The adult industry, from a business perspective, is the Internet's best kept secret. It generates billions of pounds annually and has an aggressively innovative approach to technology, especially around billing, video and mobile content.
However, the amount of information about the workings of the industry in relation to its productivity is negligible. This is largely to do with the fact that very few public companies exist in this area — small, private firms dominate, which have no legal obligation to publicise their activities.
But that doesn't help anyone trying to break into the industry. Thousands of UK techies earn their daily bread from controversial content but the mechanics of getting a job in the industry are a mystery to anyone on the outside.
Key Quotes
"I might be working with naked pictures of women, but after a while
you don't even look at them."
"Adult Web site conventions are where most people would find jobs."
"We hire bog-standard, competent technicians — the top technicians go
somewhere where they're better rewarded."
"If you've done porn and have taken your clothes off that has a dramatic effect on your employability, but [working] at a porn company has no impact."
ZDNet UK went looking for answers to some questions we have all wondered about, but were afraid to ask.
1.What are the perks of working for an adult company?
"I thought the benefit would be that I could hang around with half-naked women all day," says Clinton Alexander, a US-based Web designer who has worked for a number of adult sites, who admits that one of the main reasons why he got involved in the industry was for the women.
[? /*CMS poll(20004047) */ ?]
However the truth is that, as with most things, familiarity is the death of novelty. "I might be working with naked pictures of women, but after a while you don't even look at them," says Alexander. "It really is just work. You get used to it — just like you would get used to looking at product shots for an e-commerce Web site."
Also, it seems that techies are usually kept away from the "talent". Alexander claims that in the companies he worked for, the technology and content were "very separate".
"If someone wants to get into the adult industry to watch models they should focus on content, for example become a creative director, so they get to organise the photo shoot and hire the women," he says.
2. How do I even find out about jobs in the adult industry?
The usual sources of tech job ads don't tend to work for the adult industry. Searching on JobServe.co.uk under multiple criteria — "adult content", "adult Web site" and "adult entertainment" probably won't get you far.
UK recruitment companies aren't a great deal of help either. Ann Swain, the chief executive of the Association of...
For more, click here...
Talkback
this is a good article
I like porn and i liked this article
I agree with the author
I'm not sure I'd tell anyone if I had a job in the porn industry -- might look dodgy on the CV,
Here's a suggestion for those interested in getting a job in the adult industry, check the older webmaster resource sites like ynot.com, klixxx.com and others.
I am an adult webmaster, and while I do my own coding, seems like once a week someone posts to a discussion board, "I need a webdesigner or programmer for my site."
Those resource sites are good too, for tutorials to teach how to set up a well designed site. Adult sites are different from regular e-commerce. Get a rep for good design and you'll have a good second income.
Of course you can't tell your grandmother, lol.
Telling people you work in the porn business is ok as long as your job title isn't "Fluffer"
great article, one of the biggest problems is the UK mind set, for example, newspapers will not allow you to advertsise jobs in the adult sector as they see it as seedy, yet they allow escorting adverts, insane... The adult industry is far from seedy and offers some very good jobs ranging from tech jobs up to highly paid stars..
We find our stars by word of mouth, people telling people we are good to work for... We would love to advertise like tescos or vodafone, yet we can't, hopefully this imbalance will change and people who want to work in the adult industry will find it easier to get the job they want..
www.traceysvideos.co.uk
I have worked in theadult industry for years.
Its such a shame it is still seen as dirty & seedy.
Its the small, narrowmindedness that has allowed it to become a haven for drug criminals & people traffickers.
Get rid of the taboo's bring it out in the open and these evil criminals have nowhere to hide
This post has been removed by a moderator.
im portugues and its hard for me to find a job as a porn actor :( what should i do
As a generalisation probably quite accurate.
I am founder and CEO of one of the largest adult orientated companies in the world. My comments are:
1) If you are only offering normal conventional adult material it is much harder to make $$$’s nowadays unless you are an exceptional individual. However, I still know many new start-ups who earn far more as an adult webmaster within one year than they ever will in the corporate world. If your good and know how to do it, then you will still make serious money. The emphasis being ‘good’ – but then doesn’t that apply to any industry? ;)
2) If you offer rich new media – then it is still a high growth market and there is plenty of money to be made. However, only big budget guys have the opportunity to develop the technology to develop rich media applications. (eg. Live video streaming that handles millions of customers, rich media for mobile, ipTV etc..)
3) Although there is still stigma associated with the adult industry it is not as bad as people make out and things are changing. There are a few public companies on USA and European stock exchange who are 100% porn companies. The number of porn companies going IPO is increasing and their market cap is similar to conventional companies – highlighting its acceptance to corporate investors and the public. There is significantly more public companies that derive 70-80% of their income from porn, but simply don’t highlight it ;) …eg Hotel entertainment systems providers, mobile payment processors & content suppliers etc..
4) I would not agree that the big adult companies pay lower than corporate world. It’s just that 90% of adult companies are small. I know quite a few adult companies pay top $ for highly qualified staff, and offer both share options and health insurance ;) High valued branded porn companies are run just as corporately as any blue chip company.
5) One thing you forgot to mention …some adult companies you get to work on world first innovative projects. We were probably the first company in the world who solved DDOS attacks with a budget less than $250,000, and then later helped one of the largest banks in the world to solve theirs ;) We also developed the worlds first live video chat applications for 2.5g and 3g mobile phones, we also developed the worlds first hotel in-room live video chat system etc. .. You also get exposure to some very high traffic ecommerce systems – experience hard to find in a lot of companies, even very large multinationals.
6) It is true that people perceive an issue with working with adult companies, especially corporate career minded, but these are a minority and most understand the commercial aspect after their initial concerns. I have never known a techie being declined for a job because they previously worked in a porn company. Strangely, from my experience the people who have the biggest issue with working in porn related companies are male programmers ;) Women tend to have less of an issue than guys (from my limited experience of interviewing and recruiting a few hundred techies, sales, designers etc. in the adult industry). I frequently receive CV’s from c-level executives of global billion dollar corporations begging to join our company. (doesn’t mean they have the skill set for our type of business, but highlights that it is not as big a barrier as people perceive and we offer comparable salaries to the corporate world)
7) Don’t forget the corporate world had a big stigma with gambling companies 6 years ago in the UK before it became mainstream on the internet ;)
I just found this article as i have been working as a print/web designer for the adult industry for the last three years and am now looking to move on to another company.
It certainly is frustrating though as my portfolio for the last few years is littered with adult design material that would greatly impress the right potential employees but of course sends anyone else off in exactly the wrong direction - ie, far away from looking at all the naked ladies and appreciating the work for what it is.
This job itself came from friends of friends - before now i was freelancing and happened to produce some adverts for a phonesex company, which where noticed by an advertising agencies and details passed on to my current employer - but now, it seems cold calls and maybe a little word of mouth might be the way forward as there sure as hell arent any relevant posts up on planetrecruit or jobsite today....
Very good article!
For all of you who want to work in the Adult Industry now check http://www.adultexpertise.com
Very good site where you can promote yourself to the adult industry for free :)
This post has been removed by a moderator.
This post has been removed by a moderator.
This post has been removed by a moderator.
This post has been removed by a moderator.
This post has been removed by a moderator.
hi can u post me where do you work in adult filming and how to get there
I'm not sure I'd tell anyone if I had a job in the porn industry -- might look dodgy on the CV,
via Facebook
22 November, 2005 19:16
I'm not sure I'd tell anyone if I had a job in the porn industry -- might look dodgy on the CV,
via Facebook
22 November, 2005 19:16
forget to leave my email address guardian25angel@gmail.com
Possibly more acceptable now than admitting you work for a bank!