what the fuck am i getting myself into with this grad school stuff

luckily for you even if you wanted to be a journalist there are no careers left

so think about it as a dodged bullet

lj shook

finish the course, get a qualification, use it to get a job that isn't being a journalist.

that is the advice my parents have given me, thanks! just had to get that off my chest. have to be very careful abt not saying that to my supervisors

if i'm made unemployed next month as expected, i stand a good chance of getting paid to do a postgrad in september. hard to think of a downside to that tbh.

Lj, iirc it is a course in scientific journalism and good technical writers never starve. Might not be the most glamorous work writing documentation but someone has to do it and most engineers are terrible at it.

^ word.

I've spent 6 months of this past years writing a user's manual for our bespoke IT system, and it's the easiest (and most rewarding financially) work i've ever done. lol public service.

Ah, but it's not technical writing. It's a journalism course, except we write in a journalistic manner about scientific issues! We learn multimedia techniques. We discover how journalism and society interact. I want out.

i think what ed is trying to say is that your course will be useful to you in other areas besides journalism--scientists/engineers are not known for their writing skills

learning how to write well is a good skill to have

agreed - also at least you'll have something to show for the time you spent there, too.

the professor i wrote about this weekend still hasn't submitted the reference, even though i called his office monday morning and he said he would, and i emailed him a reminder yesterday. i am really frustrated that it's almost a week late at this point, and i am really losing ground for if i call nsf and beg the longer this goes. what do i do?!

call him again--that's what i would do, then call nsf, let them know you're working on it. it's not your fault your professor is a dingus

I read that as "call nsfw" and wondered if there was a department for that sort of thing...

learning how to write well is a good skill to have

No it isn't! It's the bare minimum that the jobs market expects. If you don't write well, MS Word will cover your faults. English literature and journalism? So you can read, write, think, disseminate and understand. Sorry, no. We have someone who has experience in our field of employment! He/she gained it while you were racking up tens of thousands of pounds' worth of debt. A machine can do the thinking you do. ANYONE can do the writing you do. Either become a farmhand or do a law conversion. Society has renounced your kind. We didn't tell you this six years ago when we should have, but sincerely you are the dead-end humanities garbage that nobody wants. The ones that apply in 500-strong batches to a job that's gonna be internally-appointed anyway. Journalism and paid writing are dead. Either create a novel that's gonna sell or suck cock for a publishing internship. And where's the glory in that? Sure, your creative enterprises can continue in your spare time. But only under our watch, on our terms.

Really, I want to be in a band, and work humbly but securely in some public sphere. But my parents are paying for this course. My talents are not required anywhere and I don't want to head down the nepotism route.

Sorry for anguishing @ ILX but this is a stupid and terminal situation for arts graduates. Sure I'd be a radio DJ or a sports commentator but I've gone down the wrong paths to get there. Others are ahead. I've taken the wrong turnings and there's always someone who's gotten there first. I haven't even practised music enough. Spread so thinly that all I have left is writing which everyone can do with a computer. Writing, ideas, and a whole load of angst.

ANYONE can do the writing you do

not really, tbh.

Really, I want to be in a band, and work humbly but securely in some public sphere

eh a postgrad in journalism would probably give you an in to a lot of public sector jobs, man. don't let the current jobs market decide your 25 year career path for you.

LJ, i love you 100% but i think you're wrong about writing being a good skill to have--i totally understand your anguish about grad school, though. MS word covers some faults, sure, but not all. not yet. hang in there, kitten.

but i think you're wrong about writing being a good skill to have

ha obv i mean "writing not being a good skill to have"

what if i don't want a career path? well maybe i do but the very term sets my teeth on edge. i just wanna work. for cash. in society. except not in the gutter. dammit

people like me but they don't employ me.

i like you but i would not employ you. i just want us to be honest with each other.

eh i don't understand you're differntiating working for cash from a career path. an eclectic and dubious career path is still a career path.

lol english is easy

No it isn't! It's the bare minimum that the jobs market expects.

Hahaha have you ever had a job?

basically the bare minimum the job market expects is "know when you shouldn't curse"

"please try to wear pants"

"watch your drooling"

have you tried finding a job in the last year or so?

I've seen the writing skills of people who've been hired in the last year or so.

yeah it's fine, i understand xps to dmac

Nah, of course it's a career path, but the term triggers some kind of horrible cringing effect in me. As if I'm living for my career. As if the career is the means, the end, the alpha, the omega, the definition of who I am.

Dan, I've had several jobs. I didn't mean that ALL jobs expect English writing skill AS A REQUIREMENT. I meant that especially jobs in a media or data sector merely expect you to be proficient in English, and if you're not, then hey no big deal, we can make you proficient with technology.

You should seriously look at jobs in technical writing.

basically the bare minimum the job market expects is "know when you shouldn't curse"

― wtf?!? just randomly started crying! (HI DERE), 09 December 2009 17:13 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
"please try to wear pants"

"watch your drooling"

― jazzgasms (Mr. Que), 09 December 2009 17:14 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

we urgently need to convince the tortured LJ that this is 100% OTM no bullshit. everything above this level of activity is bright young executive styles

You should seriously look at jobs in technical writing.

yes

hey no big deal, we can make you proficient with technology

no

I'm kinda bad at the first two of those things :-/

http://www.xenon-kino.de/Medaia/spike2.jpg

^^^ First GIS result for "british pants," this explains so much

kind of lolling at the idea of LJ strolling into work pantsless and legs akimbo and being all "what, it's Casual Friday!" to his horrified coworkers

You don't have to be proficient in the specific technology but you do know have to work with technicians and tease information out of them, the information that the customers need, not what they want them to know or this is too obvious to be worth mentioning. Journalism school seems to be a good start for this. I would however recommend boning up on a specific area and focusing your assignments in on that so you look a little more targeted when it comes to Job time.

also LJ bone up on pants.

no, wait

technical writing isn't the only thing that your program calls to mind as a use of those skills - you could probably also do well working in marketing or public relations for a non-profit organization or some group doing advocacy on issues where they need to present interesting and compelling narratives about why their issues matter, especially if the issues are slightly complicated.

^also very good advice, a mailing list I am onI am on throws up jobs just like this from time to time.

Hmm. Maybe. I am usually quite a good spokesperson. I'd be interested in doing something along those lines. Marketing can fuck itself in the ass though.

if you don't want to have a "career" or think about being on some "career path" then don't. There are plenty of meaningless dumb jobs that lead nowhere, even in this economy.

Another option: fundraising/grantwriting

You're trying to piss me off now, aren't you?

Not at all - I'm just trying to think of jobs where the ability to write well would be desirable that isn't journalism or technical writing.

I'm more than just a good writer! I can lift tins of paint! It's on my CV! Forgive me, I'm going quietly catatonic here.

if you got a job working at an art supply store you could meet lots of cute girls.

if i could be in a band and write and see my friends, i would take that in a flash. i would bite your hand off. three stages of what is commonly reputed to be 'the very best education money can buy' have proven each as shallow as the last; at least i met some good people along the way

your experience is not rare.

The thing you're missing here is that you are supposed to use those good people to find jobs.

not all of us went to Harvard.

Yeah, some of us went to Brown.