Donut Media didn't want me: What Now?

For context: a couple of weeks back, Donut Media, the LA based automotive YouTube channel, announced that they were looking for hosts to add on to the cast, presumably to take some of the work load off of the existing cast. At first I didn't apply because I'm an idiot and never found the bold printed "Click Here" on their website (I'm not kidding, I didn't see it) but when I did find it I applied. Of course I did, when you get a chance like that you take it, why wouldn't you?

Unsurprisingly I was one of the many people who applied to be a host at Donut Media that did not get the job. I never even made it very far, not even get a response back to my first email where I answered the questions they posed on their application. To be fair, I was by no means the most deserving of job as they were looking for a skilled mechanic that could do also do the presenting, not a guy that occasionally makes amateur comedy YouTube videos, writes mediocre articles, and has rather limited experience fixing cars (replacing the steering rack is the biggest job I've done). The odds were not in my favor and while of course I hoped that I would get the job, I didn't expect to get a response.

Why was it my dream to work for Donut Media?

It was not, well, not really. Obviously I would have loved to work there, the people seem like a ton of fun (at least on camera), I think I would have done well as I pretty comfortable in front of the camera, and to get paid to make videos about cars is my dream job so to work there would have been amazing!

However, even when I imagined myself working there, the idea of having my own YouTube channel and filming content for that stuck with me. Even if I already had that dream job, I still wanted my own bespoke version of it that I was in full control of. The point I'm getting at is that making content about cars is a generalized version of my dream job, and for that reason working for Donut Media would have been a great job, but I do want to make my own content in my own format.

The only problem with making my own content on my YouTube channel is the growing of the channel, which is why working for Donut Media would have been kind of the ideal situation as I would get to do what I love, but not go through the lengthy and tedious process of growing my own channel to the point where I could actually do it full time.

But now that I am not going to work for Donut Media, at least for now, what does that leave me in terms of my own dream job and general career path?

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So what am I going to do?

Full disclosure: I don't really know, I talked about this in my previous article about the best career path for car enthusiasts, and I am still uncertain of what to do. I still have the dream of filming videos for my YouTube channel so I will continue to do that on the side and I am currently enrolled as a mechanical engineering student at my local university so I definitely have a solid career path available to me.

The question then becomes, do I want to continue on this path? And I am tempted to say no. Part of it is the immense stress of taking classes full time and working, which takes its toll on any person no matter how tough they are and makes it rather difficult to be happy with my career path. To be completely honest, aside from the social aspect where I am not doing anything school related, I am not enjoying the college experience one bit. That's common during the beginning, mainly when getting through all the dumb core classes but I'm reaching my limit of what I can tolerate.

To put into perspective how much I despise college at the moment, I enjoyed life more, working 30-40 hours a week as a lifeguard, most of my shifts from 5am-12, and then going to coach my old high school's soccer team later in the afternoon, and in between and on the weekends, writing articles and filming YouTube videos. That grind of waking up early and completely filling my day with things I was actually excited about was far more enjoyable than my entire time in college. I was exhausted at the end of the day but content with what I was doing, it was only the looming ominous cloud of college the following (current) fall semester that bothered me.

I want to continue writing here on DriveTribe, as it is a passion of mine, and I want continue to film YouTube videos for my channel, when I have the time for those obviously, but I don't really want to take classes. At least for the moment, the later, more technical classes where you actually get to do more of what your job would actually be like should be much more exciting and I will probably enjoy those classes but getting over this mountain in front of me is going to be tough and I am not sure that the view will be worth it to me.

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Slight Confession

I have been turning to writing to help organize my thoughts in times of stress and uncertainty. It may be that I find happiness in mechanical engineering or I find something completely new and get latched on to that but at the moment I will admit that I am still struggling with what I should do with my career.

There is a part of me that wants to follow my heart and just drop everything, work a job that will get me by as I pursue YouTube, and then there is the rational part that says its ridiculous and that I should stick with my degree and do YouTube as a hobby. One day I'll figure out what I'm "supposed" to do on this lump of rock, water, and walking meat chunks but today is not that day.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed this journey through my brain and have a better understanding of me and maybe you even learned something about yourself or you feel comfort in knowing that you aren't the only one with insecurities. Whatever it is I wish you all Good luck, Godspeed, and that the Force may be with you!