Regrets, we have a few

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

1. The kind of people who get into journalism tend to be the kinds of people actually honest about regret.

2. You don't need a journalism degree to be a journalist and that becomes evident quickly in the field.

3. There's virtually no guardrails to who become journalism majors, and a lot of mediocre writers, talkers and editors are wooed into the field with promises of big jobs that don't materialize.

4. Internships are not generally handed out on the basis of talent and expertise - the way an A+ student might be the get best engineering job prep - but who you know and who the internship coordinator likes for whatever reason.

I would say 3, to some degree, negates 1...maybe I'm wrong today, but in my experience, the people who didn't have the skills but thought they could get the big high-paying jobs realized pretty quickly neither was possible and jumped to something more lucrative, like, say, ANYTHING ELSE. I will say, though, I know of people lacking in skills but infused with the belief they belong in the business and they've outlasted just about everyone else just by sheer attrition.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Yeah, “BMAH” doesn’t have the same ring to it! And I’m pretty sure I’m a bit older than you (reached the big Five-oh this past February)

Ha ha you're so fucking old!

Your friend,
Bitter Old Fucking Hack

 

[MisterCreosote]

Regretting (insert whatever the regret is) takes away from the joy, down to the marrow of the bone, that one was having in the moment.

I made a lot of good friends, including some people here.

But I also got two ex-wives and an alcohol addiction. And ceded a 10-year head start in a real career to every one of my potential competitors.

 

[cjericho]

My degree is a $40,000 piece of toilet paper.

My school on at least one of the toilet paper dispensers someone wrote, "State U degrees, take one."

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I don’t regret getting into the business. But I do wish I’d have been able to get out sooner.

Mostly, I regret having to miss out on family things because of having to work nights, weekends, holidays.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

I would argue that a journalism degree is still valuable. It’s just a highly specialized communications degree for a field with poor job placement/mobility.

But if you do get in the field, those classes can be pretty useful.

 

[BTExpress]

I probably never would have found tennis as a hobby without having mornings free for so many years. I definitely would not have found my wife working a 9-5 shift (not with her 8 time zones ahead and never online when I was). Every day I felt like I actually produced something that some people found value in. I've always had good supervisors who had my back and --- at least for the first 38 years of my career --- never punched a time clock.

Absolutely no regrets.

 

[Patchen]

Spent 25-plus years in newspapers before moving to comms. No regrets. It was a great job almost every day, meaningful, challenging and a fun work environment. I would do it again, even with the negatives and the way the profession declined. Could another job have been better? Maybe. No guarantees. I put a high value on being proud walking in the door every day and enjoying the job most of the time.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

I would argue that a journalism degree is still valuable. It’s just a highly specialized communications degree for a field with poor job placement/mobility.

But if you do get in the field, those classes can be pretty useful.

Eh. The classes were mostly idealism, ethics, the sort of Sorkin Newsroom lessons that everybody wants to save the world. Then you get in a corporate newsroom and find out yeah we’re doing this bc the publisher’s neighbor is in it and thats that. The classes were largely useless

 

[Cosmo]

I have no regrets, other than maybe the timing of my career. Right about when I made the move from Flagstaff to Lynchburg -- with hopes that the latter would lead to opportunities at a small metro -- those mid-level jobs started drying up. I was in a pretty bad place, making terrible money in a small city. But if I don't build relationships covering golf for that paper, I never get the job I have today. I fill a pretty unique role at our association, and without my communications/journalism background, I never sniff the job. I'm finally catching up on all of the stupid debt I accumulated through my 20 years in newspapers, but newspapers were an essential part of my path.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Eh. The classes were mostly idealism, ethics, the sort of Sorkin Newsroom lessons that everybody wants to save the world. Then you get in a corporate newsroom and find out yeah we’re doing this bc the publisher’s neighbor is in it and thats that. The classes were largely useless

This is perfect. Journalism theory is both vitally important and completely bullshit.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

Eh. The classes were mostly idealism, ethics, the sort of Sorkin Newsroom lessons that everybody wants to save the world. Then you get in a corporate newsroom and find out yeah we’re doing this bc the publisher’s neighbor is in it and thats that. The classes were largely useless

Those Sorkin-esque principles are a great foundation. Obviously, like any business, you have to deal with a lot of corporate politics. But having a strong basis helps navigate those situations.