The social turmoil of getting labeled in my beloved city Lahore

As a professional we get to follow certain rules, the dos and don’ts that, we may also know as a job description. When we move in towards our professional goal/s we also get a designation that is who we are recognized as a person in a professional sphere. Moreover we get the similar treatment based on our labels that we may lose once our daily shifts come to an end. But the society that I belong to doesn't believe in working-shifts coming to an end; our labels continue to speak for ourselves till we either end up believing in the labels as our whole truth or we become friends with the labels upon us, quoting it as a social norm. Either way in Lahore it is getting difficult for individuals like me to think and see themselves beyond labels that we get on our never ending shifts.

My society shares a trait that makes people impatient and intolerant towards anything and everything that is 1. New to them, 2. Doesn't go with their limited or unlimited mindset, which is why we believe in judging everything based on our little exposure to the people with similar mindset. Yet we enjoy calling ourselves as liberals, progressive, open minded people living a life that developed countries can never achieve and we should be proud of our denial.

In my Muslim Punjabi Educated society it is not the appearance, language, understanding, exposure, brought up or academics, that puts a label on me but it is mere one thought that; “I know better than everybody around me” who is what and what is what. Yes we are born genius and we get challenged whenever we see a person wearing black we would label him a Shiite, a women in jeans is no doubt a slut, a women in burka is the most pious person around us, and a women holding a cigarette is a bad mother/wife/women and should be killed if she dares to smoke publically, a guy without a job is stupid and doesn't work hard enough, a man with a beard will always be wise and the wisdom grows as the inches add up to the length of his facial hair. This is what we know and some prerequisites that we grow up with under ordinary circumstances like average school, average parents and an average job.

We all are aware of it, we might even sarcastically criticize this turmoil with humour, despair or ignorance, yet we don’t do much to change it. Once our work shifts end, we continue to socially kill ourselves by accepting the labels we get and our only survival falls on not becoming a resistance to the chain that recruits another person with a mindset of a born genius who knows it all. I am not the person who has a solution to this noble cause don’t judge me like that, I'm just a guy who brought this up on a blog. The words I speak are not my own.

10 highly paid jobs in media industry of Pakistan

Media industry has been the apple of people’s eyes for over a decade now in Pakistan. It has attracted both young students and professionals to invest their time and money to make a career out of it. Many universities have taken up the media studies in the last decade and have tried to flourish it with fresh minds. But considering the media industry to be a rather young industry in Pakistan, the institutes have failed to provide students an understanding that is more career-oriented. Students themselves have also problems learning about the media industry and career making due to our immaculate education system in Pakistan.

There is no help for fresh students anywhere to form their minds towards contributing professionally and with vision to change and create something on their own, even if that means a career.

Students should be given a career outline that can help them be the new trend setter through the media industry of Pakistan. So if there is no help on government, professional or on the academic level, it should not demotivate any ideas, creativity and imagination of the students and young graduates wanting to pursue their careers in media industry.

Following are the jobs that can help students figure out what do they want to do. If you would work on your resume and your portfolio in a way that it actually shows your direction and help you build up and filter the confusion for pursuing your idea of the industry, I am pretty sure people reading this can go the distance and build their dream careers out of this growing industry in Pakistan.

1. Graphic Designer

Graphic Designers should have aesthetics and be skilled with software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Corel Draw. Media Industry needs a lot of Graphic Designers and are willing to give them an entry level job with a salary starting from 30,000 PKR a month and that can go up to as much as 3 Lacs a month if you have the right skills and aesthetics for the job, nobody can take away your skills and talent as a Graphic Designer and there is room for everybody in the industry so be humble and focus on yourself.

2. 2D Animator

Media Industry in Pakistan has a high demand for 2D animators, whether it’s a city like Islamabad or if it’s a city like Gawadar, 2D animators are looked for everywhere, they can be paid between 40,000 PKR a month to 3 Lacs month, and the work is never ending, it does require a lot of time to learn but if you have the creative mind you can pick things up from day one in this field.

3. 3D Animator

This may sound similar to 2D animation but it’s a whole different ball game. I am pretty sure that most of the people studying and practicing 3D animations would be more job makers than job seekers in the next few years. This field is literally that rewarding in Pakistan you can have your own projects from all over the world and bingo you are all set for life.

4. Researcher

Ever slept in your class out of a boring lecture where you think the professor is repeating the same stuff over and over again, well 90% of the chance is that you have slept through the Research class. This is the biggest contribution you can do for the Media Industry in Pakistan. If you have mastered the skills of researching you will be a globally known person in 5 years, this is where you can express your ideas to a maximum level and begin earning money from 50,000 PKR to 10 Lacs on research projects.

5. D.O.Ps (Director of Photography) or Cinematographer

The electronic media literally revolves around this person, there are very few DOPs in Pakistan that actually know what they’re doing, most of the work the channels are doing these days bring DOPs from abroad because the ones that are working here are so busy with loads of projects upon them they cannot pull all things off. They also earn through projects that can be weekly, biweekly, monthly or yearly and out of these projects regardless of their duration they can earn from 1 Lac to 15 Lacs per project and the numbers can even go over that.

6. Production Designer

This person is whom the budget is revolved around since the idea of how a film, commercial, drama would be executed is decided by this person, he can earn through projects and jobs both and depending on the projects they earn around 1 lac to 15lacs a month.

7.  Sound Designer

Well if I’ll ask you what is your favourite show on TV many of you would say “Coke Studio” that was an idea of a Sound Designer, if you know your work and worth you can do wonders with this field by earning around 1 lac to 10 lacs on every other project, where to get them search this field more and you can explore so many opportunities and work by learning a few software combining them with your aesthetics and you will change your lives forever. This is a very exciting field and involves a lot of travel and thrills.

8. Camera Operator

If you think this is something not that rewarding, well so far all of the above jobs need some time to penetrate in, but if you are a good Camera Operator you are already needed by every single news channel as well as every other production house, as well as every other advertising agency as well as all media vendors. They should call Camera Operators as most wanted because what they do is what the whole industry revolves around. On jobs they are the first ones who get settled and can dwell into more elaborated jobs and projects from the first week, understanding camera and lens is the key and you would be earning between 25,000 PKR to 5 lac PKR a shift that lasts for 8hrs, and a projects are generally between a day to a month. I don’t know any Camera Operator who does not have 5 running projects any time of the year and earning between the same figures I mentioned.

9. Production Manager

Well they are responsible for managing everything from shoots, to experts, to link up and to co-ordinate if you think you can work on time and provide expertise and manage funds well, then this is the right job for you. In Pakistan, assistant producers and directors take years to make a fortune in this field but Production Managers they are right at the top, they often work on commission and they charge a lot of commission with authority, you will find very few educated production managers with aesthetics and degrees but if you become one then you would be on levels that you cannot imagine. Even the projects that don’t have a lot of budget these production managers can draw money out of those in a big way that range from 1 lac to 2 lacs a project.

10. Anchor

And finally the over-rated anchor that every girl wants to be and every guy who thinks is good looking thinks can pull it off instantly. Well they don’t have much demand for guys but if they become one and aim to become one can earn huge numbers that start from 50,000 PKR and goes up to 20 lacs a month, they are very well connected and are the face of a news or entertainment channel and it does require a lot of skill for presentation as well as journalistic aesthetics. It is not an easy job but when you develop a face value, you are all hooked with counting cash.

There is a culture of jealousy, back stabbing, office politics and not giving other people the room to grow. This is all a myth if you belong to such a nature you would never be as successful as the person who has more character that sees himself beyond these random weaknesses. Avoid them and build your career with self-respect and dignity, there is room for everybody and nobody can beat you to what you are good at and you cannot beat anybody to what the other person is good at. So have a big heart and you shall be rewarded immensely.