playingbyheart
10-27-2006, 09:33 PM
Hello all! This is going to say it's my first post on here, but I used to be an avid poster about a year ago under the SN "depressed1983." Since I'm no longer depressed... all the time... I thought it would be best to change my SN. ;)
Anyway, life has finally fallen together. Or at least it's starting to. I've landed a stable, decent-paid job as an editorial assistant for a magazine. They even let me work as a "reporter" for most of the time I'm there, even though my title remains EA. But I don't really mind that.
I'm just trying to figure out what the best "next step" is for my career. I've been in my position for four months and my goal is to stay there at least a year (and to try to move up a bit at the six-month mark.) While that is all fine and dandy, I am a little worried about the path my career will take now that I'm working as a business journalist. I never thought I'd be a business journalist. I think I'm learning a lot and I'm confident I'll value this experience for the remainder of my career(s).
But the pay in journalism... over the long-term... is rather low. I used to think that I didn't care about pay (as long as I made enough to survive), but as I get a little older, I realize that making a good salary (like, making 50-60k or so in a few years) would be nice. It would be lovely to be able to take vacations and to buy some tech goodies every once in a while.
With all that said, I'm trying to decide whether I should go to grad school for... something. I'm looking at a variety of digital media programs because I think my next step should probably be in web/interface design. I already do some freelance work as a web designer, and what amazes me is that I make as much as I do in 40 hours of a week's work as an EA by working maybe 12 or so hours putting together a web site. And this is me just knowing HTML, Dreamweaver and basic Photoshop skills.
It seems like - if I learn advanced coding, database management, etc, and market myself as a person with the ability to code, write copy, and design sites/online portals, I'll be in a fairly decent spot for getting a well-paid job.
But I can't figure out if I should go to an Online Journalism program... or a Computer Science-y program... or just take a few classes in advanced coding and buy a library of scripting books to fill in the blanks.
I'm worried about taking out a loan... and about stunting the life I've finally started. It seems silly to stop my momentum now. But it turns out the program I'm really interested in - a one year long program - is on the other side of the country. Oh, and I've got a boyfriend here and -- I don't really want to leave what I've built here. But I don't want to miss out on opportunities because I've gotten myself stuck.
Any advice?
Anyway, life has finally fallen together. Or at least it's starting to. I've landed a stable, decent-paid job as an editorial assistant for a magazine. They even let me work as a "reporter" for most of the time I'm there, even though my title remains EA. But I don't really mind that.
I'm just trying to figure out what the best "next step" is for my career. I've been in my position for four months and my goal is to stay there at least a year (and to try to move up a bit at the six-month mark.) While that is all fine and dandy, I am a little worried about the path my career will take now that I'm working as a business journalist. I never thought I'd be a business journalist. I think I'm learning a lot and I'm confident I'll value this experience for the remainder of my career(s).
But the pay in journalism... over the long-term... is rather low. I used to think that I didn't care about pay (as long as I made enough to survive), but as I get a little older, I realize that making a good salary (like, making 50-60k or so in a few years) would be nice. It would be lovely to be able to take vacations and to buy some tech goodies every once in a while.
With all that said, I'm trying to decide whether I should go to grad school for... something. I'm looking at a variety of digital media programs because I think my next step should probably be in web/interface design. I already do some freelance work as a web designer, and what amazes me is that I make as much as I do in 40 hours of a week's work as an EA by working maybe 12 or so hours putting together a web site. And this is me just knowing HTML, Dreamweaver and basic Photoshop skills.
It seems like - if I learn advanced coding, database management, etc, and market myself as a person with the ability to code, write copy, and design sites/online portals, I'll be in a fairly decent spot for getting a well-paid job.
But I can't figure out if I should go to an Online Journalism program... or a Computer Science-y program... or just take a few classes in advanced coding and buy a library of scripting books to fill in the blanks.
I'm worried about taking out a loan... and about stunting the life I've finally started. It seems silly to stop my momentum now. But it turns out the program I'm really interested in - a one year long program - is on the other side of the country. Oh, and I've got a boyfriend here and -- I don't really want to leave what I've built here. But I don't want to miss out on opportunities because I've gotten myself stuck.
Any advice?