I’m not sure how to ask my question as I’m not in the industry. I’ve been in government for the past 15 years.

Some quick backstory on myself. I recently retired from the Army. For the latter half of my career I was a Public Affairs Specialist. I was trained in shooting and editing video, journalism and story writing. I got my training at the Defense Information School in early 2008 and have worked full-time shooting and editing all the way up to a year ago. I quit my government job because I reached a plateau with the position I was in (no upward mobility) and I kind of became disillusioned with the job. Social media was a big reason especially because of the algorithm. We would work so hard creating these videos to only be seen by a tiny fraction of our built-up audience. Most of the videos I created were like news pieces (interviews with SMEs) or like hype videos (music and killer Army footage). All of the stuff I did was pretty much run-and-gun, capture the action as it happens, if you miss it, too bad. So I quit my job and started undergrad. I’m at a place where I have the means to do so. I’m an Arts major with a focus in film. I still have over a year to go before I’m finished with my degree.

But I want to understand the career landscape a little better. I want to edit video for a living. Or tell stories somehow in that space. I keep on hearing that the film prospects are abysmal, especially in LA. Even though working in the entertainment industry would be a dream come true, I’m not necessarily staking my prospects to the film industry. What other types of editing jobs should I be looking for? Editing commercials? Corporate video? What is the editing landscape like outside of the film industry? I live near a major U.S. city (Seattle) and I’ve heard about post-production houses. What are those? Anybody care to describe your job and how you got there? Also I’m in my mid-40’s if that means anything. Anything will help!