No More Journalism… at least for now
Breaking news! I discovered that being a data journalist on a daily basis is not what I want. So I decided to stop the degree program in journalism I have been putting a lot of effort in over the past year. In exchange, I will again focus more on deepening my technical data science acumen, and start thinking about gradually expanding my team leadership skills as well.
Since February 2022 I have been enrolled in a close to full-time journalism program at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. I wanted to improve my writing skills and dive into the world of data journalism, with the idea of maybe becoming a data journalist for real. I managed to squeeze in all the assignments and exams with my freelance work, and successfully passed the many courses I subscribed for. So far, so good.
What was supposed to be the culmination of my tinkering to become a data journalist was my internship at the Belgian journal De Tijd. They have the best data-driven multimedia team across the country (see for yourself here if you don’t believe me). I spent almost one month in the team, but quickly realized that it wasn’t really for me. It just isn’t the place to apply my skills in data science and machine learning, and certainly not the place to further develop those skills. It might become that place in the future, for example if there is more room to ignore the continuous come and go of “newsworthy” topics, but it just isn’t yet.
One part of me finds it annoying that I will not pursue the degree until the end. Three fourths of it was in the bag. But the other part says that there’s no reason to be annoyed. I learned what I wanted to learn (about writing, about the media, about how it feels to join a group of data journalists at a top Belgian journal), and that’s sufficient. Making the timely decision to discontinue a certain path, and free up time for other paths, is the tough but right approach. I am glad I showed to have that decision-making lucidity. This might sound as if cognitive dissonance is kicking in, but this is genuinely not how I perceive my choice.
I will stay interested in data journalism. It is the kind of journalism that can have such a meaningful impact on economic and political discussions, to the extent it’s the only genre of journalism that I one hundred percent vouch for. My intention remains to someday write cool and in-depth news stories based on data, but it just won’t be my daily occupation.
It is a good sign when things move in the direction you want to, even if it’s not the one you have been working towards or hoped for. When your feelings guide you, acting on them is the best response (unless a healthy dose of devil’s-advocating regard those feelings as utterly irrational). I feel liberated now, with the knowledge that some things aren’t for me in the way I thought they could be. Let’s dive back into hardcore data science, individually and as part of many awesome teams!
The picture? It was taken during my birthday weekend in the city of Liège a few weeks ago, two days before I first set foot at De Tijd. The pastry of Saperlipopette was as amazing as the name! Time flies… 😉