Pros and Cons of Working as a DJ

You consider working as a DJ but want to get additional information about working hours, salaries, job prospects, educational requirements and much more?

Stick with me since I will show you all the pros and cons of being a DJ in the following chapters.

DJ Job Profile

Advantages of Being a DJ

1. Most DJs love what they are doing
2. You can fulfill your dream
3. You may be able to become famous
4. You can start your DJ career without having to spend lots of money
5. You don’t need a college degree
6. You don’t have to worry about student loan debt
7. You don’t need a high IQ for succeeding as a DJ
8. DJs can work indoors most of the time
9. Working as a DJ can be interesting
10. You can meet many great people
11. Famous DJs can make good money
12. You don’t have to ruin your body
13. DJs can work self-employed

Most DJs love what they are doing

Becoming a DJ can make sense if you want to do something for a living that you really love to do.

In fact, most DJs are not in the business since they want to make really good money but since this is their true passion and they can’t imagine doing anything else.

Thus, if music is your passion, you may have a great time as a DJ and may like it much more compared to doing many other jobs.

You can fulfill your dream

Working as a DJ also enables you to fulfill your dream of a fancy music career and if you become really good and also have a little bit of luck, you may be able to travel the world and will see places most people just dream about.

You may be able to become famous

If you work hard on your dream of becoming a DJ and also meet the right people at the right time, you may also have the chance to become famous.

Also if you are really talented, it has never been easier to become famous since you can just upload your best performances on social media platforms and if you are good enough, you can increase your level of fame rather quickly and can also build a strong community of followers.

You can start your DJ career without having to spend lots of money

Another advantage of becoming a DJ is that you also don’t have to spend lots of money upfront to start your career.

Instead, you can start out with pretty basic equipment and climb your way up from small performances to bigger festivals and so on.

You don’t need a college degree

You also don’t need fancy education or even a college degree for becoming a DJ.

Instead, everyone can work as a DJ and if you have natural talent, your education level will not matter much in this regard.

You don’t have to worry about student loan debt

While many of your friends who want to become investment bankers or dentists have to go to college and have to spend lots of money on tuition and may also have to take on significant amounts of student loan debt, you as a DJ don’t have to worry in this regard at all and can even start making money from a rather young age.

You don’t need a high IQ for succeeding as a DJ

While being smart helps in almost every profession, you don’t need to have a high IQ for succeeding as a DJ as long as you have lots of natural talent and also understand how to entertain the crowd.

DJs can work indoors most of the time

Another benefit of being a DJ is that you can also work indoors most of the time while scaffolders and many other people have to work outdoors during times of bad weather on a regular basis.

Working as a DJ can be interesting

If you are interested in music and want to perform in front of an audience, working as a DJ can be quite interesting and exciting since you will never know the outcome of your gig and this will create some tension and will also keep you motivated.

You can meet many great people

Another upside to becoming a disc jockey is that you can also meet many great DJs and other musicians along the way and this can really help you improve your skills and can just make your life as a DJ more interesting in general.

Famous DJs can make good money

While most DJs don’t make really good money and some of them even struggle to make a living, you still have the upside potential to make millions of dollars if you do exceptionally well while most other people who work in classical jobs don’t have this opportunity.

You don’t have to ruin your body

Since DJs don’t have to work in a hard physical manner and don’t have to lift heavy stuff as roofers and many other craftsmen often have to do, you will also be at lower risk of ruining your body as a DJ.

DJs can work self-employed

Another advantage of working as a DJ is that you can also work self-employed and can be your own boss which gives you high levels of flexibility regarding how to live your professional as well as your private life.

Now that you know all the benefits of working as a DJ, we also have to talk about the drawbacks of a DJ career in the following so that you get a more realistic picture of reality and can better decide whether you still want to become a disc jockey or rather want to work in a different field instead.

Disadvantages of Working as a DJ

1. DJs have pretty poor job security
2. You have to work rather exotic hours
3. DJs often have to work on weekends
4. You have rather poor work-life balance as a DJ
5. DJ may not be the best job for your family life
6. You may suffer from sleeping problems as a DJ
7. You may have to deal with high levels of emotional stress
8. The crowd may not like your performance
9. DJs have pretty poor job security
10. Most DJs don’t make great money
11. You may have to worry about old-age poverty
12. Hard to provide for your family as a DJ
13. The DJ industry is pretty competitive
14. Your loved ones may not understand your decision of becoming a DJ
15. You have to be quite flexible as a DJ
16. Hard to provide lots of value to society
17. You may damage your sense of hearing in the long run
18. DJs often can’t work remotely
19. Poor exit options for DJs

DJs have pretty poor job security

One problem with working as a DJ is that you will have pretty poor job security and will be replaceable pretty easily.

Consequently, you may always have to worry about losing your job and may not get happy with what you are doing in the long run.

You have to work rather exotic hours

You should also keep in mind that disc jockeys often have to work in the evening or even at nighttime and you will therefore have to work while secretaries and most other people sleep.

DJs often have to work on weekends

Not only will you have to work exotic hours, but you will also have to work on weekends as a DJ and may not have time to make nice weekend trips with your family.

You have rather poor work-life balance as a DJ

In general, since you will have to work rather exotic hours and sometimes even on weekends and holidays, you will have pretty poor work-life balance and may envy your friends working in classical 9 to 5 environments.

DJ may not be the best job for your family life

Since you will have to work rather exotic hours and sometimes even have to travel, being a DJ is also not great for your family life since you will not be able to see your kids grow up and your partner may also start cheating on you sooner or later.

You may suffer from sleeping problems as a DJ

Since you will have to work rather exotic hours, you may also destroy your natural sleeping rhythm.

In fact, many DJs complain about sleeping problems and may also suffer from mental problems due to that in the long run.

You may have to deal with high levels of emotional stress

Another downside to becoming a DJ is that you will also have to deal with lots of emotional stress since you will always have the pressure to do something extraordinary to entertain your fans and if you are not able to handle this pressure in a proper manner, you may get depressed and unhappy with what you are doing in the long run.

The crowd may not like your performance

If you don’t perform well on stage, your fans will also not be happy with your performance at all and you may also have to deal with many negative comments on social media and many people will also try to bring you down.

DJs have pretty poor job security

Another disadvantage of working as a disc jockey is that DJs also have pretty poor job security.

In fact, you can lose your job from one day to the other since short-term contracts are pretty common in this industry and you may therefore get into serious financial trouble rather quickly.

Most DJs don’t make great money

While a small minority of talented and lucky DJs are able to make a fortune, the vast majority of DJs don’t make good money and many of them even struggle to make a basic living from what they are doing.

You may have to worry about old-age poverty

Since most DJs don’t make good money, many of them are also not able to save and invest enough money for retirement and will struggle with serious old-age poverty once they have to quit their active careers and retire.

Hard to provide for your family as a DJ

Due to the rather poor money most DJs make, it is also pretty hard for you to provide for your family as a DJ and your partner may just not be happy with what you are making in the long run and may search for better options.

The DJ industry is pretty competitive

Since so many people dream about becoming a DJ, the disc jockey industry and the music industry in general are pretty competitive and only the best of the best will have a realistic chance to make a good living from what they are doing in the long run.

Your loved ones may not understand your decision of becoming a DJ

Since many people don’t consider working as a DJ as a real job, your family and friends may also not understand your decision of becoming a DJ and you may have to justify quite a lot in this regard.

You have to be quite flexible as a DJ

Since many of your gigs may be canceled without prior notice and plans may change rather quickly, you also have to be quite flexible as a DJ and need to deal with high levels of insecurity in general.

Hard to provide lots of value to society

While you can entertain your fans, you as a DJ will still not be able to provide as much value to society as nurse practitioners or other people who can really save lives on a regular basis.

You may damage your sense of hearing in the long run

If you are not careful, you may also significantly damage your sense of hearing during your DJ career and may suffer from hearing problems in the long run.

DJs often can’t work remotely

Since you will have to do many live performances, you will often not be able to work remotely as a DJ and will be less flexible compared to people working in classical office jobs who will be able to work from home quite a lot and will have an easier time managing their professional and private life.

Poor exit options for DJs

Since DJs mainly learn how to perform music, they have pretty poor exit options since they don’t learn many skills needed in the job market right now and may have a hard time finding a different job after quitting their DJ career.

Top 10 Being a DJ Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A DJ?

While working as a DJ is considered pretty cool and DJs can also get to know many great people, you should also know that most DJs don’t make great money and that you also have to work pretty exotic hours which may adversely affect your private life in the long run.

In the end, it is on you to evaluate all the pros and cons of being a DJ so that you can better decide whether you still want to work as a DJ or rather want to work in a different field.

If you come to the conclusion that a DJ career is not for you, you may also want to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a bartender

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a driving instructor

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a trucker

Sources

https://www.statista.com/statistics/443645/dj-mixers-us-wholesale-sales/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_jockey

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world. In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of what a fulfilling career could look like. I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics. However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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