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Topic: $alary at AOL?
| Author | Message |
| editchick | Posted – 7/10/2006 4:31:44 PM | show profile | email poster does anyone know the ballpark salary for an editor at AOL? |
| Hannah | Posted – 7/10/2006 6:20:49 PM | show profile In 2004, when I was an associate-level editor in AOL's entertainment division, I earned about $55K per year. |
| editchick | Posted – 7/10/2006 6:56:26 PM | show profile nice! thanks hannah |
| editchick | Posted – 7/17/2006 3:58:08 PM | show profile anyone know about the hours there? |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/17/2006 9:12:03 PM | show profile Since AOL is going under, I believe they're paying higher salaries to try and attract editors to hop on a sinking ship that will leave them scrambling for their financial survival 2 years from now. |
| citygrrl35 | Posted – 7/19/2006 12:28:12 AM | show profile Hours really depend on which group you work with -- some require long days at the office and then being online at home and on weekends; others are pretty straight 9 to 5 m-f. |
| editchick | Posted – 7/24/2006 6:16:11 PM | show profile would you say it's a good place to work though? |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/24/2006 8:18:37 PM | show profile Yahoo and AOL are 2 of the worst places to work. They both pay well but your work duties are very limited and you're constantly micromanaged. They're also mega-corporations with lots and lots of overpaid VPs who have no idea what they're doing. Print media is where talented people work. Magazine, newspaper, and book publishing. New media is where people who have no clue what they're doing get hired to work unstable, overpaid jobs that require little skill. For instance, if you're talking about AOL, what kind of writing do you think you'll be doing there? Compare that to the writing you would be doing at Time magazine, Enertainment Weekly, or any other top notch magazine. If you want to feel good about yourself, work in print media. Sorry to sound so bleak. Gotta go, my wife is calling me. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/25/2006 2:46:50 PM | show profile Bleak Mouse says: < That is the single most absurd statement I have read in quite some time. I work in "new media" (a phrase I haven't heard in a while) at the online sibling of a major national magazine. In addition to standard editorial work that a print editor does (assigning, writing, etc.), I have to code (self-taught); plan complex site architecture and databases, including writing extremely detailed documentation; process imagery; troubleshoot every technical problem anyone experiences on the site (because I'm the only "web person" on staff); stay on top of and find ways to integrate constantly changing technology (audio, video, RSS, wikis, javascript vs. ajax vs. flash, etc. etc.), deal with all kinds of community and user-generated content--on a schedule that's not measured in months or even weeks, but in hours or minutes. PLUS the results of everything I do is measurable down to the smallest pageviews so I can't fool anybody about what's working and what's not, AND I do this all on a budget that is a fraction of the size of the print counterpart. So give me a serious break, Bleak Spouse. It's that kind of outdated, ridiculous attitude that helps add to the current crisis in print media as that crazy no-talent "fringe" thing called "new media" is taking over. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/25/2006 3:43:35 PM | show profile noname: I'm mainly talking about the huge portals. Yahoo, AOL, MSN. In the majority of those editorial jobs, they limit your work to doing one very basic task. Talk to anyone who works at those companies. It's basically factory work, no different than drilling holes in sheet metal. I have no doubt that your job is very involved and takes a lot of skill from the way you describe it, but it's an exception to online editorial jobs. For one thing, most online editors don't write the content featured on their sites. Yahoo, MSN, AOL have very little original content, almost none. So the jobs are limited to writing headlines and blurbs. Which takes very little skill. Another example, if you work for nytimes.com or washingtonpost.com, you're not creating any content (which to me is what takes the most skill -- the actual writing)--those editors are just publishing content written by others onto the site. And it takes very little skill to learn the publishing tools. If I'm saying something that doesn't ring true to you, talk to someone who works at these places and you'll find out what is true. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/25/2006 3:46:26 PM | show profile oh, and it's strange to me that you haven't heard the term "new media" in a while. it means you haven't glanced over to the left of this very page and looked at the Freelance Marketplace module. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/25/2006 3:53:09 PM | show profile I also pose a challange to you: Spend a week with a VP from Yahoo!, picking his pee brain. Then spend 10 seconds with Owen Gleiberman, a film critic for Entertainment Weekly. It will take you less than 10 seconds to realize that Gleiberman has more talent in his toe nails than the Yahoo! VP has from the tips of his toes to the crown of his sleezy head. There is nothing harder than writing well (it takes a natural-born talent and ultra-hard work). And there's nothing easier than becoming an overpaid VP at a massive Internet corporation. To become a VP at Yahoo! all you have to do is act like you know what you're doing, scribble on chalk boards a lot, stick your chest out as you walk down the hall, and subscribe to Wired magazine. To become a film critic for EW you have to be born with a 200 IQ and develop bad posture from spending so many years crouched over a desk reading and writing. |
| caitlinkelly | Posted – 7/25/2006 4:01:07 PM | show profile >pee brain.> ? I think Bleak Spouse is Owen Gleiberman. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/25/2006 4:29:50 PM | show profile ah, good point, i misspelled pea so my opinion shouldn't count. but caitlin, since i had to stare at your face/head floating at the top of this board for like 2 months last year, maybe you can cut people a break once in a while for having to endure that. |
| Hannah | Posted – 7/25/2006 6:27:22 PM | show profile I have to agree, though, that AOL is an unbearable place to work. Simply unbearable. You'll spend your days editing shoddy blurbs, wrestling with the company's primitive publishing system, and drafting internal reports in a simpering business slang devised by AOL management. Lured by the relatively attractive salary, I joined AOL from the magazine world and cursed my decision every second I was there. I managed to escape, but plenty of my former coworkers are still trapped there, like maimed animals. |
| editchick | Posted – 7/25/2006 6:44:17 PM | show profile thanks for the info. am trying to break into web editing/new media whatever you want to call it and thought having a big name like aol would help. the factory-like atmosphere is to be expected but if it could lead to something else, it might be worth it. the question is, is it worth it? |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/25/2006 7:59:44 PM | show profile Bleak, I never said anyone was "smarter" than anyone else, or that great writing isn't hard; you're the one who started this comparison. I have no doubt that it takes amazing talent to be a regular columnist at a national magazine (one reason why very few people are that--are YOU, bleak spouse?). But I simply don't think that those who work in "new media" necessarily have "pee" [sic] brains. The only ones with pea brains are those who a) make sweeping generalizations and b) refuse to acknowledge the changing environment of our media world. I don't want to hijack this thread, and I can't speak to the environment at AOL, having never worked there. But I would generally absolutely encourage those interested in journalism/media to look into digital media, because being versed in digital media isn't going to be a choice moving forward; it'll be a requirement. PS--the reason I don't hear new media a lot is because it's not that new anymore. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/25/2006 8:25:53 PM | show profile editchick: You're right, it would be a good way to break into online editorial because it's a recognizable name. So, although it's doubtful you'll enjoy it, it will be good experience and open a lot of doors, mainly because managers who haven't worked at any of the big portals have no idea how absurd those places are. When negotiating a salary with AOL, keep in mind that they will be working you long hours, including weekends, and under nasty people. Also, there's no job security there since AOL is quickly going under (about to layoff half their employees in Aug.). So even though it's your first online job, don't ask for anything less than 60k. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/25/2006 8:26:37 PM | show profile I didn't mean to write "pee brain." I meant urine brain. |
| Hannah | Posted – 7/26/2006 7:47:51 AM | show profile Editchick, if you don't mind being completely miserable for a year, then go for it. At that point, you'll be eligible to transfer elsewhere within Time Warner. (And believe me, you'll be itching to.) You might want to save yourself the trouble, though, and seek a position that challenges your skills and allows you to grow. |
| questoo1 | Posted – 7/26/2006 8:40:30 AM | show profile hey bleak, were you fired or let go by aol or something? You seem to be harboring alot of resentment |
| Gern Blansten | Posted – 7/26/2006 9:31:49 AM | show profile Bleak wrote>>>I didn't mean to write "pee brain." I meant urine brain<<< I am, my friend, so happy to return to find that your fingers are still upon the pulse of what is now...what is hot...in fact, I just read, in my latest issue of NewMediaTrendyTimes, that not only is spelling humor hot right now but so, too, is urine humor...pee puns are all the rage on the comedy circuit! Follow this stream to the ocean baaaybeee! |
| editchick | Posted – 7/26/2006 1:34:01 PM | show profile what the heck did i start here. thanks ALL for the info |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/26/2006 3:04:59 PM | show profile editchick: good luck. it sounds like a good idea to get a foot in the door there, and then move on. quest: no. never worked for aol, but worked at another big portal and have friends at aol. but, if you don't take my word for it, hannah, who posted above did work at aol echoed what i've said. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 7/26/2006 3:12:54 PM | show profile Gern: I think I remember you. You're the guy who thinks he's clever writing smarmy comments and smugly supporting George Bush and the war in Iraq. So I'll change the subject and write something sincere and straightforward: I'm really, really tired of Bush and Iraq war supporters who have not only destablized the world, but are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Hopefully, if there's a God, all of the civilians murdered in Iraq by your hero Bush are in Heaven, and you and Bush will one day go straight to hell. |
