As in all aspects of live entertainment, each path to a career seems to be individually forged, there is no one-size-fits-all. But there are some resources that are available for free for professionals trying to get a foot in the door, or who have made a good start in the business but want to move up.
Below are some resources that can help.
Join the Video Design Community Discord group. Founded by award-winning designer Ash J. Woodward and a cohort of other video professionals, it is not just a space to exchange ideas and technical questions. The group also hosts job offers and networking opportunities, and active participants are encouraged to ask questions and post experiences. While many of the founders are British, the group is international in membership and outlook.
Learn more and join the community here: https://www.video-design.info/
The frame:work New Talent List is an opportunity for up-and-coming designers and technical specialists to showcase their resumes for the video design community. Announced each spring, the list is split into Graduates and Undergraduates and features each members’ skills in video design, specialization, and technical expertise in other areas, for example, physical skills such as soldering, carpentry and programming outside media editing and design. The list is released each spring and because it hosts the members websites and portfolios in addition to skills, it is a useful resource for both job applicants and hiring managers alike.
If you are still training and not quite ready for the job market, it is useful to check out the skill sets graduates are accomplished in to make sure you don’t have any holes in your resume. Must-have capabilities at the moment appear to include Unreal Engine, TouchDesigner, and MadMapper, but it is good place to track new software and perhaps see skills in common you may not have considered to be an asset in live entertainment.
Check out the 2026 list here and join the mailing list to find out when applications open next year. https://framework.video/newtalent26/
Frame:work also organizes in-person conferences in New York, Los Angeles, and London, and hosts meetups around other large conferences including ISE in Barcelona, in addition to online networking events. Information can be found here, https://framework.video/media/.
LDI, of course, runs hands-on training for the latest software and hardware and, in collaboration with Visual Artform, has introduced a VJ Challenge/video busking competition, with a cash prize of $2,000 for the winning student team. More information about this year's training options will be available soon at LDI 2026.
There are many learning hubs for most of the tech involved with video and projection design, sometimes training to use a software, other times to be a certified technician--and being able to troubleshoot on the road is always handy. Here are just a few links to start with.
Green Hippo Training/Pixel Academy
Roe Visual Academy Courses
Unreal Academy https://academy.unrealengine.com/totara/dashboard/index.php
Disguise - https://www.disguise.one/en/learn
Barco - Certification Training
Brompton Technology Training
HIVE Introduction to HIVE Media Servers
AV Stumpfl/PIXERA Training Hub
Ioversal/Ross Video Tutorials
Megapixel Knowledge Base
Stage Precision Tutorials
Planar Training Academy
Notch YouTube Tutorials
VYV - Online Learning Center
Below are a couple of job boards for video professionals, they skew more toward live streaming/broadcast and editing versus design but can be a good place to start.
Giggs
Production Hub
The Mandy Network