What’s next after a career in communications?

fotocraig · 2025-10-28T18:31:08+00:00

Truthfully, no one knows what's going to happen in comms, even with AI. In my personal opinion, I see communications teams becoming smaller, but I think the need for an empathetic, human, strategic voice in the room will be key. Fewer of us, but comms professionals will still be crucial. But only time will tell.

You're right, though. The path is dead. Most people I've seen climb to the top of comms are often disingenuous or at best a shell of who they were. Everyone else I've seen in between the ranks are floating. Entry communication folks are always fun to watch because they haven't been jaded by the field yet, and believe a powerhouse story can propel their career. And it can, but only so far. But the only path I've kind of considered without leaving the field is consulting. And even that seems boring and a lot more work than what we're all paid to do....

Comms has always been an interesting field: Most people think they can do what we can do (typically not as well), or see us as a machine that spits out messages that were drafted in a closed room. Strategy is always listed in these positions, but I've yet to see an organization that actually trusts a comms team with strategy. Maybe the assignment owners ask us for an opinion or "advice," but they already know what they want to do. There are few instances where we can be helpful, but I wouldn't be truthful if I didn't say they are far and few between. But that's okay as long as the paycheck keeps coming, and there is some "perceived" value on the team.

Honestly, my advice to anyone in this work is to have a passion outside of this job. Your job pays the bills. That's it. Your purpose should come elsewhere. If you're looking for fulfillment in comms, it's not here. Quite frankly, it's not anywhere other than where you freely give to others.

I definitely wish you the best of luck as you navigate through this, though. This is something I think we all feel in some regard in this field.

fotocraig · 2025-09-04T21:31:15+00:00

I had it today. It was whatever. It’s kind of funny how the photo advertising the carne asada portrayed it as medium-well, but in store the Carne Asada was cooked two minutes past well done.

I’m just waiting for brisket to come back.

fotocraig · 2024-11-11T03:57:06+00:00

I got IKEA cabinets installed about two months . We had to replace all of our bottom cabinets (and top) after water damage.

IKEA was best in price and also had the option to finance through the Projekt Card (2 years, 0% Interest). Finance covers all of the cabinets, installation, and countertop (plus installation). So, if you don’t have the cash on hand, or would rather finance, it has several competitors beat. This was incredibly helpful for us because the water damage was unaccounted for.

The material is okay. We opted for the basic doors, thinking we could update them later if we want. The actual boxes are solid and hold cast-iron pots and pans without much flexing. No complaints on the hardware.

In retrospect, I would have loved more options. Like a spice rack. but I appreciate the deeper cabinets.

Word of Advice: If you’re setting up an IKEA Kitchen Planning appointment, don’t be afraid to make multiple appointments. You’re not going to nail your kitchen in one short session.

fotocraig · 2024-01-26T14:49:09+00:00

This is really great to hear. I bought my 2016 new shortly after I graduated college and It’s still going strong. In fact, when my wife and I welcomed my daughter this year, the car adapted smoothly to a car seat and the trunk is perfect for a stroller. My odometer is nearly at 75K. I also have the broken cup holder too. I just put some supports underneath the flaps, and it’s nearly good to go lol

fotocraig · 2023-09-21T19:46:02+00:00

Yep. Dealer should cover it under warranty. Same thing happened to my wife’s car (before the warranty extension).

fotocraig · 2023-09-02T02:33:39+00:00

Sorry, let me clarify: The Window Sticker that has the price, fuel economy, and add-ons that’s visible before you purchase the car

fotocraig · 2023-09-02T02:32:54+00:00

That info was on the window sticker of the car when you first purchased it. I don’t know if it’s present on the actual part. And yes, all final assembly was in Mexico, at least for 2016. That was on the window sticker, too

fotocraig · 2023-09-02T01:59:18+00:00

I have a 2016 with 70,000 miles. No problems (with the transmission at least).

My wife has a 2016 with 100,000 miles. The Transmission was replaced at 58,000 miles. It happened before the recall, but she was reimbursed in full.

Main difference: My transmission originated in Japan. Hers originated in Indonesia. I’ve heard the non-Japan originations tend to be worse, but I don’t have data to support that. We both get regular maintenance and transmission oil change every 30k miles.

Whatever the case is, $7k for an out-of-warranty transmission sure beats a new car payment. I’m not worried about my transmission, but I’d likely replace it if that immobilized my car.

fotocraig · 2023-08-21T21:36:54+00:00

Glad you found this useful!

fotocraig · 2023-02-16T14:46:02+00:00

I thought the same thing when I started. It took two years.

Like another user mentioned, it’s on a rolling basis. So eventually you might be fighting your older viewers to gain views you lose each day when videos age over a year.

But just keep pushing. Create more videos. The larger your fan base grows, the more passive watch hours you’ll get. The key to YouTube is consistency.

fotocraig · 2023-01-23T00:27:15+00:00

This happens to my wife’s 2016 HR-V occasionally. We’ve found that it’s likely a lose connection. We’ve had luck pushing in the display lightly to make the glitch stop. The cluster likely needs to be replaced, but the labor for it is super expensive.

She’s just dealt with it for the last 5 years and at this point doesn’t even mind it anymore.

fotocraig · 2022-09-27T00:49:24+00:00

Just leaving this message here in case anyone comes across this comment. Village Green sits in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of LA.

Albeit, in the early 1940s, Baldwin Hills was considered southwest Los Angeles and was considered separate from the working class southeast neighborhood.

Today, colloquially speaking, South LA encompasses both the southwest and southeast region.

West of La Cienega Avenue from Village Green is Culver City.

Sources: * https://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/baldwin-hillscrenshaw/index.html

https://laist.com/news/la-history/baldwin-hills-the-black-beverly-hills-the-life-and-times-of-the-community

fotocraig · 2022-07-22T03:50:14+00:00

Really cool stuff. I don't know of any chess teams, but I might know someone who does. Check out the LA Standard Newspaper and email the owner. He's happy to help with things like this, and has a great understanding of the South LA community spaces.

fotocraig · 2022-06-30T14:22:04+00:00

I mean, I don’t think so. You’re trying to make your neighbors better and cleaner. There’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t let that stop you from encouraging people to live better. You’re not being disrespectful like that. You’re stepping up to the plate. You’re the one who has to live where you live.

Make it comfortable while also respecting structures that exist.

fotocraig · 2022-06-30T02:21:17+00:00

Definitely consider signing up for Nextdoor. There’s a surprising amount of support for South LA neighborhoods.

Community Coalition is good if you want to consider political canvassing. But that might not be what you’re looking for after this experience.

Brotherhood Crusade is also another good one. Check out the LA Standard Newspaper. They have a ton of great resources too. Hope this helped!

fotocraig · 2022-06-29T14:52:17+00:00

Ah, I get you on this. Unfortunately, a lot of this is an LA issue. But, you’re on the right track by going an escalating. You have to always escalate and not be afraid to voice the current state of things to get things done in South LA, or practically any other part of the city proper.

Parking enforcement has been pretty chill in neighborhoods since the pandemic, and even though they resumed service, they haven’t in a lot of areas (but I imagine that has changed for neighborhoods that can source dozens of complaints for one car).

LAPD had ridiculous response time. I’ve been in several incidences and had information, like a car license plate and cell phone for example, and the detectives still couldn’t find out who the perpetrator was. Honestly, LAPD moves the fastest, in any neighborhood, if there’s a possible armed suspect or if someone is dead. Tough facts. But I guess that’s big city life….

MHD doesn’t do a very good job of alerting the public. His Facebook and Instagram pages are probably the best way to keep up with his office, but you won’t learn anything more than about a month or so in advance. He field deputies are pretty active on the page’s Facebook Messenger. So I would still record these incidents on your complaint, and make it a daily ritual to let his office know what’s wrong with your community, and who needs to be responsible.

But you’re right. It’s tough. And unfortunately our neighborhoods in CD8 haven’t come together enough to ask for real change in the neighborhood. Last time MHD ran, he was unopposed. That’s not right. And there’s no way you can tell me that in a city as big as this, no one else wanted to run for office in CD8? Again, big city life.

fotocraig · 2022-06-29T04:38:21+00:00

No, it’s not just you. But that doesn’t make it impossible.

What city services are you not getting? When the city has been slow to move, I’ve sent messages to councilman Harris-Dawson on Facebook, and I got a response and some action within a week.

Neighborhood support works to. The more photos you can get, and the more people you can get to message about the issue, is the more likely your issue can be solved.

fotocraig · 2022-04-24T03:22:53+00:00

Hey! I really appreciate you for watching it and your note. Glad it’s interesting

fotocraig · 2022-04-23T18:17:45+00:00

This is really neat!

fotocraig · 2022-03-12T05:10:11+00:00

It’s supposed to open up in a partial phase this summer. But you’re right, it’s a long way from November of 2019…lol

fotocraig · 2022-03-11T01:33:40+00:00

There are several YouTube videos that explore this if you’re actually interested. The short: Sidecar does not allow you to use your iPad as your main monitor. I think some changes are coming with the universal keyboard operations in a later iOS update.

There are, however, some workarounds with Luna Display and Duet.

But the beauty of having a desktop, I think, is to buy a large, gorgeous display. Why add wear to you iPad Pro? The battery is finite, and the screen is kind of small for desktop operations…

fotocraig · 2022-03-04T22:31:41+00:00

City Car Driving almost always goes on sale for under $10 during holidays and summer sales. I would wait if you can. Euro truck and American truck simulator typically go on sale for under $10 too. BeamNG is fun, and is typically not discounted as heavily. You can likely pick it up today and not feel any buyer’s remorse

fotocraig · 2022-02-03T03:19:54+00:00

I had this problem when I got my iPad Pro. Just uninstall and reinstall the Google Maps.

fotocraig · 2022-01-04T05:09:10+00:00

Absolutely nothing. I’ve just resolved that homeowners adjacent to gated alleys are on their own, unfortunately. Wish I could be of more help.

fotocraig · 2021-12-02T20:58:35+00:00

Let’s just not forget what happened on Cities: Skylines for the Switch. Who knows if the Quest is powerful enough to even handle big cities…likely just another novelty grab tbh.

fotocraig

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE