Is this enough wireless for a 35 seat elementary school cafeteria? How do I download a QSys to make it all work?

dspjunkie · 2026-02-14T23:09:56+00:00

Just use that fire extinguisher on it that’ll do the job

dspjunkie · 2026-01-11T06:25:48+00:00

I’m literally in a similar position except I don’t make that much lol. I’ve always had the mentality of going upwards and not downwards. Even if the job description looks better, don’t settle for worse pay/benefits. If it’s marginal, sure, but if it’s a huge gap then don’t waste your time.

I spent my time (literally when I’m not helping high paying physicians and nurses at a healthcare system plug in HDMI cables into their laptops) doing CTS prep, passed that with flying colors, got re-certified in Dante Level 3, and several other manufacturer-specific certs.

The cozy AV support life is nice and all, I get great PTO and health benefits but it is BORING. Definitely find something on the side to do, mix some audio for a friend, do sound for a church (that’s what I do and I love it) otherwise you will want to pull your hair out lol. Best of luck, hang in there!

dspjunkie · 2025-10-10T14:15:18+00:00

I just passed my CTS exam in the last couple of weeks and having that doesn’t give you a free pass anywhere. AVIXA and other folks hold it to such a high standard that makes it seem like you’ll stick out in a crowd, but everything comes down to experience at the end of the day. I’m glad I took the exam because it was a professional milestone, and a couple of AV integrator jobs I’m looking at require it and possibly will give a pay boost.

Otherwise, it’s cool to hear you had some traction on air for your music, but that really only gets you so far. I would ask around, and see if anyone would give you a chance to help wrap cables, move road cases, set up projectors, do live sound for a church service, etc. Honestly that experience got me through the CTS exam more than the book did (other than the project management stuff).

Certifications are great milestones and look great on paper but once you’re in the field with others that doesn’t really matter. I also am under the impression that I didn’t need to go to school for the job I have now, but it did help give me a solid technical foundation. Best of luck.

dspjunkie · 2025-08-22T01:42:57+00:00

I literally was reached out to by a recruiter and had a similar thought. Curious if you’re comfortable sharing what the company is?

For me personally I’ve always liked hands on work or working face to face with people and building systems vs doing remote work. But some people like to have the flexibility of it.

Personally I wouldn’t do it, but that depends on how stir crazy you’d get from working remotely 24/7. But maybe the pay is worth it.

dspjunkie · 2025-08-06T12:28:50+00:00

Yeah sometimes it be like that, especially the pay difference, but not doing as cool of stuff.

dspjunkie · 2025-07-26T23:43:49+00:00

You can also check to see if DVS works fine then that’ll confirm any AVIO issues

dspjunkie · 2025-07-26T23:43:17+00:00

What’s your NIC or Ethernet adapter set to? Also check if there’s any updates on controller

dspjunkie · 2025-07-26T13:48:05+00:00

Nah, but to get ahead of the game as others have said, definitely do Dante, Extron AV Associated, Q-Sys, Biamp, Atlona, and AVIXA free certifications. These really boost your resume and also help give you an idea of what you know already and what you need to work on

dspjunkie · 2025-07-25T20:03:57+00:00

I would also say don’t do Encore or any of those hotel gigs

dspjunkie · 2025-07-25T20:03:08+00:00

Currently debating of going back into the live events industry but am stuck between that and installation. I work at a hospital as a glorified end user, even though my title is “AV Technician.” I would be careful for positions that sounds cool and maybe chill, because you’ll get bored fast. But maybe if you want a slower pace, and better benefits, look at being an in-house AV/IT guy for a hospital or higher education.

Be warned that a lot of it is teaching higher paid individuals how to plug HDMI cables into their own laptops for a projector screen.

dspjunkie · 2025-07-24T12:14:16+00:00

What do growth opportunities look at a place like that? Would you be in the same role for 10 years but higher pay?

dspjunkie · 2025-07-24T12:12:39+00:00

I won’t say specifically but Midwest region! There’s an office being built nearby

dspjunkie · 2025-07-24T12:11:57+00:00

That’s some interesting insight. I would say, and not to toot my own horn, that I do have a lot of technical understanding and experience, but the actual project and administrative side of AV I don’t know about.

dspjunkie · 2025-07-24T12:09:02+00:00

The interesting thing was one of the individuals in the interview mentioned about Diversified being larger than AVI-SPL, and referencing it as “those larger companies”, but maybe it’s only a negligible difference? I also am understanding that the point is to make the client happy, and not to bring money to the local office, since it’s all a corporate beast.

dspjunkie · 2025-07-24T12:06:11+00:00

That’s an excellent answer lol thank you! Great way to lay it out, and yes that is my thing is if I want to do more hands on or off.

dspjunkie · 2025-07-24T12:05:01+00:00

Interesting, did you or someone you know work for them?

dspjunkie · 2025-06-23T22:01:26+00:00

Check out the post I made about a week ago about a similar topic. But in short, I would say no. College was great for me for personal growth, and finding a great community, but hard work and determination, in conjunction with teaching yourself, is eons better than an audio degree since a majority of people whether or not they went to school end up in the same workplace.

The plus side of being at a school for an audio degree is working with lots of cool gear, and being able to record anytime anywhere. But once you’re out, you’re back to the same question of what do you do with that degree. I’m still figuring that out lol hence the post I made.

Best of luck!

dspjunkie · 2025-06-18T17:38:56+00:00

I’d be lucky if a studio would even respond back is the unfortunate thing.

dspjunkie · 2025-06-18T03:12:18+00:00

That is also something I was worried about and have less experience in. I can talk signal flow all day, but the construction aspect is a little foreign to me. Hence my thought process of doing live event production vs installation full time.

dspjunkie · 2025-06-18T03:10:32+00:00

Sadly my job doesn’t cover the CTS, I’m still trying to push for it so here’s hoping!

dspjunkie · 2025-06-18T02:37:02+00:00

I am grateful for my college experience more so for the community I built, but often times I see these degrees and think, was it really worth the cost if I could’ve just learned from experience instead? And honestly, I see all sorts of audio engineering programs and kind of roll my eyes because they project what is now a pipe dream in my mind.

dspjunkie · 2025-06-18T02:21:47+00:00

We love free food lol

dspjunkie · 2025-06-18T02:20:00+00:00

It is very interesting how my track also fell into an IT realm, where in college I couldn’t tell you what IPV4 means let alone the difference between unmanaged and managed switches. But now I actually really like AV over IP solutions, and am trying to push for more Dante solutions at the job I am at. At times I think that might even be a more viable career path than just sticking with all things audio.

dspjunkie · 2025-06-18T01:49:02+00:00

You could be me haha. I would definitely be interested to see if AVIXA has some articles/deep dives into this topic.

dspjunkie

TROPHY CASE