Worried DJing is going to be a hard thing to pick up? Don’t be – you’re more prepared than you think! As a DJ school, we asked our audience what non-DJ skills helped them become better DJs, and the answers will encourage you – I promise.
In fact, over 900 responses later, one thing became clear: whatever you’ve done before DJing has probably given you transferable skills. Played in a band? Worked hospitality? Fixed computers? Organised events? All of it counts.
So if you’re worried about starting from scratch, or returning after years away, you’re likely already halfway there.
The responses ranged from professional skills (sales, customer service), to hobbies like dancing and drumming, to unexpected advantages such as poker playing and military training. And some of these “non-DJ” skills may even surprise you…
12 “Everyday” Skills That Make Better DJs
1. Playing drums or percussion
This came up more than anything else, and the reason’s obvious – drummers already understand rhythm, timing, and counting bars. As Rod puts it: “Being a drummer since 1985 has helped me understand rhythm patterns, tempos and phrasing.”
When you’ve spent years feeling beats physically, beatmatching becomes second nature. You don’t need to think about music being built in multiples of four – you feel it. That internal metronome most DJs take months to develop? You’ve already got it.
Understanding song structure – breaks, buildups, drops – is fundamental to good mixing. If you’ve played drums, you don’t just hear these elements, you feel them in your muscle memory.
2. Dancing
Multiple people emphasised that being a dancer first made them better DJs. Eunice explains it simply: “Dancing… I know what the dancers want to hear.”
Here’s the thing: you can have perfect technical skills, but if you’ve never spent serious time on a dancefloor yourself, you’re guessing. Dancers understand energy, they know when a track feels too slow or rushes too fast, and they recognise the difference between a song that sounds good and one that makes your body move.
Reading the room and playing for your audience, not yourself, is core to what we teach. If you’ve danced for hundreds of hours, you know what that feels like from the receiving end. As one commenter noted: “Never trust a DJ who doesn’t dance.”
3. Being a clubber or raver first
Related to dancing but different – this is about experiencing club culture as a participant before becoming a DJ. Martin simply says: “Being a clubber first.”
Wolf expands on this: “People skills. And social life. If you’re a regular at the venues you get to know the DJs, the bar staff, the managers, landlords/landladies. That’s how you get bookings. Also you will have a way better grasp on what the crowd like.”
Read this next: How To Behave In Public As a DJ: Your Secret Weapon For More Gigs
When you’ve spent years as a regular, you’ve absorbed the unwritten rules. You’ve experienced brilliant DJs who took you on a journey and terrible ones who cleared the floor. You understand that music selection matters more than technical tricks.
But most importantly, you already have relationships with the people who book DJs. You’re not cold-calling venues – you’re reaching out to people who know and trust you.
4. Music production
Numerous DJs cited production as transformative. Ezar explains: “Music production helped me understand my library and what song sounds good with another.”
When you’ve built tracks from scratch, you understand song structure at a level purely DJs often don’t. You know why certain basslines work together, you can hear frequency clashes before they happen, and you understand why some transitions sound seamless while others feel jarring.
Production experience also gives you an editor’s ear for your library. You can quickly identify key moments – intro, breakdown, drop – because you’ve constructed these elements yourself. Knowing your music intimately is non-negotiable for good DJing, and producers arrive with this knowledge built in.
5. Customer service experience
The number of DJs with hospitality backgrounds was striking. Juanmi explains: “Communication skills play a bigger role than people think, talking with customers, handling requests, connecting with the crowd, even chatting with venue owners. It’s made a huge difference in how smoothly an event goes.”
Kurt, who spent 30 years in hospitality, adds: “I work well with other vendors and know how to read the room not just musically.” James notes that “working behind the bar in bars and clubs dealing with drunk people” was perfect training.
Customer service backgrounds teach you how to stay professional when someone’s being unreasonable, how to manage expectations diplomatically, and how to make people feel heard even when you can’t give them what they want. These are essential skills, especially for mobile and wedding DJs.
The wedding DJ who can’t handle a drunk uncle demanding Country Roads at a sophisticated reception won’t last long. But if you’ve worked retail, hospitality, or any customer-facing role, you already know how to navigate these situations.
6. Communication and sales skills
Beyond basic customer service, sales ability and professional communication directly impact your earning potential. John states it plainly: “Being a fantastic salesperson – if you can’t sell your services properly you never reach the premium pay levels.”
Manuel explains how this works for DJs: “Communication skills: I’ve learnt how to talk to people professionally. Having confidence and ensuring my clients that I will get the job done. I charge more on weddings, quinceañera, company events versus if I were to do a backyard party or a kid’s birthday party.”
Get the skills to rock ANY gig: The Complete DJ Course
Your technical skills might get you in the door, but your ability to explain your value, negotiate rates confidently, and communicate professionally determines your income ceiling. If you’ve had sales training, marketing experience, or taken public speaking courses, you already possess skills that so many technically proficient DJs lack entirely.
DJing is a business. The DJ who can present themselves professionally and make clients feel confident will always earn more than the DJ with superior mixing skills but poor communication.
Watch the show
Prefer me to talk you through this? In this video, a recording of a live show from the Digital DJ Tips YouTube channel, I talk you through everything in this article, and we take questions from our community on the subject.
7. Psychology and people-reading
Multiple respondents cited psychology and emotional intelligence as transformative. Joe describes it well: “Poker. I can read people like nobody’s business. I’m scoping you the second you walk into the room, your body language, facial expressions, clothes, and more tells me what you like to listen to. I can peg a person in under a minute, sometimes seconds.”
Hugo simply states “Psychology” while Omar cites “Emotional intelligence”.
Reading the room is more important than technical mixing ability. The DJ who can sense when energy is flagging, who notices that one group is getting bored while another is just warming up, who can read the subtle cues that indicate it’s time to change direction – that DJ controls the night.
Read this next: How Pro DJs “Pre-Read” Their Crowds
If you’ve studied psychology, worked in therapy, or simply developed sharp observational skills through life experience, you’ve got the most important DJ skill. Everything else can be learnt relatively quickly, but reading a room takes years to develop, adn you might already be halfway there.
8. Professionalism and “soft skills”
This came up repeatedly: patience, punctuality, being helpful, not being difficult to work with, basic courtesy. Amina says: “Professionalism. I’m always polite, punctual, prepared, adaptable, and easy to work with.”
Erwin adds: “Be kind to the people who book you.” Durk describes how “showing up early and helping the wedding party set up to relieve stress” results in “countless $100 tips for that alone.” (European DJs, your mileage here may vary!)
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: the DJ industry is full of technically skilled people who struggle to get consistent work because they’re unreliable or difficult. Conversely, the DJ who shows up on time, communicates clearly, and makes everyone’s job easier will get rebooked even if their mixing is merely adequate.
If you’ve had any professional job where reliability and courtesy mattered, you’re ahead of many DJs who focus solely on technical skills.
9. Technical and IT skills
In our community discussion, IT professionals, electricians, and audio engineers appeared frequently. Jacob says: “Absolutely neurotic file management, and IT” helped him, while Jerry mentions: “Being an electrician helps!”
Dave describes the practical reality: “System admin… I used to run fire camp incident command for overhead at forest fires as a network admin. Building modular kits so everything is plug and play was learnt in those roles. Everything lives in a flight case and could fall out of the truck and be fine.”
Modern DJing requires troubleshooting equipment failures, managing power requirements, understanding signal flow, and organising massive music libraries. If you’ve worked in IT, electronics, or any technical field, you can diagnose and fix problems yourself rather than panicking mid-gig.
Gary, who’s been in IT for over 40 years, notes he was “one of the first DJs back in the day to use a laptop, before they had Serato and Virtual DJ”. Being comfortable with technology when everyone else was scared of laptops gave him a massive advantage.
10. Organisational skills
Multiple DJs mentioned the unglamorous but critical skills of organisation and logistics. Adam notes: “Having worked extensively in my profession as a Supervisor and dealing logistics and operations… Helped me plan and pull off several large parties over the years.”
Logistics, planning, packing equipment efficiently (the “Tetris” skill, as Gabriel jokes about “fitting all my gear in a car”), and being methodical are what separate hobbyists from professionals.
If you’ve managed projects, organised events, or simply developed good systems for keeping things running smoothly, you’ll find these skills directly translate to professional DJing. The DJ who can set up efficiently, knows where every cable is, and has backup plans for common problems is the one venues want to work with again.
11. Physical and mental stamina
Multiple DJs mentioned fitness and endurance. Katon, who plays eight-hour sets, emphasises: “Drink a lot of water.” Gregory notes: “Being able to lift heavy stuff, and being able to stay up late without getting sleepy.”
The physical demands of DJing are real: standing for hours, loading and unloading equipment, staying focused and energetic when you’re tired. If you’ve done physical work, played sports, or simply learnt to manage your energy over long periods, you’re better prepared than someone who’s only ever sat behind a laptop.
Barry, who was in a marching band, notes that “pounding that playground every weekend helps with timing” but also built the physical stamina needed for long gigs. The mental aspect matters too – Kristiaan describes how “relaxing and mental preparation, such as meditation and visualisation, before I head out to a gig” helps him stay relaxed and confident.
12. Problem-solving under pressure
Several DJs cited high-pressure backgrounds – emergency services, sports, military, firefighting – as preparation for crisis management. Gary mentions “Military combat training!” while David worked “as a police officer for years, so dealing with intoxicated and difficult people” prepared him well.
Dave describes a real scenario: “Power supply in the built-in Rane mixer went down. My quick fix was to bring the 24 channel monitor mixer from backstage and set it up on a folding table outside the booth… The system was down for under 15 minutes.”
The ability to troubleshoot equipment failures mid-set, fix PA systems, handle power issues, and stay calm when things go wrong with 3,000 people waiting is what separates professionals from amateurs. If you’ve worked in any field where you had to solve problems under pressure – whether that’s emergency services, live events, or just dealing with crises at work – you’ve got skills that translate directly to DJing.
What’s Your Non-DJ Skill?
Reading through these responses, one thing stands out: the audience we’ve built over 15 years really knows their stuff. These aren’t beginners guessing – they’re experienced DJs who’ve figured out what actually matters.
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So before you worry about not having enough experience to start DJing, think about what you’ve already done. Played in a band? Worked in a bar? Organised events? Fixed computers? Each of these gives you skills that many DJs lack.
What non-DJ skill has helped you most? Let us know in the comments – we’d love to hear what we’ve missed.
Phil Morse
