Careers in writing (magazine, quote, history, Hang, Computer)

[The Dave]

Okay, so I'm currently majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering, though I'm quickly realizing that I don't like math as much as I thought I did and that I'm horrible at it as well. However, I've always liked writing more than math and would have picked that as my major, but I just didn't see much money in it. So, before I go off and change my major and such, I was wondering if you all could tell me what the most successful fields in writing are. Like, I know hitting it like Steven King would be nice, but I doubt I'll be able to pull that off. So yeah, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[right-track]

Working for the Media.
TV/Newspapers/Magazines etc.
Especially for the TV. and especially as a reporter.
Well paid and well travelled.

[The Dave]

So if I were going to major in writing, then the specific field for those would be, what, Journalism?

[Sparky]

stick with engineering!

[Son of JayJamJah]

Originally Posted by The Dave

So if I were going to major in writing, then the specific field for those would be, what, Journalism?

Don't change your major. I've worked as a freelance writer for 25 years. I've written pieces for several major magazines and newspapers and never spent a day in my life going to school for it, and I can say the same for many in the field.

In addition I've taught at numerous universities and have seen many journalism and communication majors struggle to get jobs in the field while people who just took classes on topic of interest and volunteered at radio stations or newspapers quickly advanced.

My recommendation would be get a job you don't despise and to write as a hobby and constantly express yourself and submit pieces to smaller more topic specific magazines. In addition volunteer or ask around and see if a local paper needs any help, they often do, and while the pay is awful the contacts you will make will lead to more and more opportunities.

In addition study things that interest you in school not things that will get you a job your not sure you want.

I was fortunate in that the path I chose lead me success and moderate wealth, however for 15 years I struggled to get by, but still loved what i did every day. Happiness and piece of mind are priceless.

Good Luck

By the Way, I don't know you so I can't recommend you to anyone, but I'd be happy to pass along any resume or body of work to people in the business, if down the road you think it might be the direction you want to go.

[Laces Out Dan!]

Originally Posted by matious

stick with engineering!

qft.

[pheurton]

Become a novelist, however base the semantic field of your award winning books on homosexuality in Denmark.

[The Dave]

Originally Posted by matious

stick with engineering!

That's the thing though, I'm just not liking it. For my EE seminar class they had a couple of guys that are Electrical Engineers talk about what they do and none of it really interests me. They're just like, "I design circuits and stuff for Kroger and all this," just didn't interest me. Writing has always been a backburner type of thing for me, though I have always liked it more than math, I realized that there wasn't as much money in writing.

@JayJamJah:

Doing something that has always been my ideal job/life, I guess the logical side of me has blocked it out for the most part. I've always enjoyed writing, pretty much of any type, I've also loved all the Lit. base work I did in highschool and I'd like to learn more about global politics and, well, just things on a global scale.

So you're suggesting that just taking the classes that interest me, while majoring in Journalism/whatever? Because there is no way I would be able to take Lit. and History classes under my current major.

But yeah, you're job style sounds so fascinating to me, and if I do decide to swap to it then I'll be sure to let you know.

The thing is, I'm in my 1st semester, and if I am going to swap I need to do it by either next semester or the start of next year, because I don't really have enough funds to stay in school for 7 or 8 years.

[cardboard adolescent]

With all the lab reports you have to write, I would say studying Engineering could be a pretty good way to get into technical writing. Why the hell you would want to be a technical writer I have no idea, but then I'm not really sure why I want to be an engineer. I still manage to fit Philosophy and Physics courses into my schedule though, which is what really interests me.

But yeah, I'm a first year ECE major too and I'm having my doubts. I think I'd do better with a dual degree in Physics and Computer Science or something, I think writing programs to simulate theoretical physics would be pretty cool.

[The Dave]

^Yeah, I'm actually really liking my Computer Science class, we've just been using Visual Studio, but I would not want to be a programmer for a living. I don't really have any electives, other than the general college classes I have to take like Chem. and English and so on, but those don't really count, and the electives for my senior year are all technical electives, so yeah, those would still have to be something to do with engineering.

The more I think about it, the more I seem to realize that my mind is geared less towards math than I thought it was/wanted it to be. I think that I just wanted to be an engineer for the sake of being an engineer, and not because I actually liked it.