I prefer the term "sound mixer" 'cuz I had it beaten into my head that you don't get to call yourself an engineer unless you have your PE. You can't get a PE in sound mixing. It depends a lot on where you are and who you know. Where are you?
Near Chicago. Probably not the best place to be in regards to music business.
Not the worst, though! Go to clubs. Volunteer. Meet bands. Ask to hang out at recording sessions. Offer to do remixes. Get up in everyone's grille. Spend lots of time at it. Remember names and faces and always be nice, always be on time. You will do this enough that eventually you will be paid. If you continue down this path you will specialize. Keep at it long enough and you may become Butch Vig. But it all starts by being there and helping. People hire their friends. A semi-talented friend will get the job that the extraordinarily-talented stranger wants. Make lots of friends.
I'm good at making friends, and feel comfortable talking to anyone. So that's good. Thanks for the advice!
Ha! You should hear me rant and grumble every time I have to call the "engineering department" at work when I want to get a hold of a plumber, electrician, or general handyman (for work I could do myself, but am typically barred from, because that's how companies work). I know I shouldn't be that protective of the title, but still, five years of engineering school seems degraded by calling a mister-fix-it "engineer". (To be fair, I never had a PE. I worked automotive, for which one isn't required. Although with the shitty ethics and shoddy designs we've seen across the industry recently, perhaps that needs to change.)
And I worked architectural consulting, in a state in which you couldn't get a PE in acoustics. Our firm did HVAC and plumbing, though, and we had one guy who got to call himself an engineer. It was actually in the process of studying for the EIT that I decided I didn't want to be an engineer. I believe that was also the year that the PE pass rate for my state was 16%. Spending that much time on a subject I hated that didn't directly apply to my way of life with chances of success that slim kinda made me go "fuck everything about that" and within 18 months I was mixing television in Hollywood.