OT: What's your job/career??

[Droplede]

I'm a newspaper editor on the Foreign Desk at The New York Times. The specific job is called "backfield editor" here, and I basically work with reporters before and after they write stories, making sure the big questions get answered and that the writing style is good/appropriate. In the past couple years, it's been way too much about war and way too little about understanding other people. Here's to a change in that.

Got into the newspaper thing early -- started writing sports for the local weekly in high school. But it's something you can get into later. A journalism degree in college isn't necessary, though the college education generally is. The best thing is just to jump in somewhere. Start writing for the student paper or magazine. Clips (jargon for the stories you've written in the past) get you a job in this business much more than your degree.

Alneyan: Yeah, a university degree in the is your best option for higher education in the U.S., as well as being pretty much mandatory in order to get any sort of decent job. It's become de rigeur, though there are always exceptions.