1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Considering a career move. Advice?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by schiezainc, Sep 30, 2010.

  1. trifectarich

    trifectarich Well-Known Member

    No, just 30 years of experience. I've been fortunate because I've loved what I do and so often it hasn't been like work at all. I can count on one hand the number of days I've felt miserable because I've got to "go to work." One of the philosophies I hold dear is to enjoy what I do for a living; those people who are miserable at work are miserable the rest of the day, too. Life is too short.
     
  2. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    It's not binary, and the idea that it is is the single biggest fallacy on both SportsJournalists.com and among journalists in general. You don't either love what you do or hate what you do. Compensation is a factor. And $24K a year for a grown-up doesn't cut it, and I wouldn't care if the job description was, "Make Love to Christina Hendricks Eight Hours a Day."
     
  3. trifectarich

    trifectarich Well-Known Member

    Never said that it wasn't A factor, but you couldn't get me to take a job at a 10 or even 20 percent raise if that meant looking at the clock every day at 2 and lamenting the fact that it wasn't 5. I know way too many people who are miserable for eight hours every day and I thank the good Lord I'm not one of them.
     
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    That's completely different than what you said at first.

    I've always thought it is very dangerous that we tell high school and college students that the most important thing is to "love what you do."

    No. The important thing is to balance the enjoyment and fulfillment against compensation and use that to determine a career path. Hell, a fulfilling job might not be enjoyable. Think Hillary Clinton "enjoys" her job? And an enjoyable job might not be fulfilling. I enjoy sports writing. I don't always find it very fulfilling.

    "Love what you do and the money will follow" is the biggest load of bullshit ever perpetrated on teen-agers, and has been producing well-educated Barnes & Noble and Starbucks staffers for the last few decades.
     
  5. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    Agree with you, Whitman.

    In fact there was an article in the NYT this past week on a similar notion you just posted...

    ... something along the lines of how "find your passion" is a bit of bullshit in an economy like ours right now.
     
  6. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    I'd like to make a lot of money at a job I hate for awhile, so I have enough information to make an informed decision about which is better.
     
  7. Sports.Scribe

    Sports.Scribe New Member

    The big thing is to try to find a job you like, but don't jump off the cliff without a parachute. I'm looking to become a sports writer, but I'm not an idiot as to the current state of the industry. I'll take classes for another safer job so that while I can try to pursue my passion, I'll also have a safety net if the industry doesn't open up in the future.
     
  8. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    I once loved what I did and where I did it, even though I never made a lot of money, just enough. Since then, I have not been doing that, and I am now being open to, and trying, all kinds of things, sometimes taking anything I can get, just because that is, unfortunately, the situation that I'm in.

    As a result, I think I have learned something important about this question we're discussing.

    That is, the key may not be to "love" what you do. It is to be absorbed by what you do. I recently worked in a grocery store bakery job -- something in which I had zero prior experience and something that I couldn't know whether I would have liked it, and something about which I can't say, in the end, that I "loved" it.

    But, it did keep me very busy, very occupied and very engaged, because I had to be, in order to get all the work done.

    Time flew by fast, I didn't clock-watch, and I was so busy, I didn't have time to "hate" what I was doing. I just did it. And, you know what?

    I can honestly say that I was interested in and focused on it (perhaps because it was so foreign/new that it held my attention/effort, just naturally), I liked the people and I even kind of liked the job, even though I certainly couldn't consider myself to have been passionate about it, or in love with it, by any stretch of the imagination.

    Had the pay been better, I think I could have even been actually happy with it. But it was not a livable, self-supporting wage, and for the work involved, it was not worth putting up with a couple of the situational things that made the job wrong for me.

    Again, I can't say I loved the job, but at the same time, I actually found that I kind of liked the work, if that makes any sense.

    So, I think it's the extent of involvement/absorption/concentration, and not necessarily the level of "passion," that is the key, and that may be the thing we're actually talking about here.
     
  9. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    It's hard to love doing a job that doesn't pay your bills and allow for savings, retirement, etc.
    I'd say it's impossible.
     
  10. farmerjerome

    farmerjerome Active Member

    Minor thread-jack here.

    I'm thisclose to being offered a promotion that I've wanted for years. Problem is, ever since my dad died my heart just isn't in it any more. Plus, we've had some major problems at my job this summer that have completely drained me. I still like my job, but I'm not jumping up and down for the new position. Honestly at this point I could take it or leave it.

    Here's the problem. My former boss (aka the major problem) was supposed to promote me two months ago. During that time the company has decided that the raise that this position gets will be slashed in half. Plus it will cut down on the time I can spend writing. The way it works out, if I drop even one story a week, I'll actually be losing money with this promotion.
    To make matters worse, I don't make anything to begin with. I don't want to embarass myself here but with the raise I won't be anywhere near the $24,000 this thread was started off with. Try about $4,000 off.

    Since Dad died, I finally think it's okay to leave and start somewhere else fresh. Dr. J isn't being very supportive because my benefits are pretty good. I'd like to stay until March, when I cycle through again and get another raise and more vacation time. That way I can pay out my vacation time and start looking somewhere else. I'm 30, getting ready to start a family, so this is really the time to shit or get off the pot.

    Any advice from my SportsJournalists.com family would be appreciated guys. Thanks.
     
  11. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    What type of place do you work where $20,000 is considered a promotion?
     
  12. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    If you're going to be losing money with a promotion after working an already low-paying job, just decline the promotion. If management doesn't like it, oh well. They've dragged their feet on it, and cut the raise, so you have a right to change your mind too.

    Promotions are great and all. But unless you're getting paid more, they're essentially worthless, except for whatever intangibles you can find. And intangibles don't put food on the table.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page