Poynter: When do you know it's time to leave journalism?
I read an interesting Poynter chat this morning about opportunities outside of journalism, led by Michigan State J-School's Joe Grimm. (Disclaimer: I'm not currently planning on a non-media career.) Here are some of the highlights:
Q: How can you assess your skills for jobs outside of journalism?
Joe Grimm, Poynter: [...] I long ago got tired of the idea that journalists were somehow noble and anything else was "the dark side." That is wrong-headed thinking and it hurts us. I started exploring other areas by visiting some businesses and doing some training for them. While there, I could observe the office climate.
Q: But I love journalism so much, how can I possibly leave?
Joe Grimm, Poynter: [...] This is one of the key considerations. How badly do we want to be in journalism? More than ever, we have to love it. If we do, journalism is hard to leave.
Q: When do you know it's time to move on?
Joe Grimm, Poynter: The out-and-out let's get out decision often follows a series of disappointments or a period of burnout. This indicates that either the craft has changed too much to be fun anymore, or we have changed and are looking for new things. That is a definite time to get into a new career.
[In response to a commenter airing frustrations about digital roles being overworked, under-resourced] Joe Grimm, Poynter: [...] Today, it seems, everyone in every industry is overworked. Probably your bosses are, too. The only satisfaction you can take working for clueless bosses is that you are in training for something bigger. They are not.
Q: What is the future of the newsroom, really?
Joe Grimm, Poynter: [...] I am not holding my breath for newsrooms to grow, even then. I think we are in a back-to-the-future case where we will look as cities looked 150 years ago with many more, smaller media. That translates into more smaller ponds, each of which will have some bigger fish. I would be preparing to run a group of 6-20 people and not aspiring to be a middle manager in a newsroom of 100.
Q: If you leave, can you come back?
Joe Grimm, Poynter: I would not to know more about you to answer that, but I'll give you something to count on: expect that, in two years, some of the companies you are familiar with now will be gone and there will be a greater number of smaller ones created in their place. Don't plan to come back to what you're doing now. Things are changing too fast.
Joe Grimm, Poynter: Treat each new job as a bridge to the one after it, and not as your final destination.
