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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 2:49:28 GMT
I remain ambitious but no one I work with seems to give a shit.
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Post by Liberal White Women on Nov 8, 2018 4:37:53 GMT
I've been in newspapers (weeklies and small dailies) for 24-plus years. From stringer to assistant managing editor and everything in between.
The best part of it was, when our son was born in 1999, I shifted to a split reporter/copy desk gig and a few years later to full-time copy desk. It allowed my wife and I to never need daycare, because she worked in schools during the day (part-time aide, teacher, sub, etc.) and I worked the standard nighttime desk shift.
Fast forward almost 20 years. My son is at college, my daughter in her senior year of high school My wife has switched careers after balancing going back to school with part-time jobs, and now is working full-time in physical therapy ... a very in-demand field. I am eligible to get on her benefit plan on Jan. 1.
2019 could see quite a few changes in the Coco household, including hopefully my job.
I've been at my current shop for 9.5 years, and last night we had about half the people at the election-night pizza party as we did when I started in 2009. We all shoved in our food and guzzled our pop frantically in a rare night of eating away from our desks. It's a stressful, dead-end situation but at the moment it's a job that pays just enough to beat working at Costco or McDonald's. That and the vacation days are all that's keeping me in journalism, frankly.
As long as I'm physically able to do it, I'd have no problem returning to stocking grocery store shelves, which I did in high school and college. You put in your 8 hours, stay busy so the time goes by quickly, and leave the job behind when you clock out.
Sorry to ramble, but that's what I'm looking for in a future gig. And to be honest, you do a greater good for people by stocking their grocery-store shelves than you do laying out newspaper pages that are for sale by corrupt management.
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Post by mizzougrad96 on Nov 8, 2018 13:04:11 GMT
Obviously I didn't feel that way at the time, but I am very grateful that I was bounced from journalism when I was. Waiting for your turn to get let go can take a toll on anybody and it sure as hell did on me. When I see the people who are in their 50s and they're seen as old-timers even though they're nowhere close to retirement, I can't imagine having to do a career change at that age.
There are worries with any job and I would be 100 percent by lying if I said I didn't still stress about it, but most of that is leftover from my journalism days... Waking up and your first thought is, "Is this going to be the day?" sucks the life out of you.
If you're in the top 1 percent and willing to move, you'll probably always be able to find a journalism job. I was neither the top 1 percent and I wasn't willing to move, so that never boded too well for my future.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 16:48:22 GMT
I have the job I always wanted. It pays well, I have incredible work/life flexibility, I pick my kids up from school every day I have them, don't have to check in with anyone and justify what I did with my day, I have unlimited resources to pursue basically whatever I want if I can sell the idea. I can travel a bunch and never have to worry about picking a cheap hotel or having a cheap dinner, because my employer will pay for good hotels and good dinners and pick up every Uber receipt. I worked really hard to get this job -- 11 years at a newspaper, including two in preps, two as a college beat writer, four as a general assignment feature writer and four as a columnist/takeout guy -- and I'm pretty good at it. I also suspect that, one day, my job is going to disappear. I'm 40 and if I could have this job at age 50, I'd be ecstatic, but I'm skeptical that will be the case. Not because I am not good enough to keep it, but because my company is probably going to decide at some point that they see no point in paying people like me a lot of money to write 10 features a year and 20 columns about golf from majors. When that happens, I suspect I'll be able to find work again in journalism, but that's no guarantee. And if I do, I'm almost certain it will be for about half of what I'm making now. It's hard to know how to feel about that. No one would walk away from a unicorn journalism job in their prime. But what happens 10 years from now when my kids are entering college and I'm suddenly making half of what I've been making? Even those of us who had a hail mary come through and got the job we always dreamed of having wonder if this is like being on a luxury train that enters a dark tunnel not knowing if there is actually an exit on the other side. Have you ever thought about writing a book or two, seeing how that goes? I have no idea how Jeff Pearlman does financially, but ... well, I'd think?
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Post by doctorquant on Nov 8, 2018 16:49:39 GMT
I have the job I always wanted. It pays well, I have incredible work/life flexibility, I pick my kids up from school every day I have them, don't have to check in with anyone and justify what I did with my day, I have unlimited resources to pursue basically whatever I want if I can sell the idea. I can travel a bunch and never have to worry about picking a cheap hotel or having a cheap dinner, because my employer will pay for good hotels and good dinners and pick up every Uber receipt. I worked really hard to get this job -- 11 years at a newspaper, including two in preps, two as a college beat writer, four as a general assignment feature writer and four as a columnist/takeout guy -- and I'm pretty good at it. I also suspect that, one day, my job is going to disappear. I'm 40 and if I could have this job at age 50, I'd be ecstatic, but I'm skeptical that will be the case. Not because I am not good enough to keep it, but because my company is probably going to decide at some point that they see no point in paying people like me a lot of money to write 10 features a year and 20 columns about golf from majors. When that happens, I suspect I'll be able to find work again in journalism, but that's no guarantee. And if I do, I'm almost certain it will be for about half of what I'm making now. It's hard to know how to feel about that. No one would walk away from a unicorn journalism job in their prime. But what happens 10 years from now when my kids are entering college and I'm suddenly making half of what I've been making? Even those of us who had a hail mary come through and got the job we always dreamed of having wonder if this is like being on a luxury train that enters a dark tunnel not knowing if there is actually an exit on the other side. Your story brings to mind a presentation I saw once in which the presenter used the analogy of being in a nice hot bath ... outside in the middle of a blizzard. Right now it's good, but: A) you know it ain't gonna be good forever; and B) action with regard to A ain't gonna be pleasant either.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 16:57:28 GMT
My goal is to advance my wife’s career to the point where I can quit my job and be a house husband.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 17:05:00 GMT
One thing I could not have accounted for - and I addressed it somewhat in my initial post, as have others - was how much kids affect your career aspirations. As a journalist, I was a complete workaholic. At any given moment, I was either working on something for my job, or for a book project. My wife and I talk at times about all the things we didn't do before the kids came along - because I was 100 percent focused on career.
I'm a dumbass for it, but it didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be the same way after they came along. You genuinely do not have all the time you need any more. It would frustrate the hell out of me in law school and at the big firm, because I felt like I was at such a disadvantage as compared to my peers. (And I was.)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 17:14:50 GMT
One thing I could not have accounted for - and I addressed it somewhat in my initial post, as have others - was how much kids affect your career aspirations. As a journalist, I was a complete workaholic. At any given moment, I was either working on something for my job, or for a book project. My wife and I talk at times about all the things we didn't do before the kids came along - because I was 100 percent focused on career. I'm a dumbass for it, but it didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be the same way after they came along. You genuinely do not have all the time you need any more. It would frustrate the hell out of me in law school and at the big firm, because I felt like I was at such a disadvantage as compared to my peers. (And I was.) To your first point, I'm in a situation where unless I actually figure out a way to move up the ladder and figure it out quickly, I will no longer be able to afford daycare -- and my house because of the domino effect that likely would cause. I'd happily work 10 hours a day, I'd love to take on more responsibility. Because in this business that means working days. Right now, nights work, but without any career momentum, I may soon face the reality that my current gig (and the tenuous lifestyle that comes with it) is untenable.
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Post by doctorquant on Nov 8, 2018 17:21:10 GMT
I don't know why, but the 10 months I spent watching my father die knocked A TON of tread off my ambition. By the time that was over my goals were to: A) get a better job (because I truly was miserable in the one I had); and B) perform well enough to keep it. I've interviewed for (and been offered) other gigs since taking this one, but they've been strictly for lifestyle/location reasons.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 17:25:34 GMT
One thing I could not have accounted for - and I addressed it somewhat in my initial post, as have others - was how much kids affect your career aspirations. As a journalist, I was a complete workaholic. At any given moment, I was either working on something for my job, or for a book project. My wife and I talk at times about all the things we didn't do before the kids came along - because I was 100 percent focused on career. I'm a dumbass for it, but it didn't occur to me that it wouldn't be the same way after they came along. You genuinely do not have all the time you need any more. It would frustrate the hell out of me in law school and at the big firm, because I felt like I was at such a disadvantage as compared to my peers. (And I was.) I’m trying to finish my MPH as we speak. Just APPLYING to a decent program took more time away from the family than I would’ve preferred.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 17:31:44 GMT
Of the little built-in advantages that upper middle-class and middle class kids have that you don't really think about, one was the inherent understanding my law school and law firm colleagues had that you should wait a loooooong time to have kids. Now, we waited until we were 32, which didn't make us spring chickens, but, again, I spent six years covering preps. My son was born three weeks after I started law school. My daughter was born two months into my first job. It wouldn't have occurred to me to do so otherwise, because I didn't grow up with parents who would have been able to dispense that kind of advice. I bet if I asked my mother today which law school I graduated from, she wouldn't know the answer.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 18:04:55 GMT
I absolutely love my job. Seriously love it. I do community affairs and government relations for a water company. After 7-8 years working as PIO/PAC director for community college and CSU, I'm glad to no longer work for a public agency, which often caused me soul-crushing cognitive dissonance even though I am a staunch supporter of post-secondary ed. On the downside, I have to travel around the state a bit, usually to attend political events or appear at some city council meeting. On the upside, I feel valued by my employer to an extent I have never experienced before. It surprises me how much that means to me. Its a great company that always tries to do the right thing and always tries to do it the right way. I love it.
Of course, my wife is also in PR. Neither of us have straight 8-5 jobs. There are lots of early and late meetings and events. It's a constant juggling act.
I do not miss newspaper work in the least. I really enjoyed it for years and then grew to hate it. When I was forced to take over as SE, it really turned for me. I enjoyed news more. It was a small paper, and I could not muster a single ounce of interest in high school sports, which is a bad trait in a local SE. I hated it by the end. I was drinking like a lush and just miserable.
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Post by xanadu on Nov 8, 2018 18:11:38 GMT
I have zero desire to cover local sports again. Or college or pro sports.
I don't think I could work in newspapers again. I did it 23 years. Put in about 40 years' worth of time in those 23 years.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 18:13:25 GMT
I absolutely love my job. Seriously love it. I do community affairs and government relations for a water company. After 7-8 years working as PIO/PAC director for community college and CSU, I'm glad to no longer work for a public agency, which often caused me soul-crushing cognitive dissonance even though I am a staunch supporter of post-secondary ed. On the downside, I have to travel around the state a bit, usually to attend political events or appear at some city council meeting. On the upside, I feel valued by my employer to an extent I have never experienced before. It surprises me how much that means to me. Its a great company that always tries to do the right thing and always tries to do it the right way. I love it. Of course, my wife is also in PR. Neither of us have straight 8-5 jobs. There are lots of early and late meetings and events. It's a constant juggling act. I do not miss newspaper work in the least. I really enjoyed it for years and then grew to hate it. When I was forced to take over as SE, it really turned for me. I enjoyed news more. It was a small paper, and I could not muster a single ounce of interest in high school sports, which is a bad trait in a local SE. I hated it by the end. I was drinking like a lush and just miserable. My SE used to guilt the shit out of us for not wanting to cover preps for the rest of our careers. I guess I understood it to a degree - it was the paper's focus, and I can see being irritated at a bunch of snot-nosed 23-year-olds who think they are too good to cover it. But as someone already with a propensity for self-loathing, being around that didn't help my psychological state. I felt like a failure for covering preps and, at the same time, a huge asshole for wanting to cover something else. It was strange when I left to cover a major college beat, and it was just accepted that readers care more about college sports than preps, so we should cover college sports. (Which is the actual case.)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 18:14:14 GMT
I have zero desire to cover local sports again. Or college or pro sports. I don't think I could work in newspapers again. I did it 23 years. Put in about 40 years' worth of time in those 23 years. The idea of working without compensation is so foreign to my company, I can't even explain the concept. I don't get overtime. But if I'm ever stuck working a weekend, it's always followed by an order to take days off later.
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