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Careers in Journalism: Am I Screwed?
Dalboz
Resident Puppy EaterRight behind you...Registered User regular
Resident Puppy EaterRight behind you...Registered User regular
I've been looking for a new job for a while now. I've been thinking about it, and I've realized that journalism would probably be a good fit, even freelancing or paid blogging. The problem is that I'm concerned that I may have missed the boat.
I have a BA is Cinema and Television Arts. I've worked for the last several years as an environmental scientist, although much of my job involved writing reports and technical analyses, often under tight deadlines. I have several reports on high-profile project that have been published, including having my name on them, so there is some published work out there.
Writing is my passion and the life that I want to build. I would like to be able to write fiction, short stories and novels, but I also have to be realistic about it and work something that pays the bills, hoping to someday make it big. A man needs to dream.
My concern is that I may have missed the boat by coming to this conclusion so late it life. I never worked on a school newspaper. My major had some overlap with the journalism majors, but not a great deal. I'm working on a personal blog, but it's not really on a professional level, at least not yet. Mostly just random thoughts or journal entries at best at the moment. I want to give it more of a point soon, but right now that neither here nor there as I need a job soon. I do have some published work, as mentioned above, but not necessarily of a journalistic nature, and a demonstrable command of the written English language, with full syntax and spelling (and if there are mistakes here, this is off the cuff, so being written in a hurry and not checked very well). I'm also aware of the journalism field's competitive nature.
Have I screwed myself out of a potential career, or is there a way to get my foot in the door?
That's the big question. A side question would be on becoming a teacher. I know that there are some on this board that have or are teachers, particularly at community colleges. I've thought about this, too, although not as much as the journalism career (heck, I could potentially do both). I guess the same question would be posed as to getting a teaching position. I don't know much about going after that, but would appreciate some advice or thing I should know about pursuing such a career move.
TL;DR: Want to move into journalism but don't have any direct experience. Am I screwed?
I have a BA is Cinema and Television Arts. I've worked for the last several years as an environmental scientist, although much of my job involved writing reports and technical analyses, often under tight deadlines. I have several reports on high-profile project that have been published, including having my name on them, so there is some published work out there.
Writing is my passion and the life that I want to build. I would like to be able to write fiction, short stories and novels, but I also have to be realistic about it and work something that pays the bills, hoping to someday make it big. A man needs to dream.
My concern is that I may have missed the boat by coming to this conclusion so late it life. I never worked on a school newspaper. My major had some overlap with the journalism majors, but not a great deal. I'm working on a personal blog, but it's not really on a professional level, at least not yet. Mostly just random thoughts or journal entries at best at the moment. I want to give it more of a point soon, but right now that neither here nor there as I need a job soon. I do have some published work, as mentioned above, but not necessarily of a journalistic nature, and a demonstrable command of the written English language, with full syntax and spelling (and if there are mistakes here, this is off the cuff, so being written in a hurry and not checked very well). I'm also aware of the journalism field's competitive nature.
Have I screwed myself out of a potential career, or is there a way to get my foot in the door?
That's the big question. A side question would be on becoming a teacher. I know that there are some on this board that have or are teachers, particularly at community colleges. I've thought about this, too, although not as much as the journalism career (heck, I could potentially do both). I guess the same question would be posed as to getting a teaching position. I don't know much about going after that, but would appreciate some advice or thing I should know about pursuing such a career move.
TL;DR: Want to move into journalism but don't have any direct experience. Am I screwed?
Dalboz on
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Slightly longer answer: Journalism is at its lowest point in a long time. Many, many newspapers have cut their staff by 40%+, yet students are still graduating with journalism degrees at nearly the same rate. There are a hojillion people looking for jobs in the field, and most of them are infinitely more experienced/educated than you are.
You might have some luck looking for a copy-editing job, as those are less sought after than reporting jobs, but they are still in very short supply.
Edit: If you continue to specialize in your science field, you would probably find that later that would improve your chance somewhat, as specialty writing is still specialty writing, and requires a certain level of expertise in your field.
As soon as I read this, I thought "damn, that's pretty good!" You might not have much experience with journalism, but you should still apply for things, and when you do you should play up this aspect of your experience.
Yes, there will be a lot of competition, and yes, some people you're competing with will have backgrounds more closely suited to the jobs at stake, but that's not the only thing that companies are looking for. First and foremost, they want competence and professionalism. Believe it or not, that knocks off a lot of applicants. More than that, they want someone who is awesome. There are two basic questions your potential employers will be asking themselves when they look at your resume - "can you do the job?," and "how much do you want to do the job?" Your answers are "yes because (talk about your experience with report writing and meeting deadlines, and have samples available)" and "this is my passion etc," respectively. Go get em, dude.
And I agree with the guys above - also apply for science writing positions if you'd be happy doing that.