When is it time to get out?

I dont know what's going to happen, but I do know this: No one is safe.

I know there are a lot of people in this business who are thinking "I'm too talented/important to get laid off." But look around: Columnists, beat reporters, even sports editors are getting axed. Talent isnt saving people.

 

This is all I want to do. So I have no plans to get out anytime soon. The day I get out of journalism is either the day I decide to retire from work or the day that journalists are no longer needed anywhere in this world. If it's the latter, it's not going to be that great a world to live in anyway.

 

Yea, we all said that once, kid, then reality came knocking.

 

The whole "you can go into media relations" bit kills me. Yes, there will be some need for PR people, but once newspapers die, there will be very little media to relate with.

My desire to leave the biz came not as a result of mass layoffs and downsizing. It may sound crazy (feel free to laugh), but the Adam Sandler movie "Click" made it click in my head. I didn't want to be the person who gets so involved in my work that I put family aside and realize when I'm 55 that my life had passed me by. And I realized that if I stayed in journalism, that's what would happen. I love journalism, but it's a consuming field. When you look at the hours and the pay, not worth it for the shit you have to deal with. Now with all these layoffs, it just makes me feel much better about wanting to get out.

 

This is my reality. I love this job. I consider myself fortunate to be able to do this job. I wouldn't be nearly as happy doing anything else. So this is what I'm going to do until I can't anymore.

 

Sportschick and I don't agree on much, but she nailed that one...

 

You know you wouldn't be nearly as happy doing anything else because ... you've tried everything else?

 

When I was 21, I felt the same way, that journalism is what I wanted to do with my life. When I was 25, I had been around the biz a bit and realized that I want to branch out of the biz at some point. But I was at the only paper I could see myself ever working for again, in a pretty good situation, still young and unattached. So I told myself, "I can see myself doing this until I'm at least 30." A year, an ownership change, and several rounds of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures later, I realized it was time for me to leave this biz. At that time, several of my colleagues, all my age or a little younger, told me they couldn't imagine themselves doing anything else. Two years later, one has left the biz, and the others are trying like hell to leave.

Moral of the story: Realities change. I definitely admire your passion for the craft, but at some point, passion alone just isn't enough.

 

I don't particularly want to get out. I enjoy my job and this profession immensely. But I keep thinking of the "Pirate Looks At 40" lyrics, and how this occupation just won't be around for much longer.

The bottom line is that all of us should have an answer to the question, "What would I do if I lost my job tomorrow?"

 

I felt the same way early in my career. I thought this was the greatest job in the world.

Then, I got married and had kids and my job was no longer the most important thing in my life.

Then, I realized that it's kind of scary to be in a job where nobody at the paper gets a raise for five years.

Then, I realized that traveling, which I enjoyed when I was 25, is now a colossal pain in the ass.

Then, I discovered that just once I want to be able to eat dinner with my family without getting a call that my team just signed someone off the practice squad and can I get his agent on the phone?

Then, if you put all that together and figure that 99 percent of us have virtually no job security whatsoever, it's just not worth the bullshit...

 

I feel like I can always come back to this in one form or another when it figures itself out, and by that time my resume and professional experiences will be even more varied and interesting. Nighthawk, keep that in mind. You're a dime a dozen right now. I wish I'd have realized that five or six years ago. In the end, moving away from this and then returning might take you farther in this business than you would have just by trying to climb the corporate ladder the old-fashioned way.

 

Because I love this too much to stop. Sometimes, you don't need to try everything to know what you want to do. Sometimes, you know immediately.

I've heard the horror stories on a lot of different things in this business. Some are true, some I've found were just bitterness. So I'll continue what I've been doing, go with what feels right to me without letting other opinions bother me. If I'm wrong, at least I gave it a shot. If I'm right, it wouldn't be the first time.