And so, my year as a trainee is complete.
It’s gone by remarkably quickly – three months in News, followed by similar stints in Features, subediting in Arts & Life and Business.
As with all organisations, going through different departments really gives you a greater appreciation of the team at large – and the product itself. I’ve learned how my shortcomings as a writer affect those in production, and vice versa. Asides from writing and reporting, I can now edit stories, put everything onto the pages and publish them online. Mad skills, bro.
Although I had studied news reporting before I began, and had experience in both print broadcast journalism, the amount I have learned this year is shocking, in hindsight.
A master’s degree from a top journalism department and accreditation teaches you a lot, but, after that, you can’t compete with doing it for real at a national newspaper. I remember my course leader at university had an obsessive emphasis on “newsroom experience”, and I have slowly understood why he was so persistent.
It was a unique experience, too, in that I was able to spend long enough in each department to learn a great deal about each, but was also able to settle into four different fields. This allowed me to develop both a range and depth of skills.
News is obviously an essential part of reporting and writing – many of the challenges I faced on that team were unique to the UAE, and the region, alone. I know that I’m going to have to start putting in calls early in the day this Ramadan, for example. And how better to learn about society, its values, its needs and its views than by going out and asking them?
Then there was feature writing, which I have always wanted to do. It was, for me, a natural progression forwards from no-nonsense news writing. Being able to write under the guidance of experienced and skilled writers and editors has helped me immeasurably.
I’d never done subbing before, but doing it taught me the importance of memorising house style and being meticulous and scrutinous with editing my own work – it just makes everyone else’s job easier, and reduces the potential for shame and regret.
Then there’s arts and life, and business, writing. Those were two, almost opposite, discplines I had no experience with. One focuses much on flair, and the other on facts. All I learnt informs my current role as a features writer.
Overall, it was an enviable position to find myself in, and I have learned so much more than I would have in one year because of it. I can’t advocate such tailored, careful traineeships enough – for any egotistical insecurities the continued title of ‘trainee’, and the incessent differentiations between ‘trainee’ and ‘intern’, evoked, it was worth it.
It helps having supportive mentors and staff too. Right from the start, my first mentor gave me a great foundation of knowledge about the paper, the city, staff and all the other queries that arise when starting a new job in a new place.
The first thing I did, asides from sigh at how many people I didn’t know in this huge newsroom, was write my first My Year At The National blog.
Asides from the noticable increase in confidence, it’s amazing how much I’ve learned about the country in such a short amount of time.
I’ve seen some things. There was drama, inspiration, free food, expensive food, arguments about the correct protocol of covering saluki beauty competitions, business jargon, sweat, traffic jams, unneccessary details, world records, rolls of red tape and much, much more.
I have to admit, it is a great affirmation to finally shed the ‘trainee’ tag, after all those years. From the disillusioned business graduate, to the radio intern, to the slightly-obnoxious postgraduate, to the writer I am today.
A week ago I was a trainee with an intentionally vague business card. Today, I am a features writer – with old business cards.
Time to make new ones.