Maybe I'm getting old...

Actually, there's no maybe about it.

I'm careering towards my mid 30s, and I'm starting to have those fantasies about ditching the job and the mortgage, in favour of roaming the world with a backpack and an iPod, before I get completely past it.

That said, I’m still surprised by the number of senior journalists who seem to be leaving the profession for greener pastures in PR, corporate comms and analysis – including the likes of Ben Tudor, Kieren McCarthy and Will Sturgeon.

I was reading a debate on Fleet St Forum this week, about whether it’s possible to earn a living as a hack, with many participants saying they wanted out of journalism. PJ says it’s not reasonable to expect more than 30k a year from journalism, which doesn’t seem worth the effort.

For me, journalism is absolutely worth the effort. I get to choose my own hours and my own clients. I get to work part-time and spend my days meeting and talking to loads of different people. There are times when you have to work silly hours to meet a deadline, there are clients who  never pay on time, and good rates are hard to find - but I think I'm lucky to do this job. I make a good living, and I think if you're business-minded, it's possible to make a great living at journalism.  You just have to balance the "dull but profitable" work with the "interesting but pays buttons" commissions.

More importantly though, how many companies are there that will still offer hacks a 60 grand salary and a nice desk? Most of the hacks I know are barely house-trained, much less able to hold down a respectable job involving concepts such as ‘customer service’ and ‘billable hours’.

Comments

[Anne]

I couldn't agree more with everything you've said here. I also don't happen to be able to see what's wrong with a 30k salary.

[Sally]

Thanks Anne - I think I'd have to love journalism A LOT to live on 30k a year, but it's do-able, I agree. And lots of people outside media would consider 30k pretty respectable, I know.

[Craig McGill]

Sally, I think one of the problems with the £30k figure is that a lot of journalists hang about with people who earn a lot more. Also, £30k can be a decent salary if you don't live in London and are single, but if you have a partner, a mortgage, a child and are expected to live near London then the money vanishes pretty quickly.

Also, very few journalists (or flaks to be fair) have the luxury of 9-5 hours that a lot of other professions offer.

[Sally Whittle]

Craig

I think it's a really interesting debate.

When I lived in London I was single and earned around 35k - and I had quite a good lifestyle but I was 25 and my needs fairly simple (shoes, rent, CDs and, er, shoes).

I can see that when you have a grown up life with a mortgage in London, and some kids to house, it gets more expensive - but that's any issue for anyone living or working in the south east. Property prices are too high, but that doesn't mean journo salaries are too low.

My personal feeling is that too many hacks hang around with rich executives or celebrities earning 200k or more, and want that lifestyle. Or they get used to flying business class and staying in five star hotels, and don't want to stay in a campsite when they go on hols. Many journalists I know feel they should be able to educate their children privately AND afford a nice house in Muswell Hill.

The fact a 2 hack household with an income of 60k a year can't afford to do those things doesn't mean they don't earn enough to live on, I don't think - it's just that they have unrealistic expectations.

[Kieren McCarthy]

I was earning about 40k when I stopped working as a journalist and took the job I'm in now.

It took a while to get there- five years of learning how to freelance effectively and building up contacts, plus figuring out how I work best and most effectively.

That was enough money for me so long as I believed in what I was doing. It is definitely worth it if you can see your work making a difference.

But in striking a balance between journalism that excited me and making a living, I found that after a time I started wondering why I was doing it. You have to take a fair bit of not very interesting stuff to get the pennies in so you can spend a while doing what is your passion. In my case, I took six months off in total to finish my book on Sex.com.

I was growing tired of it and was looking at doing something new, possibly with online video, when one of the organisations I covered closely, and whose work I really care about (and was highly critical of) offered me a job getting my hands dirty and trying to fix all the things that I have been complaining about.

So I figured why not. I've learnt a ton of new skills and it's given me a break from the day-to-day freelance grind and so time to reflect on how and where I'm going to get back into journalism.

As to the bigger question though: it's either in your bones or it's not. If it is, the money is a secondary consideration. The main one is to find a way of doing what you love and making sure you keep on enjoying it.

Kieren