First Night on the Desk
- Thread starter Riddick
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C
Chi City 81
Guest
Surprisingly easy actually. Of course, I had the SE showing me the ropes. I love my job.
C
Chi City 81
Guest
Well, if you ever have any questions, I'm happy to help. Though, there's quite a few posters here with much more design experience than me.
Frank_Ridgeway
Well-Known Member
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- Oct 11, 2002
- Messages
- 7,706
It was bad. I had a half-hour or so of training and then was thrown in on a heavy high school basketball night. Wrong team winning in a headline, assorted minor pratfalls.
What I didn't know at the time was that even after you become good at the job, you're going to have some rocky nights when everything seems to go wrong at once, kind of the way a good major league pitcher is going to have some nights when he doesn't have his good stuff and his teammates don't play well, either. You'll live. The important thing is to recognize when you're struggling and focus on the biggest stuff so that the errors that get through are minor. Be very careful with display type, force yourself to look and look again.
What I didn't know at the time was that even after you become good at the job, you're going to have some rocky nights when everything seems to go wrong at once, kind of the way a good major league pitcher is going to have some nights when he doesn't have his good stuff and his teammates don't play well, either. You'll live. The important thing is to recognize when you're struggling and focus on the biggest stuff so that the errors that get through are minor. Be very careful with display type, force yourself to look and look again.
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P
pallister
Guest
I wish I could remember what my first night was like.
But things coming in late and the resulting frustration (and scrambling) is pretty common.
But things coming in late and the resulting frustration (and scrambling) is pretty common.
buckweaver
Active Member
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- Apr 4, 2005
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- 18,033
I had a similar experience as Frank, although thankfully without the hed bust.
Had a 15-minute crash course the day before from the SE, and got thrown into the fire the next night. Working essentially a slot shift, although at that paper, whoever was "on desk" was ... well, you were the man. Nobody else to help design, except the news side if you fell really far behind and they could spare a deskie.
I think I missed deadline by 10-15 mins, but I got all the major stuff right and didn't screw anything up, so the bosses were happy because it was my wedding night. I was a full-time writer then, but I've since switched over to the desk for good (steadier hours played a huge part, and a bump in pay played no small part, either.)
As Frank alluded to, good part about this job is that it's just like baseball: If you go 0-for-4 with 3 Ks one night, you can come right back out with a four-hit performance the next night. Just gotta shrug off the bad nights and come out fresh the next night. Easier said than done, I know.
Oh, and try to hit a little closer to .900 in this league. .300 ain't gonna cut it, especially when it comes to making deadline. (And that's Lesson No. 1 for a young deskie: Make Deadline. Lesson No. 2: Do whatever you have to do to Make Deadline. If you can't do that consistently -- and that's what I mean by hitting .900 or better -- then you'll be out of a job soon. That's a fact.)
And if you need help or have questions, feel free to PM.
Had a 15-minute crash course the day before from the SE, and got thrown into the fire the next night. Working essentially a slot shift, although at that paper, whoever was "on desk" was ... well, you were the man. Nobody else to help design, except the news side if you fell really far behind and they could spare a deskie.
I think I missed deadline by 10-15 mins, but I got all the major stuff right and didn't screw anything up, so the bosses were happy because it was my wedding night. I was a full-time writer then, but I've since switched over to the desk for good (steadier hours played a huge part, and a bump in pay played no small part, either.)
As Frank alluded to, good part about this job is that it's just like baseball: If you go 0-for-4 with 3 Ks one night, you can come right back out with a four-hit performance the next night. Just gotta shrug off the bad nights and come out fresh the next night. Easier said than done, I know.
Oh, and try to hit a little closer to .900 in this league. .300 ain't gonna cut it, especially when it comes to making deadline. (And that's Lesson No. 1 for a young deskie: Make Deadline. Lesson No. 2: Do whatever you have to do to Make Deadline. If you can't do that consistently -- and that's what I mean by hitting .900 or better -- then you'll be out of a job soon. That's a fact.)
And if you need help or have questions, feel free to PM.
T
Tom Petty
Guest
grizz - maybe this will make you feel a little better:
many years ago, after spending an entire night with the SE teaching me the ins and outs, i went lead the following night. everything fell into place. i had a freakishly small section that day, it wasn't baseball season, it was the slowest day of the week. i wrote some snappy headlines and got sports 'out the door' about 20 minutes early. pretty damn proud of myself.
when first-runs came around, one of the copy desk editors (a former SE at the paper) kept looking at my agate page ... kept saying 'something's wrong here.' well, he couldn't put his finger on it. after about 90 percent of the run was off the press, copy desk guy says 'damn, now i know what it is.'
seems as though nobody ever explained to me to push down the option key every damned time i changed font styles. agate page was in agate font alright, but every bit of it was in 9 point font ... which answered the question of why i wasn't able to get as much agate on the page as my SE did the night before.
i never looked at the page again, although copy desk guy had plenty of ammo on me every time we had beers the next coupla years i spent there.
the first night is hell grizz, that's just a given. always have an airtight plan going in, though, and you'll very rarely miss deadline.
many years ago, after spending an entire night with the SE teaching me the ins and outs, i went lead the following night. everything fell into place. i had a freakishly small section that day, it wasn't baseball season, it was the slowest day of the week. i wrote some snappy headlines and got sports 'out the door' about 20 minutes early. pretty damn proud of myself.
when first-runs came around, one of the copy desk editors (a former SE at the paper) kept looking at my agate page ... kept saying 'something's wrong here.' well, he couldn't put his finger on it. after about 90 percent of the run was off the press, copy desk guy says 'damn, now i know what it is.'
seems as though nobody ever explained to me to push down the option key every damned time i changed font styles. agate page was in agate font alright, but every bit of it was in 9 point font ... which answered the question of why i wasn't able to get as much agate on the page as my SE did the night before.
i never looked at the page again, although copy desk guy had plenty of ammo on me every time we had beers the next coupla years i spent there.
the first night is hell grizz, that's just a given. always have an airtight plan going in, though, and you'll very rarely miss deadline.
S
shotglass
Guest
grizz, rather than tell you about mine, I'll tell you about one of my cohorts, who's now a full-time writer.
He arrived here in 1984 on a Friday in September. As he walked through the door, wondering what football game he'd be sent to that night, the sports editor (a clueless fella overall) met him and said, "You know computers?"
Taken aback, my friend said, "Well ... yeah ..."
At which point the SE tossed him the dummies -- all eight pages -- and said, "Good. You're doing the paper tonight."
Why, hello there. ;D
He arrived here in 1984 on a Friday in September. As he walked through the door, wondering what football game he'd be sent to that night, the sports editor (a clueless fella overall) met him and said, "You know computers?"
Taken aback, my friend said, "Well ... yeah ..."
At which point the SE tossed him the dummies -- all eight pages -- and said, "Good. You're doing the paper tonight."
Why, hello there. ;D
HejiraHenry
Well-Known Member
My first desk night of the modern era was under the supervision of the ASE, who knew his stuff. As rightly said above, we all have bad nights. But we keep showing up the next day.
First nights are always hectic. I remember feeling like I was the dumbest person in the world trying to figure out the DTI software, which is different than Quark in all sorts of ways that I don't remember anymore because eventually it all falls into place.
Just be glad you didnt start on a high school football Friday when all eight of your local stories come in at 11 and you have to be off the floor at 11:30. Sitting around for hours waiting for everything, and then having 20 minutes to edit and layout is not fun.
I have found that it is much easier to find mistakes on paper proofs than on the computer screen. Not sure why, but everything looks good on the screen. The errors pop out at you in paper. Especially when the actual edition comes off the press. Just last week I had the word "roudy" in a headline. Not sure what that word is, was supposed to be "rowdy." I missed it, and my two cohorts missed it.
Made me feel like a big time *****, but at least I caught it before the entire run went through.
Just be glad you didnt start on a high school football Friday when all eight of your local stories come in at 11 and you have to be off the floor at 11:30. Sitting around for hours waiting for everything, and then having 20 minutes to edit and layout is not fun.
I have found that it is much easier to find mistakes on paper proofs than on the computer screen. Not sure why, but everything looks good on the screen. The errors pop out at you in paper. Especially when the actual edition comes off the press. Just last week I had the word "roudy" in a headline. Not sure what that word is, was supposed to be "rowdy." I missed it, and my two cohorts missed it.
Made me feel like a big time *****, but at least I caught it before the entire run went through.
rascalface
Member
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- Oct 27, 2004
- Messages
- 368
My first night I was given non-deadline stuff to work on, pretty much to learn the POS pagination system we (still) have. Then it was a week as a "third wheel," basically doing early stuff and asking tons of questions. I was brought on during the early part of the football season (our busiest time of the year with two special sections a week) so I had to learn everything in a hurry.
The first night I had to do any demanding late pages (slapping what seemed like a million baseball boxes/recaps on a page) I just barely squeaked in under the wire. I was pretty rattled and was standing outside talking to another desk monkey. "Is it like this every night?" "Pretty much." "Huh."
Get a couple nights under your belt where the wheels come completely off, yet you manage to get done on time and put out a solid product. Everything else will seem like a piece of cake.
The first night I had to do any demanding late pages (slapping what seemed like a million baseball boxes/recaps on a page) I just barely squeaked in under the wire. I was pretty rattled and was standing outside talking to another desk monkey. "Is it like this every night?" "Pretty much." "Huh."
Get a couple nights under your belt where the wheels come completely off, yet you manage to get done on time and put out a solid product. Everything else will seem like a piece of cake.
Hank_Scorpio
Active Member
grizz said:
That's where it helps to get up off your chair sometimes. Go to the AP photo terminal and check the photos. Go to the breakroom. Step outside for a breath of fresh air.
Take quick glances away from the screen. That helps your eyes refocus, then focus again on the terminal.
Just remember it almost always gets better after the first day.
joe_schmoe
Active Member
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- Jan 8, 2004
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- 1,704
I remember my first day at this paper I am at now. Was hired because I knew the system they were upgrading to...which has since also been phased out...but my first day was a weekend day where I was going to come in and train (learn the paper, style, etc...) and start full time the next week. Before I leave the SE calls, says the new software isn't in yet, and asks if I can go cover a baseball game. So it's odd enough to be driving to a town I don't know well and have directions just to get back to the paper's office, which I was only in once, but now I have to find a random school in another town which I've never been to, and work my way back to the office from there.
It was fun.
First night on the desk was a breeze once the new software was here, as indeed I was training some of the older sports guys.
It was fun.
First night on the desk was a breeze once the new software was here, as indeed I was training some of the older sports guys.
First time I ever laid out pages, I was a summer intern at my hometown paper (5,000-circ at the time). I had never laid out pages by myself before.
We had three pages on a Monday, but everything local from the weekend was rained out. So I was filling it all with wire copy, and we didn't have AP photos. Fortunately, the SE left me a story with a couple of photos.
We were an hour late, because my headlines weren't coming out right (the old cut-and-paste days). For the rest of the week, they didn't give me any room because they didn't want me to be late again.
The best part of the story was the photog on staff says to me a couple of days later that the reason why they didn't give me more room was "because you did such a lousy job on Monday. You're lucky you still have a job," and just kept berating me. A few months later, he was fired.
We had three pages on a Monday, but everything local from the weekend was rained out. So I was filling it all with wire copy, and we didn't have AP photos. Fortunately, the SE left me a story with a couple of photos.
We were an hour late, because my headlines weren't coming out right (the old cut-and-paste days). For the rest of the week, they didn't give me any room because they didn't want me to be late again.
The best part of the story was the photog on staff says to me a couple of days later that the reason why they didn't give me more room was "because you did such a lousy job on Monday. You're lucky you still have a job," and just kept berating me. A few months later, he was fired.
C
Cadet
Guest
My first day at my current gig was nothing extraordinary: ME points me to my desk, hands me my (blank) dummies, says I have a few emails of interest in the inbox (I'm the writer-photog-copy editor-designer here). That was it. And this was at 7 a.m. before I had any coffee.
The funniest part was telling my parents about my first day. They were shocked that I didn't go through any kind of training session, didn't have the benefit of shadowing the ME or former SE for a few days, didn't get my hand held.
The funniest part was telling my parents about my first day. They were shocked that I didn't go through any kind of training session, didn't have the benefit of shadowing the ME or former SE for a few days, didn't get my hand held.
Stupid
Member
My first day doing agate was fun. I came into this business with a background in graphic design but it wasn't the chop-and-slop variety found in the newspaper business. After the first hour on the agate page, no one said anything but I was bewildered how anyone could do it in less than a 6 hours. Finally by the end of the second hour and with the page only 1/3 done, it was pointed out to me that I wasn't making use of the templates. I was formatting all the standings, box scores, etc. manually! Nobody told me about the templates, just assumed I knew they were there.
The agate page went much more smoothly after that but it still took me a couple of weeks to get it under 70 minutes. Now I can do it in less than 45 if I'm not interrupted (which is never).
The agate page went much more smoothly after that but it still took me a couple of weeks to get it under 70 minutes. Now I can do it in less than 45 if I'm not interrupted (which is never).
SCEditor
Active Member
The only thing I can remember about my first time designing at a daily was how ugly the page was. I made deadline and everything fine, but I seem to remember a four-deck, two-column headline about a track team and the word "thinclads." Needless to say, I like to think I've improved.
The best story I've got is a good friend who used to work for me. He's a member of the board, so hopefully this won't hurt his feelings, but I've since forgiven him for his mistake. We were working at a small daily and I was very protective over pages. Whenever somebody else would design the sports pages on my day off, I'd roll in around 10 p.m. and check them out, make sure everything is OK. The first night I let him fly solo, he did a good job laying out the pages. Except for one thing. In 70-point type in the lead headline, he misspelled a school's name (also the town's name in which the paper resides). He must have apologized 100 times. Everybody makes mistakes, but he sure entered the business with the bar set high. Of course, he's got a pretty good gig now, so I doubt he's too worried about the headline gaffe.
The best story I've got is a good friend who used to work for me. He's a member of the board, so hopefully this won't hurt his feelings, but I've since forgiven him for his mistake. We were working at a small daily and I was very protective over pages. Whenever somebody else would design the sports pages on my day off, I'd roll in around 10 p.m. and check them out, make sure everything is OK. The first night I let him fly solo, he did a good job laying out the pages. Except for one thing. In 70-point type in the lead headline, he misspelled a school's name (also the town's name in which the paper resides). He must have apologized 100 times. Everybody makes mistakes, but he sure entered the business with the bar set high. Of course, he's got a pretty good gig now, so I doubt he's too worried about the headline gaffe.
Batman
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2006
- Messages
- 39,097
My first day, I think I showed up about 2 hours earlier than usual just to make sure I had time to do everything. It went pretty smoothly, even though I was scared to death. The first football Friday night by myself was a different story.
We have a 3-person staff and the sports editor and other writer were both out of town covering games. Fortunately, we have a production department, but we still have to piece together the roundups and sketch out the page designs. Our deadline is 12:30, I get back from my game at about 10:15 and try to start writing. 10 minutes later the call-ins start and don't stop for about 30 minutes. Rattled, it took me way too long to write my story and I finished at maybe 11:30. Before I left for the game I didn't organize the pages right and had several big holes to fill -- including one from all those call-ins. At 12:20, with a million things swirling in my head, I realize I haven't even started agate yet. About 12:35 I say screw it and just take my time to get things done right. I think I sent the last page at 1:45. It was a freaking nightmare. Luckily, I wasn't fired and nothing like that has happened before or since.
Like my old editor (and probably somebody far wiser before him) once said, "The great thing about this business is, if you screw up you can always try again tomorrow."
We have a 3-person staff and the sports editor and other writer were both out of town covering games. Fortunately, we have a production department, but we still have to piece together the roundups and sketch out the page designs. Our deadline is 12:30, I get back from my game at about 10:15 and try to start writing. 10 minutes later the call-ins start and don't stop for about 30 minutes. Rattled, it took me way too long to write my story and I finished at maybe 11:30. Before I left for the game I didn't organize the pages right and had several big holes to fill -- including one from all those call-ins. At 12:20, with a million things swirling in my head, I realize I haven't even started agate yet. About 12:35 I say screw it and just take my time to get things done right. I think I sent the last page at 1:45. It was a freaking nightmare. Luckily, I wasn't fired and nothing like that has happened before or since.
Like my old editor (and probably somebody far wiser before him) once said, "The great thing about this business is, if you screw up you can always try again tomorrow."
