Experience vs. college degree

Some very good people in the business don't have college degrees.

I know a reporter or two who can't understand why they don't move up, so they go and get a bunch of online master's degrees and other fellowship titles, thinking that will punch their ticket.

But they have no clue that none of that fancy paperwork matters to an editor.
These same reporters are just in denial that they don't have the balls to go get a real good story and not just fluff that nobody cares about. That is why they don't move up.
That's all any good editor in this business cares about - can you deliver hard stories when it matters?

 

I didn't finish college. When I was 19 I started at a 70K+ daily (The Trentonian); obviously I learned a lot more there than in my J classes. After a few years I left and did a lot of freelancing for entertainment magazines and weeklies. Then I went back to the paper for three years and moved on to two 150K+ dailies (editing and writing about entertainment and sports; everything from "The Sopranos" to the Super Bowl) for 2-3 years each before making the next step.

I wouldn't recommend not getting a degree; I knew all along that I had to work harder and make myself more marketable to my next employer than someone who went to Columbia J school. But it's possible.

 

Agree with the earlier sentiment that it's good to have one these days, considering the instability of the industry. But it's not necessary to have one to succeed within the newspaper business at this time.

As for job prospects, a degree is no guarantee, of course. But I figure having a degree never hurts you. And not having a degree never helps you.

 

maybe you should have thought about telling him that a year ago.

 

I would hope my years of experience will help me once I finish college in a few years still being 21. I've learned you have to enjoy this field to stay in it. Finding ways to always improve your work is important too.

 

Interesting question. I have a similar one: How about getting a master's degree in journalism?

I have a bachelor's in English and I've only taken two college-level classes in journalism. However, I worked at student newspapers at my community college and at my university's five day a week newspaper. I currently have a year's experience as a managing editor at a weekly newspaper.

When I was considering graduate school in journalism, my colleagues at the daily student newspaper pretty much unanimously agreed that I would be wasting my time going to grad school. They said I pretty much already knew what I was doing back then. Would it be a waste or not?

To answer the question posed here, I look for someone with a bachelor's degree for the entry level reporter position, but it doesn't have to be in journalism. I'd rather have someone with strong clips than someone with a degree and no clips.

 

I used to work with a guy who had a master's in journalism. He was bitching about his pay one day, even giving out the figure, and then he looked me and said: "You make more, don't you?" He had always taken a patronizing attitude with me because I didn't finish school.

I just smiled.

Didn't have the heart to tell the poor sap that not only did I make more than he did, but that I also didn't have the massive student loan debt he had.

 

I can't really say I learned a whole lot in school except for the basics. But without my BA, I wouldn't have landed the first job.

Everything beyond that I don't think a degree really matter as long as you can do the job. But some bosses may want the degree.

But to get to the 70K paper, keep working and there's no reason you can;t move up. Some people with degrees can't get jobs at 70K papers.

I'd hire experience and competence over a degree most times.

 

The younger you are, the more important it is.

 

While my degree may be an afterthought at this point in my career, it was college that put me on this path, but I got a much later start than most.

 

I'm on the verge of 30 and still no degree, although I'm currently in school (full class load) with a good job at a mid-sized paper. My EE hired me on the proimse that I would pursue my degree once I got here. It's a major pain in the ass, and even if it doesn't help me land a better job in the future -- which I'm sure it will -- it'll be completely fulfilling. Never did I think I could do school and work full time, but I'm making it work. I'm hoping to be done by next fall.

I had no trouble at all landing my first job in the biz at 20 with no degree. Granted, it was a small 15K paper, but the best small daily in the state.

 

I've been doing this for a while.
I've seen many, many paths. Some successful, some not. There certainly isn't a formula we can follow. At one my stops, there is a guy with an English degree from Stanford, working agate three nights a week. Earlier this year, I read that Dean Baquet -- no matter what you think of him he's held some pretty high positions in this industry -- is sans a degree.