Although YouTube is an extremely popular medium for sharing videos in today’s society, I rarely hear of it referred to as a career path. But, why not? Successful YouTubers can make six figure salaries -- the same as most surgeons! According to tvguide.com, YouTube personality Jenna Marbles makes approximately 350k a year. So, it seems only fitting that millenials should be given the option to educate themselves on becoming a youtuber.

Now, I know that current popular YouTubers were never given a formal education in their art, but most of them started making videos years ago, and built a strong fan base. These days, it’s harder to just post a video and gain a large audience. There are many different aspects that account for the amount of views a video will get. For example, the higher the quality and editing, the more aesthetically pleasing the video becomes. Therefore, video production could be one sector of the curriculum in a YouTube career path. Other sectors could include skills in acting and advertising. By graduation, earning a degree as a YouTuber could mean having what it takes to produce videos that will yield revenue.

People that make money from YouTube live such a luxurious lifestyle, who wouldn’t want that? I watch at least 10 famous vloggers (video bloggers), all of whom live in L.A, that spend their time shopping, eating out, and hanging out with their friends. All they have to do is film themselves doing these things, and then they get paid for it! Of course, they can afford this lifestyle with their salary from the videos, so it’s like a chicken and egg scenario -- I’m not clear on which comes first.

“Where does the money come from?” you might ask, and the answer is sponsorships. Companies will come to these YouTubers that get a lot of views and pay them to talk highly about their product. It’s honestly a pretty smart marketing strategy; to utilize a popular YouTuber’s influence on their audience.

I’m not saying that YouTubers have the easiest job; I’m saying that more people should consider it as a serious career option. It’s insanely desirable for anyone with creativity, that doesn’t want to work his or her job in an office every day. It’s also cool that YouTubers can make a big impact on the world and send their message out to a lot of people, but they won’t be bombarded by the paparazzi every time they leave their house.

If I could major in the art of YouTube, I definitely would. It’s amazing that quite a number of people have figured out how to turn it into a career already. If you want to sign on and see what I’m talking about, some great examples are Claudia Sulewski or “ayydubs.” Both of these girls, my age, live in L.A and have two of their own channels -- one for creative content and one for vlogging their daily life. Claudia mainly posts fashion tips and healthy eating hacks while Alyx, or Ayydubs, focuses on comedy. While it’s impressive that our generation is naturally tech-savvy enough to have caused YouTube to become a career path, I think it’s time that more millenials can learn how to do so as well. I know, personally, I’d rather get paid to make videos than flip burgers!