That's a hard question to summarize as my life has followed a weird twisted path. The short version: 1) don't assume you need a tech degree to work in theater. 2) Never underestimate the
power of who you know and dumb luck in advancing your career in this field.
I started running sound at my church when I was in 5th grade... that's been a little over 25 years. Then when I got to high school I was on the
stage crew and had my first experience with lights (one of those old monster
dimmer panels 8 feet high and 15 feet wide with 12" handles to run 20 circuits... on a bad day you could see sparks inside the panel).
The year after I graduated I was paid to come back and
build a set for the drama program. Then there's 6 1/2 years of college with two years off between the B.A. in History and M.A. in Education to pay my wife's way through college. During that time off, I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours volunteer hours learning by working alongside a real master of the craft my old community college T.D. I got my first serious paid gig when he got seriously sick and I filled in as the college T.D. for a quarter. When I finally finished college I got my teaching certification and was off to teach High School Drama and History for almost 5 years... still doing some occasional tech on the side at my college and working for some friends. I was working at a very poor urban school with no parent support. I always wanted to be a drama teacher. But I just wasn't very good at teaching people to improve their acting skills. At the same time my shows had killer sets for a $600 annual budget and I would put my tech crew up against a group of pro's any day. So my interests focused more and more on the tech side. I got burned out quickly and when a baby came along, I quit to become a stay at home dad. Turns out this was the key to my tech career opening up.
I started working regularly at a friend's high school performing arts center and landed a part time gig as a college T.D. The college had no theater program and no theater. They hired a drama teacher, she made a random
call to a friend the answer... "I'm busy but
Mark's just sitting home with a baby, I bet he can help you". I've done every set plus some lights and sound for every production in the last 3 years. I started teaching an
intro to tech theater class at the college this year. I helped design the new theater. I've been responsible for almost every tech decision in the process. If all goes well I hope to occupy that nice office located in the shop next fall when they hire a full time T.D.
That's the short version.