Is it possible?...

[thegrifter]

So, at what age should you be where? I figure only studs are covering a pro beat at 26, and more power to ya Gaucho. But if you're 35 and still on preps, is that a sign it's time to call it quits?
Personally, I'm 30 and an SE, but just don't think I've done enough yet. Like I'm playing catchup with everyone else.

 

[ballscribe]

There's no one-size-fits-all timetable.
I didn't even start until I was 32.
Was on the MLB beat less than five years later.

 

[leo1]

But if you're 35 and still on preps, is that a sign it's time to call it quits? .

what does that even mean? what if you like doing preps? or you like your paper and your colleagues although you admit you'd rather be covering the pros? or you like the city in which you live?

 

[sartrean]

Rusty, be careful, your wish may come true.

After working at weeklies and small twice weeklies, I did a stint at a big city daily, started in news and then went over to sports on a college beat. I freaking hated it. Of course, you kiss all control goodbye when you do that.

I'd file stories on the college teams, and in the next day's paper there'd be anywhere from 3-6 inches of copy included in it that I didn't write. And nobody asked me about it or told me they were adding it, and subtracting away from my original copy.

Usually, this involved adding controversial inuendo that nobody would comment on, and the copy added was bullcrap unsubstantiated rumors. Then I had to face SID or the coaches/players involved that day.

Not to mention the meetings with the paper's senior leadership. That always sucked. Of course, those guys who never had my job in their lives, could do it better than I ever could. don't get me wrong, I'm open to suggestions, but some of their ideas were total crap.

 

[Riddick]

But if you're 35 and still on preps, is that a sign it's time to call it quits? .

what does that even mean? what if you like doing preps? or you like your paper and your colleagues although you admit you'd rather be covering the pros? or you like the city in which you live?

no disrespect. I loved covering preps, and at the time, that's all I wanted. But some people want the headaches that come with covering a pro/college beat. That's what I mean.

 

[leo1]

But if you're 35 and still on preps, is that a sign it's time to call it quits? .

what does that even mean? what if you like doing preps? or you like your paper and your colleagues although you admit you'd rather be covering the pros? or you like the city in which you live?

no disrespect. I loved covering preps, and at the time, that's all I wanted. But some people want the headaches that come with covering a pro/college beat. That's what I mean.

ok. you're not dissing me because i'm out of the business now. (i'm in law school now) but my point is that people who make blanket generalizations like that are being judgmental, arrogant pricks. there are plenty of people on this board who are happy to spend their entire lives as lifers at 5K dailies or tiny weeklies or preps writers are mid-metros or preps-writers at major metros. just because many (or most? i don't know) people in pro beat writers jobs at major metros view themselves as having 'made it' doesn't mean there's anything wrong with people whose ambitions take them in another direction.

 

[Editude]

Despite the uncertainty about where our business is headed, there still are paths from small to big if that's your goal. My current shop is 100 times (no typo) larger than my first, but each place has had its good points. And I could see heading back toward the smaller product and covering local sports. There's no shame in preps at any age.

 

[hate-d-mah-old-prepjob]

OK, I know it is, techically speaking, possible, but still...

How many people out there start at small papers and end up either at a big paper or with an impressive job (pro/college beat, columnist, SE) or both? I ask because it seems that anytime there's an opening on the jobs board that makes me think "Man, I'd love to have that job," the person who end up getting it has credentials that are just out of this world. I mean, the person will have started at a 100k plus paper, or with a major beat, right out of college, and work up from there.

Meanwhile, I almost never hear of people who began at Podunk papers ending up with those kinds of positions. It seems to me that if you start at a paper with either a) a circulation in the 100k range or b) a college beat, you'll end up in a great job if you want. But people like me who start at 20k dailies doing half desk/half writing, will never end up much better than that 100k paper so many others start at.

I guess it's just frustration on my part. I didn't realize I wanted to do this until I was halfway through college at a school not at all known for journalism that didn't provide any help or guidance with internships and has few notable alumni in this field. And at this point, I've only got a few years' experience. But I see people with the same years' experience I have landing jobs that I'll still be looking longingly at in 10 years, and it frustrates me. And I see some of the people landing these jobs and realize that if in 10 years I'm working at the paper they started at I'd be very surprised, and I just get pissed off and frustrated.

Anyway, that's my depressed, probably incoherent rant for the night. Goodnight.

Wow, our stories are very similar. I went to podunk u and didn't do any internships...got a gig at a paper in my hometown (30k daily). I stayed there for five years, before taking a preps gig at a 100K daily more than 1,500 miles away. I spent about a year and a half on preps before being promoted to a pro beat (before I was 30). I did one season on that pro beat before taking another gig at a 220k paper on another pro beat. Since taking that job, it seems like there's even more interest from even bigger papers. So Rusty, just keep working hard and things will start happening for you. Work on your craft and get out there and get to know people (who you know does have something to do with your advancement). Seriously, I left my 30k paper on New Year's Day of 2004 and so much has changed since then. I used to think I'd never get anywhere in this business. Now I'm hoping for things to slow down a bit before I wind up getting in over my head. Keep plugging away. You'll be fine.

 

[MCEchan36]

Just another quick success story, I have a friend who didn't even write for my college paper, but did some stringing for the AP for a couple years before a mutual friend at one of the big dailies pushed his name to a major Northeast paper and now he's covering a NFL team before his five-year college reunion. It's weird how things work.