"Getting out of the business" resource thread

I graduated J-school in 2005 and immediately got a job on a paper's copydesk. Turnover being what it was, I rose the ranks from biz page rookie to 1A designer to desk chief in two years. Busy times. Got married in 2007. Wife told me she was sad she rarely saw me, and didn't want that to be the way it was. I had imagined becoming a true force in that place- ME, maybe? Head of the paper's redesign, maybe? Going to a bigger, better paper, maybe? But she was right. That was going to be the way it was.

So I left in August '07. Went over to advertising. With weekends and nights off, a regular sleep schedule, the ability to see friends and just do stuff, that was one of my favorite times of my life. Nine years later and I haven't regretted the decision once.

Agreed with pffft. I don't want to rag on the paper biz, but if you just aren't feeling it, bail.

 

This. 100 times this. You have REALLY want it these days. Too few jobs. Too little money. Too much of a time commitment. Too little room for advancement. If you're absolutely 100 percent dedicated to it, by all means, stick with it. For me, I looked around at my friends who had fairly normal lives (weekends off, regular hours, etc.) who were 10 years younger than me making twice as much money as I did. That alone was enough to have me looking elsewhere. Five months removed, I don't regret the decision one bit. You can say money isn't everything, and that's true. But the amount I was getting paid for my level of experience was, quite frankly, fucking insulting. At some point, it breaks you.

 

Congratulations to all who got out of this wretched business. I have a question for those of you who got out after being tied to the desk or the paginator or the story assignment sheets. When you get out of the business after being forced to work 60 or more hours a week and get paid for 40, is there a detox to the real world involved once you finally get out?
What does a person have to do to detox from being used all these years? Should he/she who gets out take a couple weeks off and travel somewhere to begin the detox process? How did all of you get over the hectic schedule of journalism? Also after being told one is worthless for so long (no raises, many furloughs, many edicts from up top that a person with self respect would have never agreed to) is it hard to re-acclimate to the "real world?" where a person's contributions at the workplace often are appreciated, rather than scorned? Thank u for your comments in advance.

 

Surprisingly, you don't miss it and the new life becomes normal quickly.

If you like the hectic schedules, you can always fill up your time with something else. I can't remember the last lunch I took or the last time I walked out at quitting time, and I have plenty of projects to plan for shit I have to get done in March.

Also, scarily, there are still plenty of employers to tell you you're worthless. Those aren't limited to journalism, so if you really miss that, you can certainly find one someplace.

But no, as I've said before, many don't miss it like they thought they would, and the new way becomes reality.

Of course, you still have a boatload of complaints about your job, but they're not necessarily the same ones you had before.

 

Look, I still work more than 40 hours some weeks, and that will be especially true once we get into the heart of tournament season. There will be some weeks where I work six days, and I'm OK with that, simply because the pay is so much better and the working environment so much less toxic. My job, like any other, has its share of stress and minor annoyances, but it's nothing like the 24-7 nature that the newspaper job had become. I started to feel guilty if I wasn't checking Twitter constantly, looking for news on my beat. All of the late-night travel beat me up, and the weekends were hardly stress free. I think that's the part I'm enjoying the most about this. When I'm off the clock, I'm off the damn clock, unless something extraordinary happens. And hell, I've already gotten one small raise (with another promised soon) and a pretty hefty bonus check. I have a boss who challenges me to improve and encourages professional growth and isn't looking to cut corners at every turn. I need to get better at photography for this gig. If I see a class I want to take, he says go for it, we'll pay for it.

I reached the age where financial security became way more important than continuing to chase the newspaper dream, and I was extremely fortunate to find something still related to both sports and my area of expertise. I don't regret the decision one bit.

 

Great post. Cool that you have bosses that actually seem to care about their employees. One thing about newspapers. The first compliment I hear somebody get will be the first. Caveat: you do get some faint praise if you win a contest. Those meaningless contests do get you a compliment on occasion, though it's usually in the form of some email sent from the ME to the whole staff that manages to praise the contest winner a little bit, but the higher ups seem to get praised in those emails, too. LOL.

 

I have to admit, I feel like I've become toxic and way too cynical over the years. Maybe I always was and always will be? After 20-something years chasing the journalism dream, though, damn if I'm not cynical about almost everything.

So how do you "decontaminate"?

 

Go with what you know, and keep that in mind. That's what I do.

As I posted on another thread, I don't believe writing is all that valued (which isn't right, but it's the case), although, as some pointed out, some other reporter's skills may be. Even so, I believe, and have seen, that getting another job often/usually takes quite some time for journalists. Not that getting hired, even in another, unrelated field, can never happen, and never will, but when it does, I don't believe it is often because of journalism skills or experience. Otherwise, it wouldn't take so long to get other jobs, and otherwise, practically every journalist in good conscience would not advise young people these days to major in something other than journalism.

But...because I was actually in the journalism field for a long time, and loved it, I still do believe in it. I know it's importance to society and a population, even if other people don't, or don't want to, know that. The media gets blamed for everything, but it is important, both in its watchdog role, and simply for information's sake. It can make an impact for the better.

I think it's something that people don't, can't and won't realize they would miss, unless and until they didn't have it. That is, unless it was truly repressed/oppressed, and that is something that is outside the scope of most Americans' experience. I mean, can you imagine if everyone today actually, really, couldn't say, picture, broadcast or post pretty much whatever the hell they wanted to, without near-total impunity? They truly wouldn't get it, and they'd be up in arms.

As for bad management, inept bosses or colleagues, or seemingly corrupt corporations, well, that's going to happen, in every business, and to some extent, it can be a matter of subjective opinion. And always, the significance of it will depend on the extent to which it impacts people personally in their own lives. Otherwise, frankly, they don't care.

There is good and bad in every business/industry. But we're only responsible for our own lives, and our own attitudes and approaches to things.

It's all about perspective. Keep it, do things for your own reasons -- the reasons you think are right -- and keep doing the right things, and you should be OK.

 

Ugh. It's time to stop screwing around and do this. Everything is balls out there.

I've been talking to everyone and their brother about career ideas. I think I'd be well-suited for law school, but so would 200,000 other punk-ass kids for 100,000 jobs, and the resulting job market lets employers treat people like total crap. I have a friend who is really pushing accounting, but it would be tough for me to get into grad school with my "lol grades? who cares, I'm a journalist, gotta get clips" attitude.

Surprisingly, the people who I've talked to who are most positive in their field is computer programmers. I was under the impression that was one of those "80 hours a week, grind you to dust" jobs, but most of them don't think so.

 

A guy who was the host for the Red Sox radio postgame show was asked to take a 30% pay cut three years ago. He told the station to screw and took a 10 week Ruby programming class.

Red Sox Broadcaster Flips The Script: Jon Rish Leaving WEEI For Computer Career | Diamond Joe's Media Rantz

According to his Linkedin profile, he is now a web systems architect at Dana-Farber.

He went to Launch Academy.

 

I'm guessing Rish had some connections at Dana-Farber through his work with the Red Sox, so that may not be the best example.

 

According to his LinkedIn profile, it wasn't his first programming job. Plus, he was the Red Sox postgame host and occasional fill in for flash guys. Maybe a drive time host put in a good word, but he wasn't rubbing elbows with people over at Dana Farber.

[EDIT] or with team management.