Have you given up?

I don't know. A job you love can overcome a small paycheck. A large paycheck can lessen the misery of a job you hate.

I don't know if I could live my entire life unable to own a house and hoping something breaks right so the kids can go to the best college.

 

Let me apologize for the venom in my rant. Seriously, I do mean it.

Just the gloom and doom (and no, I'm not blind to way print is going) astounds me at times. It just bothers me to watch good talent leaving what they've always dreamed of doing.

 

Some of that talent is being forced out, Jims.

I think we're all heartbroken at what is happening, and none of us are happy to be considering other options. But it means a lot to be able to take the decision for your future out of the Robber-Barons' hands and find your own chances.

 

may i say you might be making less than you're worth because you've never looked into leaving where you're at?

 

Yes, I've given up, and my next job will be doing something else.

 

Piotr, very well said.

I guess when you're in the small pond, you don't see the "force out", you just see the "get out."

Amazing what a sensible online conversation (if there is such a thing) can accomplish after the loud-mouthed, think-before-he-types Dego (that's me) shuts up and listens.

 

In that 26-27-year-old span. And of course, it's not as black and white as "better pay & workload" vs. "love of the craft". It's also due, in no small part, to the desire for a family (newspaper hours made it hard to meet many people; I left the biz 2 years ago and am now engaged, and I know the fact that my new lifestyle is more conducive to building a relationship was a big key), and the unwillingness to build a family life where I'd see my wife and future kids for maybe 2 hours each day; the unwillingness to miss the kids growing up because daddy's work demands that his life is built around major events in the sports season rather than major events in the kids' lives.

And I won't exactly paint it as making a tradeoff for those things by taking a job I hate. Like I said in an earlier post, I've had three jobs since getting out of the biz, one I loved, one I hated, and one I liked. So it's more like trading in a package of a job I love plus all those sacrifices in exchange for a package of a job I like with few or none of those sacrifices. And of course, the continued downward spiral of the industry also made it increasingly difficult to believe that I would have the same passion for the work 20 years down the road -- my love for the craft will always be there, but enjoyment of the job is a different matter.

Oh and BTW, you know how we all bemoan shrinking budgets and having to pull teeth to get any money for anything in newspapers these days? First non-newspaper job that I got, when I got the offer, the head of company said: "Whatever equipment and software you need, tell me and you'll have it," and he wasn't lying. And it's been more or less like that at the other jobs I've had since, even the one I hated. I just got sick and was able to take two days off without feeling guilty, and my boss told me to "Take your time and don't hurry back if you're sick". Higher-ups at work actually SHOW me that they value me. At one place, I wasn't covered by the health plan b/c I was a contractor. So when they made me the offer, they threw in a healthy extra lump of money each month for me to get insurance on my own. People that I do the work for actually thank me for the work rather than call me up and complain about every inane thing. I don't have to deal with irate parents at work. So it's not exactly like I've downgraded at work in order to upgrade my personal life.

 

My dad retired nearly five years ago (!) from a job he hated. He made major bank for someone who only had an associate's degree, but he hated every day of his job. I barely make ends meet, but I love what I do.

I wouldn't trade my professional experience for my dad's.

 

forever - this is the question i pose: why are we saying (notice i said we, because most everybody is) that if somebody leaves the profession they'll forever be bound to a job they hate? why can't somebody who leaves journalism find a job they love just as much?

 

You may say and you are half right. I've looked, but have found myself in that comfort zone where I'm tired of moving (done so a few times) and recently married and live in a beautiful part of our country. (I'm not sure why you're only half right, but it sounds cool to type.)

 

Excellent question, Tom.

Daily journalism, while wonderully fulfilling and challenging, is not necessarily the only thing we're good at, and not the only thing we may enjoy doing.

 

Jims,

I've calmed down as well (I can't stay angry at a bouncing picture of Meatwad). I love what I do, and I know I'm paying my dues. But with the industry the way it is, what am I paying my dues for? What if the job I've dreamed about for years is no longer there when I finally have the experience to get it? That is probably what frustrates me the most. And my walk is only two miles uphill one-way, so you have me beat .