Connie
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Job Quest: High-level editorial or content development position
San Francisco — When the dot-com bubble exploded, the blast took out more than just the online purveyors of dog food and cosmetics. It also decimated the journalists who had reported on the Internet phenomenon in the 90s.
Count Connie as one of those casualties. Despite a masters’ degree in communication from Stanford University, more than 17 years experience as a high-level editor, reporter and freelancer for leading national publications from Wired to Upside to Fortune to PCWeek and extensive knowledge of the technology marketplace, she has been unable to find a full-time job or even steady freelance work in the San Francisco Bay Area, the heart of the high-tech industry.
“The downturn in the economy, which has depressed the advertising market, has forced every publication in the country to cut back its page count,” says Connie, a former editor and columnist for one of the defunct Internet business weeklies. “And with the black eye served them by the dot-com fiasco, many former tech business reporters like me are not finding openings at new organizations of any kind despite our credentials.”
For Connie, the limited opportunities have forced her to become creative. Instead of reporting on high-tech highfliers such as Microsoft Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and Oracle Corp. and taking them to task in her columns, she now spends her good days writing business and feature stories as a freelancer for a natural and organics trade publication. She’s also used her editing and publication experience to help companies who have asked her to do everything from editing PowerPoint sales presentations to writing odd bits of copy for their Web sites. And she recently began writing a parenting column for her hometown paper.
Though she would love to return to journalism as an editor, reporter or even columnist, she’s also been looking for work as an editorial or content director for a corporate Web site or Web-based publishing project.
“When people ask me where I see myself in five or 10 years, I’d say my dream is to be editor of my own magazine or have a syndicated column where I could write on a regular basis about a topic that means something to me,” she says, speaking from her cluttered home office in Silicon Valley, where she lives with her family, two dogs and a cat. “But with the depressed economy and the lack of opportunity for journalists these days, I’d say my dream is now just to be able to continue working at some sort of a writing job.”
On the other days – when there’s no paying work at hand– Connie says she spends her time working on a new pet project: a Web site she conceived of that takes the concept of reality TV to the Web in what she hopes is a more compelling and meaningful way. “When the going gets tough, it’s time to get creative,” she says. “There are lots of good people with great resumes out there who want to work, but who don’t have the connections to get their foot in the door or the means to attract the attention of news organizations they want to work for. I’m hoping to change that.”
Connie's Tales
