I used to love programming but it’s changed so much in the past 25 years, I can’t stand it anymore. When I only stay at a job for the salary and the time off, when I hate everything about what I do, when I wake up at 4AM with my heart pounding because my brain is preparing me for the day’s fight with a surge of adrenaline, it’s definitely time to go.
But, as I posed it in the previous post in this series, what career to I pick instead?
I thought back on what I used to love about programming, and some things became immediately clear. My job used to require a lot of creativity, and it provided many opportunities to build solutions and put them into practice. It’s those two things–creativity and seeing results–that are key elements in keeping me interested and enthusiastic about my job.
My main creative outlet is writing, but writing fiction for a living, well, that’s not a very realistic plan. But I like writing in general, not just fiction, and this got me thinking. What sort of writing-oriented careers are out there, aside from being a bestselling novelist, of course. There’s journalism, but that’s too much of a “people” type job for my introverted personality, so…what else? There’s technical writing, which though it is closely associated with my the IT industry, is still a possibility. Beyond that, there’s copy editing, proofreading, and copywriting, none of which pay very well, but they can be open to someone without a degree in the subject. And, they’re all a bit more bookish in nature, which suits me fine.
I went out to Salary.com to check on what copy editors and copywriters can make, at entry-level and in more senior positions. The news was not encouraging as they only promise 40-50% of my current salary, but then my wife and I took a long, hard look at our budget to see just how much we needed to meet our bills.
Back when we were starting out, if we needed to save up for something (or pay off a debt), we’d go into what we called “Popcorn and Mustard” mode. Popcorn and Mustard mode was an austerity budget where every purchase was scrutinized and every penny pinched. We would do this until we saved the cash, cleared the debt, or whatever we’d set as our goal.
Looking at our current responsibilities, we can pretty nearly live on an entry-level copywriter’s wage, if we go into Popcorn and Mustard mode for a couple of years. That means no fine wines, no travel, no romantic weekend getaways, and no discretionary spending. It won’t be completely Spartan; there’s a little wiggle room for a dinner out once every month or two, and enough for a modest present or two at holidays and birthdays. If we supplement that with freelancing (my wife sometimes works as a content editor, too), we can close that budgetary gap.
We’ve been living with this idea for a month, now, and we’ve decided to give it a go.
On paper, I don’t have much cred as a copy editor–I don’t have the education or the degree–but I’ve written nine novels, dozens of short stories, essays, articles, and of course, blog posts. Each one of those has been edited, rewritten, and edited again, some with the help of professionals, some on my own. I’ve also edited other people’s writing, from memos and short articles to stories and novels. I’ve edited at a line level, I’ve edited proofs, and I’ve advised fellow scribblers with content edits. I understand the difference between Chicago Manual of Style and the Associated Press Stylebook.
In other words, while I don’t have a degree in English, I’ve got some “equivalent experience,” as they say.
Naturally, any job is going to have its pros and cons, and there’s absolutely no guarantee that I won’t grow to hate the work, but I won’t know until I try. Since there’s zero chance of my being happy in my current career, any move in this direction can only bring an increased probability of job satisfaction.
It won’t be fun, sitting through interviews, taking tests, peeing in a bottle. It won’t be fun, meeting new people, being chipper when I’m petrified, feeling thoroughly narcissistic as I sing my own praises.
But if it means I can have some good days, if it means I can sleep all the way until the alarm goes off, well, that’ll go a long way toward making me a happy man.
So…that’s the plan.
Fasten your seat belts.
k
Unraveling Time
Desert Wind
Ploughman's Son
Ploughman King
The Year the Cloud Fell
The Spirit of Thunder
Shadow of the Storm
The Cry of the Wind
Beneath a Wounded Sky
Cryptogenesis: A Memoir
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 
Oh, Kurt, I just now read this. I’m very excited for you!
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We vacillate between panic and excitement here. Hopefully soon we’ll have a bit less of the former and more of the latter. I started reworking my resume this morning. It looks so empty, compared to my IT resume!
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My prediction? You’ll wonder why you didn’t make this change years ago… 🙂 Nothing in life is worth the sort of stress you were under!
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Agreed. My wife has wanted me out of the place for ten years (since my TIAs). I’m usually a quick study, but in this I’ve been distinctly obtuse.
My problem now: patience. I want to quit immediately and just get OUT, but I have to wait a bit. Ducks need to be put in rows, first.
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If anyone can do it, you can. You’re a great writer and that has to translate to something in other ways than just fiction. If you want to do tech writing, do consider it is much like writing fiction without the character development, without the interesting endings or tension as you have to put all the info upfront similar to reversed pyramid exposition in journalism. Which is boring.
Then there are the managers who evaluate your writings, who has no concern for your artistic talents, or your emotion state when they bluntly say, “this isn’t what I want (or what is needed by the project even though I didn’t convey that to you clearly if at all). If you can’t do what I want (though they changed their mind mid way and didn’t share it with you or, like my one contract as a sr tech writer with Holland America Cruise lines, my manager was a Japanese speaking, English not as even a second language, not even as a .5 second language type where we spent most of our time indicating things about the manual I was writing for their now on ship POS software, in using hand signals. He was a nice guy and as frustrated as I.
I can be challenging. There is no concern for your feelings as a writer as they don’t see you as such, just another grunt. Which was great when I was building into writing fiction as I grew a thick skin in not killing myself after manager meetings.
But to go the other direction now from fiction to tech writing, i just wouldn’t do that to myself. Though at work now sometimes in their knowing I was once a tech writer, they would love to use those now rather rusty skills. I just have made it clear I’m happy to help but do not expect me to go into tech writer mode for any length of time.
I do have to pull those skills out of my bag of tricks from time to time which only makes my desire and dreams of moving out of IT forever and soon, all the more apparent.
Best of luck. You’ll both do well, of that I have no doubt, in whatever you decide to do. 🙂
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That’s right, you–like my friend and now-pepper-farmer Gidi–were a tech writer, too. I have to say, though, your experience is still better than what I get. “What do you mean, it works like I told you to make it work? Take it all out! Put it back the broken way it was!” At least with unsatisfactory copy, all I have to do is rewrite. 😉
I’ve grown a relatively thick skin when it comes to feedback. Writer groups, critics, agents, publishers, readers…disapproval can come from any direction. Some times it only highlights the misconceptions of the giver, but I have a mantra that keeps me open to input: Words are a clumsy, inelegant method for transmitting images and thoughts from my head into yours…but they’re the best thing going, so try again.
k
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Kurt, I’ve heard of people making money writing articles on assignment from home. Some are for on-line use–“how-to” pieces, etc. Earning a living at this requires a lot of writing, but it can be done. You could submit samples from your blog. Don’t worry about not having an English degree. These publications simply want people who can write a straightforward article. Demand Media publish a lot of short pieces. My friend, Renée Miller, in Ontario has written “for SF Gate, The Bump, Ehow, Livestrong, Top5.com, Modern Mom and Global Post Parenting.” Examiner.com also contracts with people all over the country to provide articles.
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Thanks, Jeanne. Good info. I’ve been looking into freelancing for a while, but have been putting what little writing energy I have into this blog and other, smaller projects. But freelancing–as an editor and as a writer–is definitely something we’re both looking at doing. I didn’t want to depend solely on freelancing, though. I prefer that one of us (at least) has a permanent position with access to more affordable health care and 401k matching opportunities. I subscribe to a couple of freelancing newsletters and will be giving them closer scrutiny as we prepare to make the Big Change. Thanks! –k
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Be who you are, like what you like, and do cool stuff may not be the most helpful aphorism right now, but it’s what I’ve got for you at the moment. Plus strength and courage.
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