Career planning and advice

When I finished my freshman year in college I had the chance to shadow for several days a reporter for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey. She was the wife of a former co-worker of my father's.

Two things stick out in mind:

One, we had beer at lunch. The press was an afternoon paper and deadlines were done for the day.

But the second thing is that when told I was thinking of journalism as a career, every reporter and editor I met said, Don't do it. Pick something else. Much of it was joking but there was a definitely some truth behind their words.

Which brings me to the poll on our home page. What advice would you give to someone, say your own child, who wanted to become a government contractor? Would you want them to do it?

The poll is located in the left-hand column of our homepage. Feel free to comment here if you think government contracting is a good or bad career choice.