Perhaps a weird post.
Anyone here dealing with employment / hr within the uk.
My contract has been terminated - just wondering if it’s legal , need basic advice
Is there a 2 yr period of time which has an impact. Should I have been given a reason ?
It depends on your employment status. If you were an employee and dismissed unfairly you can take them to a tribunal. Dismissal: your rights: What to do if you're dismissed - GOV.UK
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I work as a music teacher in Shanghai. In 2007 I was lucky to get onto a Master’s Degree in Music Technology without having a Bachelor’s Degree…was accepted based on sound engineering experience and performing/releasing electronic music. Went on to do a PhD in Electroacoustic Composition. Had an opportunity for a full time Music Technology lecturing job in my home country of Ireland after that but didn’t like the idea of being bogged down in grading, research etc. so I did a CELTA and took a part-time job at an English training center in Shanghai. Might sound crazy but having time to make music is more important to me than any career. After 10 months I got lucky and landed a job teaching music. That was almost 6 years ago. I’m now teaching middle school and elementary music and love it because I can play my guitar, teach basic DAW composing, and don’t need to give homework so I never take my work home. I learned a lot from the PhD in Electroacoustic Composition and loved making that music at the time, but these days I’m back focused on my love of beats and melodies.
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That might be the most perfect, lovely answer to the question “So, what do you do?” I’ve ever read. Or at least since I read Wolf-Rami’s. Good on you, mai 
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Thanks a lot for your kind words. I never imagined doing any of it (besides making music), and my long term girlfriend told me it was over about 3 months before I got the call for the Master’s Degree, mainly because she thought I was going nowhere with my music (I’m now married, met my wife at the school where I teach here). So I’m a strong believer that if we just keep doing what we love doing and putting ourselves out there, we just never know what opportunities may arise. But to keep going just for the love of it is even more important, because I was honestly just as happy during times in my life when I was working in an office job where no one gave me any hassle, as long as I had time outside of that to be creative.
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Here is one to start. I have another but cant recall the title and it is way past my bedtime. Will DM tomorrow.
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The suggestion by papertiger is a very good one, would be my first recommendation. I think you’d also like 2 books by Simon Emmerson…”Living Electronic Music” and “Music, Electronic Media, And Culture”.
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After working as a Houdini specialist in the vfx film industry for the past 18 years, i quit cuz it didn’t intrigue me anymore. Month and a half ago I joined Facebook as a technical artist…working on ar/vr applications now.
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Rhythm and Noise - Gracyk (not electronic, but about aesthetics in rock and recording)
The Sound of Tomorrow - Brend (read this a long time ago, can’t remember if I liked it heh)
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Thanks for the recs, everybody!
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I’m currently a software developer, but other things I’ve done in the past:
- receptionist at a firm performing background checks for employers
- doing layouts for newspapers/newsletters, basic graphic design
- teaching undergraduate students at university as a graduate student
- making illustrations for maths and science problem sets
- developing bespoke software for professors performing linguistic research
- worked in libraries (more than one, different times)
- worked in a print shop specializing in legal and court documents
Probably missed a couple, but I feel I have interesting stories from most of them.
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i was working on oculus quest2 medical vr until last thursday (see my previous post).
houdini to realtime should give you lots of challenges
Lovely to see so many teachers here! I’m a high school science teacher going into my 7th year in the profession. Been a wild year but my students are pretty awesome and are so curious about the world. I love having a job with that relates to my degrees and has so much variety, decision-making, and positive impact. Only complaint is the pay could be better!
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I work in the shipping department for a distribution center, major international retailer of musical instruments. Just a massive warehouse of gear , every type imaginable. Not always as fun as it sounds, but I do get a nice discount. Some of the stuff I handle is just obscenely expensive. $90,000 for a guitar. Unreal.
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I’ve been a curator of exhibitions and public programs for the last approx 8 years. Last six years I mostly worked as a curator of academic and public programs at an institute for contemporary art here in the Netherlands. Unfortunately I ended burnt out with the constant push for more and more programs, often at the cost of other things. So I quit last month!
I still have my teaching job at an art academy one day a week. Got to curate their graduation shows first, and last year I was asked to develop and give a new specialization course on social arts practices. Really pulled me through a rough time of burnout, happy to still be working there now I’m doing better and better:)
Indeed, great to see so many teachers here, I love it.
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High School social studies/English teacher here. Have a law degree but fled from that world as fast as I could once I got a taste of it.
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I work with special needs people (mostly young adults with autism). It’s basically a specialised workplace for disabled people. We offer structured daily activities, individual support to maintain, promote their cognitive abilities and acquire their skills and abilities in areas such as social behavior, handicrafts, communication…etc.
I love this job.
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I’m split between two professions at the moment. My masters degree and career is in mechanical engineering, but about half my time and income comes from my online businesses i’ve built up over the years (basically I work like 70 hours a week haha). I run a YouTube channel with about 35k subscribers called ‘Andrew Southworth’ (my name) teaching music marketing and music business, sell some courses in that niche and also do consulting and artist services in that niche. I also sell sample packs, Kontakt libraries and do some playlist curation.
I also make music under my own name (Andrew Southworth) as well as with Murder Nite, Codetalker, Day/Four and a few other side projects.
Recently I picked up a CNC machine to bring my engineering skills into my home life / online business. I have a few 3D printers, built one from scratch, and i’ve built a few racing quadcopters. Basically i’m a super nerd.
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I’m a “Principle Software Engineer” and the last 20 years have been good to me but exhausting. I’m thinking of retiring soon so I can spend more time with my kids while they are sorta young and pursue other passions (like music).
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Ended up getting an email saying that government health & safety inspectors visited that workplace. No idea what the outcome was (they don’t say) but at least something happened.
Had an interview today that went reasonably well (I think). Should know in the next 2 days whether I’ll return to being a productive member of society, or if I’ll be heading north to live in a small coastal town with family instead. I’m actually ok with either option.
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