Pros
You will get a considerable amount of overtime during the season - mostly due to driving long distances before/after putting in a days work, and also due to almost never having the opportunity to take your meal break in the time frame required by the government. I enjoyed getting the best photos I could from the students and staff - and found it rewarding to get a "non-smiler" to smile.
Cons
Hours are horrible - worse if you have family, or anything you want to do during the season besides work, and catching some sleep whenever you can. Toward the end of the season you are very exhausted, both because of the lack of sleep, and the long hours. It is also a physically demanding job, surprisingly enough. Your manager and office staff will treat you like a comodity. It is part of the company culture. They tell you that they are employee owned, and look out for you, but rather you are just an anybody they can pull off the street in ten minutes. They care less about you, or keeping their employees. Indeed, there is high turn around. Many of the students will give you a very difficult time. You will be out of work for one month in the summer, and nearly 3 months over the holiday season. The pay, though it adds up due to the long hours that you put in, is not nearly reflective of the responsibility you hold. The school, and the company is completely dependent on you picking up your equipment at 4am, driving hours to get to an out oof the way school, liasing with the school personell who hopefully arrives at the scheduled time to let you in, set up your equipment in time, with everything functioning (and nothing left behind, including spare parts), having great customer service, completing the job on time (ONLY 30 SECONDS ARE ALLOWED PER PHOTOGRAPH), and tearing down on time for the room to be used for another school activity. This is more than a minimum wage job. This is managerial level responsibility. Oh and responsibility for the money, etc. If you wake up late, arrive anywhere late, have equipment issues, leave something behind, etc THE WHOLE JOB IS OUT THE WINDOW. It's not like another person can be called in to cover for you. There is no leeway on the time frame. The school and/or district account can easily be lost over a few minutes. CHICO: the two company vans are unsafe to drive. And you have no choice if you are assigned one of those two vans. On occassion, you may be able to drive your own vehicle AT YOU OWN EXPENSE if you won the lottery that day, but not always. The vans they rent from Avis, during the season are great.
