I can see where they’re coming from. My degree, a bachelor’s in Fine Arts, has not been helpful when looking for paying work. I’ve seen many friends return to school to study programming or law, after several years of struggling to make ends meet as artists. They save up for another stint at university, stay broke throughout their second schooling career, but generally land a job within a month or two of graduating. The worst part about this advice is that it’s really worked for these friends. They have regular salaries and job security. They’re free to transition into other stages in life: marriage, mortgage, kids. My unemployment makes it impossible to consider these things; all I am free to think about is the fact that I need a job.

But I don’t want a different career for myself, and hearing that advice from my friends translates into two things: 1) my career will never make me money, and 2) even if artists made money, my art is not good enough.

I don’t doubt that there are more lucrative paths out there, but that should include new ways of monetizing my craft; things I haven’t tried yet. A better piece of advice, one that I would love to hear more, would be: “maybe you should speak to somebody in your field who has found success, and get their advice instead of mine.”