"Getting out of the business" resource thread

[SFIND]

I have inoculated myself mostly from punching out of journalism altogether.

I sold a small 40-acre property recently that will eliminate about 80% of my debt. Paying off 2 credit cards and about 3/4 of a third in full is huge. Probably will be able to deal with the rest in a year or two afterward.

(I have a side hustle that frankly is paying more than journalism.)

Very jealous.

I will burning though my 401K after unemployment runs out, if I don't secure a job first.

I'm assuming a layoff will come any month now. Really would be surprised to still be employed at this shop in 2025.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

My review was so-so. I'd improved somewhat in the last year but not enough.

There was an incident a few weeks ago when I almost walked off the job. There was a situation where there was an emergency of sorts (I can't go into too much more detail than that). Someone on Twitter asked a question about a service change we made. There are very specific words we can and cannot use in these situations. I asked my supervisor for guidance about how to respond. I responded exactly as he suggested. He saw the Tweet, said we never use that word. That he was deleting it and redoing it himself. I said he replied exactly as he told me to but he said he didn't say what he told me.
A few hours later, I asked one of my coworkers who witnessed the whole thing if he said what I thought he did and my coworker said yes.
Next time this happens I'm walking off the job.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

So I had a city editor who took immense joy in making the people she didn't like miserable through scolding and bullying. This was in the Lean Dean MediaNews days and this one was one of the preferred people in the chain because she cozied up to him and his cohorts when she worked in Colorado, so really a protected one who could get away with anything and, when she wanted to move closer to her parents, was transferred to the closest paper in the chain.

Right off the bat she, who kinda resembled the little nerdy chickenhawk in the Looney Tunes cartoons, took on an immense dislike of a kid we hired right out of college a few months earlier, telling him she wouldn't have even hired him to work in the mailroom. When he wasn't being screamed at over the phone for something he had done wrong (at one point nearly bringing the guy to tears), it was in email. He finally found an escape hatch and left for a communications job at a non-profit up the road.

And so it went. There always needed to be someone to put in the doghouse and scold. Next was the newly hired education reporter. Then after he was run off it was my turn until I was let go. For six months, I feared opening my email and seeing what vitriolic and belligerent message awaited. She figured out what tasks I didn't like doing at this job and they soon became by responsibilities in addition to my beat -- weekends, early mornings, video shooting and editing. I still remember the day I was fired because I consider it a day of celebration -- November 16 -- for I was truly more relieved to be rid of this person than worried about what my future held. I'd find out within a year that it was nothing personal because the person brought in to replace me endured a similar fate.

Fast forward nine years and, coincidentally, I'm at my day job on my birthday. By this point I have been freelancing for three years and the editors have mostly been pleased with the work I've been producing. I don't live in fear of emails, phone calls or text messages anymore. Around noon, I get a text message from a Pennsylvania number that I don't recognize.

"Did you know that (our former editor) was fired?"

I replied "Umm, who is this?"

It was the original guy that she had been managing through vendetta. The paper she was working for was bought out by Gannett and she could see the writing on the wall and started sending out resumes, one of which arrived at the non-profit my old coworker landed at. Since he was high up in the communications department at that point, it landed on his desk. We shared a nice exchange for a few minutes commiserating about that time in our lives and how it all turned out okay for both of us -- and also how it wasn't turning out okay for her.

Update to this: the Daily Shopper circular this person worked for has been put up for sale and printed its last issue in December, which I learned last week.

 

[bumpy mcgee]

I graduated high school in May of 2000. the next day I started as a part-timer in our local sports department designing our daily agate page. I put my two weeks in at my current shop today. Nearly 22 years later, I'm out on my own terms.

Welp got my layoff notice from local State U today. 90 days before I'm done. Thought I escaped this when I left journalism. At least I am experienced at being ready to be unemployed at a moment's notice, unlike the career professors.

 

[Azrael]

Welp got my layoff notice from local State U today. 90 days before I'm done. Thought I escaped this when I left journalism. At least I am experienced at being ready to be unemployed at a moment's notice, unlike the career professors.

Sorry to hear it, my friend. DM me if you want to talk it through.

You're gonna be fine.

 

[MNgremlin]

For the first time in my 10 years on the job, I am seriously considering getting out of the business. At least the daily grind anyways, I do have something lined up with a weekly paper to help scratch my itch if I do decide to step away from the job.

 

[joe_schmoe]

Joined SJ.com over 20 years ago.
Last posted about 7 years ago.
Been out of journalism just under 4 years.
Loved most every bit of my 30+ years in the biz, but when COVID came around and everyone was making life choices, I realized it was time to think about the final few work years, and maybe build some type of livable wage for a change. Gotta good job outside Journalism and have already had more raises here than I did my last 20 years in the daily sports grind, and making close to 3x the annual income as my best year ever in newspapers.
I thought I was going miss it more than I did, but it seems so distant to me now, can't even imagine watching another game from press row, let alone the rush and pressure of having only 300 words written of your 700 word gamer due in 5 minutes.
Leaving the biz was both the scariest career decision I ever made, and the best.
After leaving, it was hard to even watch sports. The Rangers World Series title brought some of that love back. And it was good to finally just be a fan again.

Not sure why I'm writing this. Nostalgia, I suppose. But if anyone is mulling the decision to leave, it's a beautiful world out here.

See ya in another 7 years, I suppose.
Schmoe.

 

[Matt1735]

Don't be a stranger! We always welcome people here

 

[young-gun11]

It's been 15 years since I was hired at my first shop (which subsequently shut down four weeks later), so I'm no Young Gun anymore. After being fired twice and Gannett'd once -- leading to a self-published sports website -- I rose through the ranks at my most recent company to become a publisher of six weekly papers.

I put in my notice yesterday, and I'll be moving into a Director of Comms role in my town at the utility company. While I'm sad to see this life end, I'm excited for the new beginning and the security of my future.

If there are any resources you've come across in your outside-the-newsroom roles, please share them with me.

 

[BrownScribe]

It's been 15 years since I was hired at my first shop (which subsequently shut down four weeks later), so I'm no Young Gun anymore. After being fired twice and Gannett'd once -- leading to a self-published sports website -- I rose through the ranks at my most recent company to become a publisher of six weekly papers.

I put in my notice yesterday, and I'll be moving into a Director of Comms role in my town at the utility company. While I'm sad to see this life end, I'm excited for the new beginning and the security of my future.

If there are any resources you've come across in your outside-the-newsroom roles, please share them with me.

My advice to you is just enjoy being out of the journalism biz for a while. You'll miss it, you'll feel weird without it. But just enjoy being less stressed and being able to be present for of the things that truly matter... your family, your friends, your hobbies, your mental well-being. Look at it as a new lease on life. There's something to be said for more security, even if it's boring. ENJOY!

 

[young-gun11]

My advice to you is just enjoy being out of the journalism biz for a while. You'll miss it, you'll feel weird without it. But just enjoy being less stressed and being able to be present for of the things that truly matter... your family, your friends, your hobbies, your mental well-being. Look at it as a new lease on life. There's something to be said for more security, even if it's boring. ENJOY!

Thank you. I will definitely enjoy the decrease in 24/7 stress!

 

[Bud_Bundy]

It's been 15 years since I was hired at my first shop (which subsequently shut down four weeks later), so I'm no Young Gun anymore. After being fired twice and Gannett'd once -- leading to a self-published sports website -- I rose through the ranks at my most recent company to become a publisher of six weekly papers.

I put in my notice yesterday, and I'll be moving into a Director of Comms role in my town at the utility company. While I'm sad to see this life end, I'm excited for the new beginning and the security of my future.

If there are any resources you've come across in your outside-the-newsroom roles, please share them with me.

My situation was a bit different. I took a buyout and retired. Still, like me, your stress level should dimish considerably. Hopefully no more late nights, no nightly or weekly deadlines, and a better work-life balance (until there is a natural disaster, of course).