: Breaking into journalism without a degree I am a fairly experienced writer, but I have little experience in journalistic writing and no formal education in journalism. I believe I can pick

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I heard once from a relative who knows a lot of professional journalists (and is a published nonfiction writer) that a journalism degree is actually a waste of time, because field experience matters more than an academic degree in the field. I'd say, four years in the field is a much better use of your time. I'd say start out trying to intern at a small paper, do your best, get some good experience and published clips, and go from there. (Just as a caveat, though, I'm speaking based on my impressions alone...I'm not a journalist!)

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The degree is less important than your clips and prior work experience. However, journalism is very hierarchical. Bigger papers have a higher status, higher pay, better jobs, etc, and they only hire reporters with good clips, and experience at larger papers. So you're going to have to start at a smaller paper, and work your way to bigger papers. I know a guy who went from a tiny crap paper to one of the best papers in the country in about 6 years (of course, then he burned out, and is now working back at a smaller paper again).

Stringing is a good way to start, but it's often deadly boring. If you're thinking more about magazine journalism, thats a bit different. Many magazines work on a contract basis, but that can make it even harder to break in, as they produce less content, and what they do produce they farm out to specific people.

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