

Ask HN: Radio journalist/presenter looking to the future - need advice - st_elmos_fired

(This is a throwaway account - not because I especially want to be anonymous to HN, I'm sure some of you will guess who I am anyway, but because my regular account is in my real name and I don't want the post to be Googleable to the wider world, including my current employer.)<p>I'm posting this because, probably like a lot of people here, I'm at something of a crossroads in my life and I'm looking for some advice from you wonderful, bright people.<p>I'm twenty-five years old and a few years ago, made what was probably in hindsight (looking at the state of the media job market) a fairly wise decision to drop out of journalism school, stop accumulating student debt and just take a job at my local radio station in Britain. Since then, I've been through a few different stations, done a few different jobs and I've been at my current place producing radio and online content and presenting shows since the winter of 2009, when it launched. For a variety of recessionary and other reasons, this employment is starting to come to a close.<p>This isn't going to turn into a rant about life in local radio, what's done is done, but suffice to say that being paid below minimum wage, "volunteering" for half my hours to keep my job and feeling like I'm instantly disposable just isn't doing it for me anymore.<p>As it's unlikely that I'll find work in radio again with the way the market is, I'm looking for a change of direction. In the past year or so, my work with my current employer has "evolved" from just making radio content, to running the station's website in its entirety, producing bespoke web content, repurposing our radio output for web use, and building an online community around the radio station using both our own website and external social networks, maintaining the Linux boxes we're using as office workstations now. I like to think I've succeeded - and I'm finding THAT side of things more fulfilling and enjoyable than pulling up the fader and playing JLS ("she makes me wanna, whoa oh oh.." etc..) for the fifth time this week.<p>So what do you think I should do, HN? I'm genuinely excited about the fascinating work that's being done by CS types, startups, innovators, hackers, but I'm really unsure where to start. I'm guessing I'd have to go back to college at some point (who gets even an internship in this field without a college degree?) and I'll have to learn to code something a bit more useful than just hacking WordPress into something vaguely suitable for a radio station. Without blowing my own trumpet, I think I'd fit in great in a startup or other organisation helping old media, or community media businesses engage with their communities online and build a sustainable future in the digital world. I'm an intelligent, smart person who just backed the wrong team as a teenager (journalism? radio? What WAS I thinking?) and I'm looking to build a better life for myself.<p>If it's not too much trouble on people - I know everyone is pressured for time these days, not least me - I'd love to connect and get in touch with some people who I could have a chat with about the best way forward. It'd be especially cool if I could find someone else who's taken the same path as I'm planning on taking, out of old media and into the digital world. I live in the North West of England, if that is useful info to anyone.<p>tl;dr: Work in "old media", no college degree but some good years of experience in local radio and community media, looking for advice on securing my future sustainably.<p>In the event you want to contact me for any reason, I'm here on HN or voiceonastickhn@gmail.
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wyclif
Learn Python or Ruby. Start working on an open source project and going to
meetups frequented by other programmers, engineers, hackers, and media types.
Write about what you are doing and what you are interested in on a blog. Make
connections, experiment, and find out what you are interested in and the
opportunities will present themselves.

