to which they can send a CV?

Like, here's an agony story from a couple of months ago. A guy is being pushed into completing his accountancy qualification on time, but he wants to take a few years out to try to "break into the market" with some friends who have a rock band. The newspaper columnist's advice? A failed rock music pipe dream won't look good on his record if he is applying for positions in the financial services industry, but GUESS WHAT, as an account manager at a 'hip media company', that sort of instrinsic offbeat style will really impress!!!

FFS.

Just tell it straight - take the goddamn exams and go corporate. Because actually there is no such thing as that alternative, is there?

There are some, but not as many as movies like to make you think.

Don't even bother, ever wondered why universities are so shifty about what the long term prospects of a media student are ? The whole sector is a complete mess, its really fallen prey to its own advertising jargon and now it attracts far more people than it can employ, all hoping to earn thousands for sitting around doing nothing.

Hip trendy call centre is were most of these people end up.

I don't know, I live in Manchester and know quite a few people who've taken media type degrees and then got into the music and club promotion scenes. I guess thats kinda hip young media.

Silly question from a USian: is a media company the same thing as a marketing firm?

Hip trendy call centre is were most of these people end up.
that was exactly what I was going to say.

A former flatmate spent a lot of his university holidays (he, liked me, studied Computing) designing Flash (spit!) sites for such companies, and one of the first speed-dating things. He earned a few bob.

However, he's currently a proto-lawyer doing his Bar, so didn't really stick with the industry.

sounds odd, but over in the UK a lot of the big media companies are really family businesses, not just one family owning one company, but they spread themsleves throughout each other. The guardian didnt a funny chart of its like a year ago but, you know, i didn't think to keep it.

Become an internet celebrity and sell t-shirts.

Sydney has about 3 whole suburbs dedicated to them. I hate them. There is a freaky subculture of these irritatingly 'hip' 20-something year olds that seem to exist purely to perpetuate the stereotype of their existence. All of the women have the same hair, all of the guys wear the same zany tie. I hate them. If you want a job, look out for anything in Surry Hills, Paddington, or Darlinghurst. Think Faveau street, or Cleveland street *shudders*. But allow me to warn you, you will be assimilated. It will start off slowly at first, then it will become increasingly more obvious. First you will get a studio in the area, for 'convenience'. Then you will make friends with the owner of the boho cafe on the corner. Soon you will be going to student theatre projects at the seymour centre, and then they will give you the lime shirts and outrageously 'funky' ties. Soon everything will be 'funky', and all of your stationery will be designer label, and your music will morph into not-too-gay-house. All of these people were once human, all of them thought that it wouldn't happen to them. It is a disease TG, a disease that plagues the employment-desperate arts-grad. For your own sake, forget about the trendy media companys. :(

Silly question from a USian: is a media company the same thing as a marketing firm?
Kind of. They do the same thing, only the former is trendy, hip, and funky. Usually their offices are also wonderfully balanced arrangements of pretense and feng shui.

It's half-truth, half-myth. The company I work for produces hip, "online rich media", and likes projecting an image in the online medium that it is both young and hip, but the reality is it's not even a proper studio, with sales cubicles taking the lion's share of space, and the production department a bit of an afterthought.

The salespeople all show up in their starched white shirts and dress pants, but at least the production department can do their work in t-shirts and jeans without causing a stir. Nobody dresses like they do on the TV shows. No-one has time to spike their hair or look fashionable, we spend all our time trying to make our media look fashionable.

And there ain't no frickin' latte machine there, just a crappy ol' "Bunn-o-matic" caffeinated-sludge-maker in the wee little kitchenette that doubles as the photocopy room.

It's a good thing they let me keep my remote-control Dalek on a pedestal by my desk, or things'd be just too dull for words.

I know someone who does fetish websites for a living... does that count?

It's half-truth, half-myth... The salespeople all show up in their starched white shirts and dress pants... Nobody dresses like they do on the TV shows. No-one has time to spike their hair or look fashionable...

It's a good thing they let me keep my remote-control Dalek on a pedestal by my desk, or things'd be just too dull for words.
Well, that dispels the myth quite nicely. :D

Meh, I've decided to just become a financial analyst once I graduate college. Of course, since I'm actually interested in finance the prospect of working for a "hip media company" doesn't really appeal to me...the only thing about them that interests me is their profitably-shorted stock.

with an undervalued arts degree is to go work for a "trendy media company".

Gotta say, I bristled slightly at that. ;)

Hip trendy call centre is were most of these people end up.
Either that, or hip trendy convenience food facilitation centres. Especially ones with big yellow arches over their doors.

Like, here's an agony story from a couple of months ago. A guy is being pushed into completing his accountancy qualification on time, but he wants to take a few years out to try to "break into the market" with some friends who have a rock band. The newspaper columnist's advice? A failed rock music pipe dream won't look good on his record if he is applying for positions in the financial services industry, but GUESS WHAT, as an account manager at a 'hip media company', that sort of instrinsic offbeat style will really impress!!!
In my opinion, as worthless as it is, I'd be impressed interviewing someone who had a go of fulfilling their dream of rock stardom. That shows they've got balls, have vision and are decisive - good qualities for a manager, I would have thought.
Also means they probably won't go through a mid-life crisis in a few years, dreaming about the opportunities they passed up. Which is just a pain in the butt to be around.