When is it time to get out?

How do you know when it's time to get out of the industry and move on with your life?

Are all of the mass layoffs within the industry the definitive sign?

Or rumors of more impending head-chopping?

Or, the environment in which you work?

When do you know for certain it's time to get the hell out and start looking for something else?

 

GET OUT. NOW! WHILE THERE'S STILL TIME!

I'd say poisonous working environment, prospect of additional layoffs and the possibility of more newspapers going under are signs we need to get the Hell out now.

 

For me, it's all of the above.

I want out.

 

The analogy I use is pretty simple:

At every job, you hold two buckets. One is full of money, the other is full of shit. When the shit bucket outweighs the money bucket, it's time to move on.

 

I like that analogy.

I was getting to that point at my last shop, but then I got a new newspaper job and the shit bucket is much emptier.

 

Where the hell are you working that the money bucket is full? Unless it's like one of those kiddy sand pails, and even then, it's gonna have to be mostly filled with small change.

Maybe that's a sign, huh?

 

When you start asking yourself questions about when you should get out, you should think about trying to get out. The subconscious knows what it's doing.

 

Um, I had enough room in the money bucket that I've been keeping some of the overflow from the shit buckets (three) in there. Arm getting tired ...

 

I like the buckets analogy, except perhaps replace the money bucket with a "rewards" bucket -- be it psychological or financial rewards. I pretty much decided it was time to go when the shit bucket grossly outweighed the rewards bucket at the paper I worked at, and I looked around the industry and saw that every other place was either like that or on its way to becoming like that in a few years. It was one of the few instances where foresight was 20/20.

 

At my last job, without talking too much about it, there was an "A-ha" moment. At this job, it's been more subtle.
Basically, there comes a point where you realize that you're tired of the hours, the bullshit, the management, the lousy money, and you get to the point where they're talking about layoffs, and you actually start thinking, "Gee, that might not be so bad..."

 

I want out too... I might be able to hang around for a few years, but I don't want to be looking for a new career in my 40s. I figure the sooner you get out, the better.

The atmosphere for almost everyone in this business is just poisonous right now. A friend of mine, who had been at the same paper for 20 years was just fired for a bullshit reason shortly after not taking a buyout. His severance package is about half of what it would have been when he left and he has two kids in college. He's in his 50s and going to another paper would require him to move, which he doesn't want to do.

Get out now. Wondering around the clock how much longer you're going to have a job is no way to live.

As one of my friends says, "Every time my boss says my name, my heart skips a beat, because I'm sure I'm the next one gone."