Q: First: I love your site. I've submitted questions in the past, and appreciate all of the work that you've done to help journalists improve their careers.
Here's my situation: I have almost 8 years daily newspaper experience, at small, mid-size and metro papers. I love the job that I have right now. Sounds perfect, right?
OK, here's where it gets tricky: I have the opportunity to go back to school to get a master's degree. It's something I had planned to do almost a decade ago, but never got around to it.
But would that send me back to square one? I've already survived several internships, and have plenty of experience.
And do you think Square One is even a bad place, given the possibilities (such as the Chips Scholars program) for minorities who are college students or recent grads? Are experienced journalists even considered for those types of programs?
Any advice you could provide would be most helpful.
Have a good day,
Mulling the future
A: No one with your experience should go back to Square One for having gone to school. It would be ridiculous. Starting all over would cost you money and sanity.
Use this opportunity to fulfill a long-held dream and to catapult yourself into an even cooler job. Learn skills that will put you in a better position for the next part of your career.
Our industry is changing rapidly. Think hard about what new role you want to have in it. While we are going through this transformational time, reinvent yourself to take advantage of emerging opportunities in multimedia, leadership and reader-focused writing and editing.
Start fresh. Don't start over.
