There's the Door...

[size=10pt]Questions for people who have left the industry--

What field are you in now?
Was it worth it?
Do you like it?[/size]

 

Hmmm...Unless you're the only person of whatever age and experience you are in the world, I'm not sure how that information would out you or anybody else.

 

OK..

Was it worth it?
Do you like it??

 

Yes and yes.

I got a nice raise leaving newspaper. I get nights and weekends off. I'll watch college football tomorrow without doing an ounce of work and with no thought whatsoever toward deadlines.

I had a lot of great experiences in newspaper, and I'm glad I did it. But I'm even more glad I'm out of it now.

 

who's condescending now? fuh real might be young, dumb and full of some, but you come off as a bitter ex-grizzled journo vet who wishes he was still in the industry.

 

Let's here 'em, hero.

 

I'd like to hear them also.

 

Fuh Real:

Thank you for condescending to post on our humble board. Yes, it is truly wonderful to have you enlighten us. And wow, an editor said you can stick around? Who needs a salary consumate with what a professional would receive?

You know, I must have missed the story about the rise in educational standards to the point where everybody in college journalism classes at this moment is so much better than everyone who has gone into journalism before.

Who knew?

 

Getting out of this biz at 29. I've been in it for more than 10 years and I've seen the good, the bad and the damn unsightly ugly. Why am I leaving? Well, the writing was kind of on the wall for me. I could tell I was being pressured to leave. I got no career advancement opportunities. I wasn't being allowed to design anymore (because I reportedly "got flustered". (WHO DOESN'T GET FLUSTERED WHEN SOMETHING DOESN'T GO RIGHT AFTER HOURS OF WORKING ON IT?) I got victimized I feel by an upper manager who didnt' particularly care for my style, and I don't particularly care for his. I was going nowhere and so I decided to go somewhere else. Am I going to regret it? I don't think I will at all.

 

I admire your passion, Fuh real, but you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

You want to know why people are complaining?

Because they don't want to leave their jobs. Because they love their jobs, love coming to work and finding the best stories possible. But here's the problem, and I'm going to spell it our real simply for you because it's obviously gone over your head the million times it's already been discussed on this board.

Not everyone in this business is a 20-something like yourself, someone who doesn't mind working 70 hours (and getting paid for 40) because he has no other responsibilities. Newsflash, Slick: We've all walked in your shoes. We've all interviewed the high school star, seen our stories taped to refrigerators and gotten phone calls from gushing mothers. We've all been under the absurd impression that thousands of people buy the newspaper just to read our pretty prose.

And then we grew up.

One day you'll realize there's more to life than your precious byline. You'll get married. You'll have kids, you'll buy a house and suddenly your goal simply will be to write the best story in the time you have.

So when the industry tanks and people start getting laid off with little or no notice (as a few of my friends did last year) it makes people nervous. A lot of people in this business are no where close to retiring and are faced with finding a new career at age 40.

Excuse them if they vent a little.

So your post telling the complainers "to get the fuck out" so the college kids can come in and take over probably won't win you a lot of friends around here. This isn't about passion. It's about circumstance. It's about being in a business that doesn't promise much these days. Get a few more years under your belt and you'll probably understand. In the meantime, I'd suggest laying low on SportsJournalists.com for a while because you just lost whatever credibility you had.

 

I love it that someone is telling reporters - people whose job it is to question and challenge the establishment - to quit questioning and challenging the problems in their own industry.

Maybe that someone needs to get the fuck out.

 

Awesome.

Dude is trying to run his mouth, and misspells "hear."

If you wish to heAR some stories . . . . .

Dean Singleton, Long Beach, 1997-98.

Dean Singleton, San Jose, 2006-present.

And read this board. It is full of tales of woe and lack of respect for the need of human beings to make a living.