Useful Photography Tip #92: What They Will Never Teach You in College

Want more Useful Photography Tips? Check them out here.

Upon chatting with a couple of friends in the industry, a lot of us seem to have the same opinion about colleges and our college days. For what it’s worth, if you’re a college student, you should know that teachers don’t do enough to prepare you for the real world. You can only simulate so much of it in a classroom. A classroom and college will never teach you how to navigate office politics, networking like a pro, not being shy at an event where everyone is better dressed than you are and also chatting it up with no problems, and the art of the pitch–which in and of itself is a delicate balance between selling yourself and not making you sound desperate.

Sure, you’ll know how to press a shutter button and you may have a good portfolio of work, but how are you going to get people to notice you and hire you? How much do you know about social media marketing? What about price negotiations?

So what’s the solution? Go do internships. And we’re not just talking about any internship, do one in your field of choice. Then make mistakes, learn, and better yourself. For what it’s worth, you’ll learn a heck of a lot more from just doing internship after internship instead of just taking a ton of classes and doing a masters is worth. And if you’re aggressive and don’t slack off, you’ll have a better hold of your work life when you finally get diploma.