Comments on: Column: The Best Worst Job of All

By: cmadler

cmadler — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:20:23 +0000

I’d add to Dan’s remarks a consideration that, given the high and ever-rising cost of a college degree, likely earnings of the first ten years in any field requiring such a degree have to be a consideration to a young person considering that field.

By: bob elton

bob elton — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:33:10 +0000

This is some of the best career advice I’ve ever read, and not just for journalists.

I’ve worked for years in a business that’s full of people who started because the pay was good, and the security great. But when that went away, it left a lot of people whose passion was elsewhere in jobs filled with long dreary days and lots of pressure. I consider myself fortunate that I get to work in a job that’s also a passion, and that there are still people in the business who share that passion.

Bob

By: Dan Meisler

Dan Meisler — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:38:43 +0000

Nice piece Mr. Bacon. I agree that one should not let magazine rankings dictate one’s profession (much less stifle one’s passion). However, one should have clear eyes when choosing a field that does not, at the moment at least, have the ability to sustain a significant percentage of its practitioners over a full career. There are hordes of former journalists around Michigan and the country (I am one) who can attest to the lack of space in the field for mid-career people loaded down with inconvenient encumbrances like a house and family (that is to say, we cannot afford to follow our passion if we want to pay our bills). I think that is the truth the magazine ranking is reflecting, regardless of the rather silly question of whether hauling garbage can in any way be said to be a “better” job than newspaper reporting.