I Got a New Job: An Explanation
This is a very strange situation, so I should explain. In October, about a month after I'd started my new job as a tech columnist for the Wall Street Journal, long-time New York Times tech writer David Pogue announced that he was leaving for Yahoo.
I was a bit chagrined by the news. I've been reading the Times since I was a teenager (I grew up in California), and, like a lot of people in this business, I've long idolized the paper. Pogue's job, in particular, is one I've thought about doing forever. Like Matt Buchanan and Dave Winer, I think we're at a moment in our cultural appreciation of tech that calls for a new kind of technology critic.
Though I do want to write about gadgets, I want to write about much more, too -- how technology is shaping music and movies and language and cooking, how it's altering human intelligence, whether it's turning us into irretrievable narcissists (and whether that’s so bad), and also what the deal with hashtags is. The Pogue departure opened up an opportunity to do this at a paper I've always wanted to work for.
So I read the news about Pogue and was somewhat disappointed, because the timing, for me, was terrible, as I’d just started this new job.
But I was not actually very disappointed, because my new job at the WSJ and the colleagues I’d found myself working with were pretty much perfect.
Honestly, I mean that very sincerely. I wish there was an emoticon I could use to indicate I’m not speaking out of the corner of my mouth when I say this. The fact that I spent like four seconds at the WSJ before departing to a rival raises all kinds of assumptions—mainly about my own character, granted, but also regarding the WSJ.
And I want to nip those in the bud. Over the last few months, I’ve gotten a chance to work with some of the best reporters and editors anywhere. Jonathan Krim, the editor who hired me, was a master to work with, and he has assembled an amazing team whose skills I was constantly in awe of. Until about a couple weeks ago, I thought I would work at the WSJ for a very long, happy time. Krim has big plans for the place, and I was eager to be a part of them.
Indeed, even after I got the NYT offer, I agonized about what to do. Yes, this is sort of like the agony of choosing between two very delicious pieces of cake, but still. I was on the fence about this, and though I’m thrilled beyond words about the NYT, I really hope those guys at the WSJ know that I bear them no ill will.
I’d wish them the best of luck, but they don’t need it.
I start at the NYT in February. It will be fun.
Photo: 2009 Getty Images
enseignante auprès de l' Education Nationale
4yFarhad, Though I have now spent the "better part" (?) of my 76 years here in France, I was brought up in Santa Rosa and went back on a sabbatical leave from my teaching job here from 1996 to 2002. This, of course, means having lived a second row seat when the 2001 hysteria swept across the nation. I'll keep my "conclusions" dating from that very moment to myself here, but am doing my best to remain both tolerant and as open-minded whatever inevitable filters may dictate to the way one sees daily events, be they in the US or here in Europe. I'm a firm believer in Jungian synchronicity and will remain so, but that also apart, a post from FB directed me to your most recent October 30th article "It's the End of California...." and fell to my knees (well almost) in admiration of your ability to have so concisely spelled out where things not only have gone wrong, but given some hope that the future many allow evolution to open doors to solutions. When we choose the road of authenticity, we inevitably open ourselves up to the risk of overt criticisme and often, alas, more than recognition for our courage. May I share with you my reaction to your article, posted by Kevin (of Santa Rosa). Kevin, in one short article, everything is said. Thank you for reminding us that wisdom comes with a price and that it is illusion to allow ourselves to believe that that investment is always for "others" to reflect upon. I've found my countrymen (and women) to be, like myself, in varying degrees of awareness and willingness to make that little effort that can go oh so far when carried on. I've found them, like myself, to be both generous without expecting handouts, and impatiently angry at others not thinking as we do, even if those thoughts were perhaps all too often shortsighted. It's much easier to look back on experiences and say, "If I had known..." and then go on to repeat our same foolish errors, convinced that somehow things "will work out". A quotation from Honoré de Balzac's "The Wild Ass's Skin" in which the protagonist sells his soul to the devil in exchange for wishes, each wish shrinking the skin little by little: "The world belonged to him, he could do everything and wanted nothing else. Like a voyager in the middle of the desert, he had a little water for his thirst and had to measure his life in the number of sips taken. He saw that each desire would cost him days." May Farhad's hopes for our "deciders'" wisdom, be heard and echoed in the chambers of reality! You are young, Farhad, and doted with both the gift of expression but also the courage to take calculated risks and live up to them. Kudos, for just being you.
Economic Development Specialist | Foreign & Direct Investment Lead
4yFarhad, I have never read any of your pieces yet, but I can promise you this, I will now. Writing is a gift. It's an art form and one I am seeking to grow in and discover more of. As a storytelller, news and other analytical writing can drown you in facts and assumptions. However, I had to pause Netflix so I could finish this piece. No, it wasn't long, but you captured and I was on the journey. And for that, I say 'Thank You.' Isn't that why we read? To take a journey? This is your story, but in 3 paragraphs I hopped back and forth for you to take the job with NYT and then to stay with WSJ! I actually had 'FUN' reading for the first time in a long time. Thanks, That was great
Enterprise Director / Sr. Account Executive /
5ygreat start
Just started following you after reading You Should Meditate Every Day.