Probably been asked before but...

PSU,

I'm about to be a college grad in the sports journalism field - hoping to get picked up by my 80k paper after my internship.

For me, the reason why I got into this field was never about the money. It is about getting up every morning and enjoying going to work. Sure, there are some days even at the "perfect job" where you still don't want to go. But for the most part, if I make 35-40k, and I ENJOY what I do - which is covering sports...then I can live with that. I know way to many people who make good money, and hate driving to work. Is that really worth it?

I'm only 23 so a spouse/kid isn't even crossing my mind...if I ever find "The One...." then hopefully she can have a job - and she can understand my passion for sports isn't about the..."Dollar Dollar Bill..."

 

Passion for you job doesn't put food on the table, pay the babysitter or pay the mortgage (if you can even afford to get one). All things a woman might very well expect from her partner.

 

Here's another sort of "slotting" that's different from what WriteThinking wrote about, but to me is a huge part of the eventual frustration in this business:

Lots of people get "slotted" into the same job, basically, for their entire careers. You might move to a different beat or even to a different department. But this is a business that is very flat, in terms of promotions. Maybe you grab a rung up as a columnist. Or maybe you grab one as an asst. department head, then department head. You're still talking a handful of jobs in any newsroom. Especially if you've moved up to a mid-major or bigger.

What it means is that for 80-90 percent of the people who come into this business, they can be doing essentially the same thing in their 40s and 50s that they were doing in their 20s. That seems pretty cool when you're starting out -- "I'm 25 and I'm covering a pro beat for a metro" -- but it's less cool 10 years later and not cool at all 20 years later. It isn't a comment on your talent, either, as much as it is the dwindling opportunities in this business and the stagnation that keeps lots of people in the same jobs longer.

So beyond the lack of extra money and "prestige" and influence that might come from moving up within an organization, there's the sameness of it all. You're doing the same thing, more or less, for 30 years, and that's supposed to be enough. And even if it is, some suit starts looking at you like you're a juicy T-bone, someone whose salary ought to go or who needs to get out of the way of some effin' stud that the new boss hired. Nice when you realize, too, that you're writing about the kids of the people you started out writing about -- and you probably spend more time around their kids than your own.

BTW, even if you were fortunate or talented enough to move up, at least half the time you have to change companies, which means changing cities, which means uprooting your family, leaving friends and so on. Lot of careers, you have a choice of multiple employers in a given market -- not so in this business.

 

As journalists we're expected to cover things that happen at any time, yet we are never properly compensated for the missed time with family, friends...etc.

For me, as stated above by others, I always feel inferior to others in my family when discussing pay. I know I didn't get into this business for those reasons, but damn it...I get angry when some general laborer or someone who is waiting tables is making more than me. I often find myself questioning my self worth because of this.

And like sportschick said it will have adverse effects on relationships. I've never been married, but I'd like be to some day and I'd like to take care of the one I love. I've already had several relationships implode because of this and it never gets any easier as time goes by.

 

PK, I don't want you to think I'm picking on you, since I respond to all your posts. I'm really not, and I like the fact that you've involved yourself here and are asking questions/contributing.

But to address the relationship question, some of you young'ins should think about the type of person you find yourself attracted to. Do you like the girls who always have to have perfect hair and nails and say their favorite store is Nordstroms? Or do you like the type whose favorite store is REI and the most makeup she wears is chapstick? Or religious girls who want to stay home and raise six kids? Or guys who live for their souped-up vehicles or like to take loooong fishing weekends?

I'm not saying you should change your preferences (because I don't think you can), or that you should "settle" for different traits that you're not attracted to. Hell, it's possible "the one" for you is someone who is the total opposite of what you think your "type" is.

I'm just saying you should be aware of how all the puzzle pieces may (or may not) fit together. For example, my boyfriend is a night owl who works weekends, so that eliminated the schedule fights that I've had in previous relationships with 9-to-5ers.

 

You might want to start by saying "who's thinking about going into sports journalism."

The pay is pretty bad dismal except for the elite in the profession. With the way print media is going, I have to seriously question why anyone would want to get into it for a career.

Working at a college newspaper and getting an internship often help you more than four years of J-school would. You get practical experience at both, plus you get clips, which are vital to anyone looking to get a job as a reporter.

 

Is this what you want to do, more than anything else?

If that's the case, then, as with any job, look at the positives and negatives, and determine if you're willing to live with whatever they are for the field you're trying to get into; too many people don't do that.

I didn't. I jumped right in because sportswriting is what I thought I wanted to do at age 18, although I had a sense in the back of my head that it wasn't for me. Fortunately, I was able to find a place for myself within the industry.

Knowing what I know now, if I could go back and talk to 18-year-old agate guy, I'd tell him to find something that pays better, has more long-term security, and that he would truly enjoy and excel at.

Best wishes to you; I hope you get what you desire, and be able to live a good life while doing it.

 

I'm 21, just entered the industry and I'm already planning my exit strategy.

I believed in the idea that waking up every morning to a job I loved would compensate for the misfortunes. Well, I love waking up every morning to my job but I hate how small the town in (coming from Las Vegas, it's a huge difference). I hate the idea that with how much I'm making, a family is going to be out of the question for quite a while.

When I was the sports editor at my college paper, I was told by the city's lead columnists, "You're crazy if you want to get into the newspaper industry."

Aside from that comment, he told me that another factor is luck. You have to get lucky. The cards need to fall right for you. I graduated college saw a job opening that I thought I'd like, and got the job. The biggest thing that attracted me was getting to cover a Division I-A basketball school (albeit, a crappy one), but you get the point.

If you want to get in, I'd tell you have back up options. I'm going to do this for as long as I can, and if the passion I have for this industry dies, I'm going back to school for radiology. Heard they make decent money.

 

Get a different degree or have a double major and at least string on the weekends to scratch that sportswriting itch.

My advice would be do a double major (and not English or some shit that won't get you a job above Borders). Have journalism be the first major and something tangible that you can fall back on when the J job shits out.

Sure it might take you six years to finish college, but 95% of people in the J business are not financially independent. Look at the thread for Washington Post writers, their salaries and the cost of living where they live.

This will never change.

 

If you love it, if you really love it, this job is fantastic.
But it takes a special kind of person to love it. You have to find humor in the human condition when someone's mother thinks you're out to get her son. You have to enjoy people coming up to you and starting conversations with "What are you, an idiot?" You have to enjoy long hours, low pay and green hot dogs at high school games.
Don't even think about journalism if you:
-- Don't like people
-- Are afraid of confrontation (and there WILL be confrontation. I covered murders that didn't get me as much shit as some high school football games I covered)
-- Want to work Monday-Friday 9-5
-- Want to make big money
I was lucky enough to get a scholarship to college, so I don't have to pay student loans. I'm nine years out of college, I drive a 10-year-old clunker, so I don't have a car payment. The wife and I make about $60K a year, and we have a reasonably low cost of living, so we're not swimming in money, but I don't sweat paycheck to paycheck...now if and when we have kids, I don't know what will happen.
I assure you, though, I am an exception.

 

Get an unpaid internship somewhere over a summer, look around the newsroom, find someone 10 or 20 years older than you and observe them then ask yourself if that is what you want from life.

 

Don't even think of it.