For those who've left: any regrets?

[KJIM]

Similar thread from the past: Getting out ... just to get out

No regrets, and it'd be hard to find a more massive career shift than the one I made. I was in a miserable job situation in journalism and, for un-ulterior reasons, quit and joined Peace Corps.

That was 10 years ago this month. Definite struggle following service -- I finished in 2009, in the heart of the recession -- and it took until 2012 to finally land the gig I'm in now, and, barring that whole "cut 30 percent" thing, am in it til retirement.

I keep reading about how there's a lot of dissatisfaction and anxiety within the department, but I don't see it -- I guess it's in DC.

The job is just as frustrating as journalism, but I still don't miss it. I use the same skills but have a much higher reward.

 

[Roscablo]

I haven't covered sports in 13 years. I haven't been in the business at all -- full-time, part-time, freelance, whatever -- since 2009. As others have said I miss a good newsroom. Even the bad places to work the newsroom made it OK. I have not longed for a pressbox at all.

I got out just due to life really and not necessarily the climate at the time. Kids started arriving and my wife was training for demanding, gone all the time, unpredictable hours work. And her earning potential was a billion times mine so I couldn't justify my own crazy hours and made the choice for a stable force at home.

Every place I've been has had big cuts at some point after I left so I don't feel much regret for not doing this job when I have a feeling I probably would have been axed eventually at one of them. I miss journalism some and the daily accomplishment of getting news out there, but then I don't know if I could have handled it or even if I would have wanted to in a social media world. The budgets and short staffs and everything else involved now, I haven't looked back honestly. I real had hard time with office politics and B.S. expectations that bordered on real journalism even then. If I have any overall regrets it's that I chose to do it in the first place. But then I really did love it when I was knee deep. So I miss some, but not really a lot.

I still critique media and journalism in my own way and try to follow up with friends still in it. That's good enough for me.

 

[Cosmo]

Only regret is that I couldn't get out sooner. I have a job now, still in sports, that I love, in a great working environment, making more money, with better hours and for people who actually appreciate the job I do, and they make sure I know they appreciate it. And that goes all the way to the very top.

Very similar situation. Two years out, and I do not miss the newspaper one bit. Aside from the hours being better, there are challenges for me that weren't there at the paper, like learning how the business side of publishing works and finding ways to work with a board of directors toward a common goal. The pay obviously is much better. The job security is 300 percent better. The opportunity for advancement and raises is 500 percent better. I got into newspapers at the exact wrong time, and I was lucky to get out and find a safe landing spot where I could still write about sports (albeit one sport all the time) but have some sanity.

 

[silvershadow1981]

I've been out full time since 2012, I may not be freelancing for my local paper this year and I do have some anxiety because as much as I hate what journalism has become, I honestly already miss game day, gamer stories and just the overall feeling of being a sports writer.

But what I don't miss is newsroom politics, the twitch under my eyes and the weight that I piled on over the years from horrible eating habits and not enough time to exercise. The business will always be a part of me, but I don't know if I can give 100% to it ever again.

 

[DeskMonkey1]

None at all

 

[SpiritedDebate]

Zero regrets. Best decision I ever made. And if I ever miss those prep sports games, I'll simply buy a ticket,

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I was thrown out, not someone who left by choice. I was bitter, hurt and self-destructively angry. But that was a long time ago, 12 years to be precise. As luck would have it,it turned out to be very good for me, just to have a regular job in a regular bureaucratic business. I learned to let work go and it saved my family life.

 

[Songbird]

I gave it everything I had, and then some. And then some again. And again.

No.

 

[RickStain]

I regret not getting out sooner, if that counts.

 

[SpiritedDebate]

Things I don't miss about journalism:

1. I was worried daily about getting laid off.
2. I was never really off the clock. All it took was one co-worker getting sick, and it would mean having to unexpectedly work the next day.
3. Double shifting on holidays with no overtime.
4. Copy editor phone calls at 10:30 p.m.
5. Sources pretending to be your friend to get favorable coverage.
6. Crazy hours.
7. Getting pulled over at night because my shifts were ending at 3 a.m. and local police officers were skeptical of anyone being out that late.
8. Not just lousy pay. Horrible pay.
9. Choosing between repairing my car and my faulty air conditioning system.
10. My spouse making three times what I did.

It's a horrible industry, and I'll never go back. I will be forever grateful to the hiring managers who brought me in after six years of trying to get out of the industry. They changed my life for the better. I have lost weight. I can spend time with my wife. And I don't need to work extra jobs to pay my mortgage.

 

[Fredrick]

Things I don't miss about journalism:
It's a horrible industry, and I'll never go back.

It truly is a horrible industry. Anybody under 50 just has to get out. Seriously get out. The pay is horrible; the working conditions are horrible (hours and pay and illegally making you work 24/7 which means working 70 and getting paid for 40) and probably the worst thing is the people making the decisions at corporate (are there any papers owned by families anymore) really, truly have no clue. The people making the decisions utter their mandates and edicts with such conviction, lol, like they believe what they are saying will save the business. Bottom line is the print product is dead and the online product will never make it alone. It just won't. I implore you. If you are in your 40s and still have time to get out, get out. You are day to day and can be fired on a whim and will be fired on a whim. It has nothing to do with job performance. if it's your time to be fired to save a few bucks you will be fired.

I sure hope some of the suits read this board. Cause I'd like to tell you that none of your workers believe a forking word you say. All these dumb mandates and "goals" and all that, it's all bullshirt and the lower lives under you know it. They shake their heads and mock you and act as if they agree with all this new newsroom-ese because they want to continue to receive a paycheck and stave off their being laid off. It's a shame because newspapers used to be important to keep public officials on their toes and teams on their toes. Now it's just clickbait. LOL at you suits. Please realize we are laughing at your silly visions of the future.

 

[bennyandthejets]

I miss those that I call "the crayon people" -- who reason that if they have designed a section front and placed a story that, if done incorrectly, gets ya sued and there then are in fact no complications after the fact ... they see themselves as top notch 'copy editors' and know all of the aspects of writing and reporting that a veteran reporter has experienced. Be good at what you know -- be excellent at it, and many of those folks are in fact amazing in their skills -- but don't pretend you know about writing and reporting. On a scale of 1-20, my design skills are about maybe a 5... and I recognize that and stay out of the way of the folks who make the sections sizzle from an appearance standpoint. If only those whose writing/reporting skills are at 1.666 on a scale of 20 would wake up, smell the coffee and get out of the way. Those bozos are the ones I surely don't miss... and never will... and the ones who are at 1.666 are running around newsrooms because their pubby's score in same is about minus 2.00, so put them together and you have newsroom knowledge of about .099. Makes the world a better place, huh?