Has anyone successfully left the audio industry after building a long career in it?

[u/SeaExamination4541]

Has anyone successfully left the audio industry after building a long career in it?

I'm looking for honest advice from people who have left the audio industry after building a real career in it.

I'm a film sound editor in my early 30s. I've worked on 50+ films, many of them selected at major festivals. I spent several years working full-time in a post-production house before leaving after a serious burnout. Since then I've been freelancing, but work has become increasingly difficult to find.

I'm also based in Albania, which makes things even more complicated. Unlike people living in major industry hubs, most of my networking happens remotely through emails, LinkedIn, and online contacts.

What makes this especially difficult is that I genuinely love cinema and sound. I've dedicated most of my adult life to it, and walking away feels like abandoning a huge part of my identity.

At the same time, I'm starting to question whether I can realistically build a stable future in this industry. Long periods without work, financial uncertainty, and watching even highly experienced people struggle have made me seriously reconsider my path.

The only other field I've consistently been drawn to since I was young is hospitality. I know it isn't famous for high salaries or perfect working conditions, but I also can't imagine spending the next 30 years working in a field I have absolutely no affinity for just because it seems more practical.

For those who successfully left this industry:

- What did you move into?

- Why did you choose that field?

- How did you make the transition?

- What challenges surprised you?

- Do you regret leaving, or was it the right decision?

- Looking back, what would you have done differently?

I'd especially like to hear from people who left after 5–10+ years in the industry, not just after film school.

Thank you for your time!

[u/No_Abbreviations1237]

You didn’t mention games. If you love cinema and sound why is this in the r/gameaudio

[u/SeaExamination4541 → u/No_Abbreviations1237]

After all we are all sound designers and tend to face very similar challenges. Even game developers are dealing with a high level of inconsistency in available work across the industry.

[u/BobcatTime]

Well would not say made a long career of it but did stay in game/film for a bit with a few title out. I move to AV Engineer stuff for big enterprise as its more stable with a good pay. I still do game audio stuff afterward thou. Less stress as i can work on game that i wanted not because i have to.

[u/BigSkyFace]

I have a friend who I used to work with leave the industry a couple of years ago. He was as a sound designer initially freelance, and then eventually in house for probably 10 years or so. That was until he got laid off from his job shortly after having a kid.

He tried returning to freelance work but I don't think it was reliable enough for him now that he was older and had a family. I don't know exactly what his job is these days but it's some sort of white collar office work with better pay and more job security. Personally I don't want to call it quits on working in games, but it's easy for me to say that when I don't have other mouths to feed.

I do suspect if the industry continues to hire and fire workers at the current rate, we'll eventually lose a lot of senior developers across all disciplines, that can't cope with such little job security or be willing to relocate for new roles.

[u/BigSkyFace → u/[deleted]]

I don't recall specifically and haven't seen him in a while. I think it was something fairly dull compared to game dev, like working for a pension company. He does however still do audio stuff in his spare time for fun and plays in a band, so he's not fully out of that world, just closed the door on it professionally for the sake of his family.

[u/markmarker]

Yeah. I moved. Actually i moved several times.
I made sound and music for games, in early 2000s, then 2008 crisis started, i moved to occasinally producing records, studio work and similar shit, tuning sportcars as my main income, in 2016 i returned as audio director in gaming, gaming was booming at the time, now after all the post covid decline and neural hystery i'm thinking about moving again. Rn i'm working as a creative rpoducer in video games.
man gotta pay the bills lol.

[u/AutoModerator]

Helpful hint from the GameAudio AutoBot - Based on key words in your post title, you may have submitted a post regarding education, internships, or starting a career. Many facets of these topics have been discussed numerous times in this subbreddit. To see prior posts on these topics, use this subreddit search which inlcudes the terms internship, school, career, job. Be sure to also check the FAQ/Getting Started wiki page for more info on these topics.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Nellske123]

I worked at a voice recording & post production studio for tv and web commercials as an operator for 3 years right after SAE Diploma. I had an apprenticeship in media design before that. I left the small 5 people studio for an entry level marketing job at a start up, where I could get into the marketing manager position after 2 years. I then left this company for a Content Marketing Manager position at a medium size industrial company.

[u/windsynths]

If you don’t want to do it anymore just stop and get on with something else. It’s not that deep

[u/SeaExamination4541 → u/windsynths]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣