Knowing the writing was on the wall, I decided to jump at an interesting opportunity. In September a friend contacted me out the blue, letting me know that Slate.com had an opening for a tech blogger focusing on new trends. He knew an editor at Slate and would put in a good word for me.
The job description sounded appealing:
Tech Blogger at Slate Magazine in Washington, DC
Slate is hiring a technology blogger to contribute to “Future Tense,” our blog about emerging technologies and their impact on society and public policy.
The blogger will be responsible for writing at least three posts a day on topics like technology policy, social media, cybersecurity, privacy, and tech culture. You’ll also cover the intersection of science and technology, like geoengineering, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology. We don’t review gadgets, but we do discuss how they change our lives. You’ll need to be able to spot great stories before everyone else—and you should have sharp opinions about them, too. It’s essential that you be able to write clearly and quickly.We strongly prefer applicants who could work from Slate’s New York or D.C. offices but will consider great remote candidates as well.
When you apply: email a cover letter; a resume; three clips or writing samples (Word docs preferred); and a critique of Slate’s technology coverage (no more than 400 words). NOTE: Please include your clips (either links or full text) and critique of Slate’s technology coverage in the same document as your resume, because for now there isn’t a separate place in the system to upload those documents.
Future Tense is a partnership of Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and Slate. In addition to the Future Tense channel on Slate, we host live events in Washington and beyond on the most pressing technology questions of the moment. Learn more about Future Tense here.
With nothing to lose, I wrote (what I considered to be, anyway) an engaging cover letter, submitting a few of my better blog post URLs for reference. I watched the URLs for a while to see if they’d get fetched but did not see them flying off the webserver. Seemed like a long shot, and earlier this month I got word the position went to someone else.
In hindsight, I don’t know if I could’ve come up with three quality blog posts each day. I can’t help but think that this kind of pace might have torpedoed my desire to blog for myself. The idea of writing professionally still appeals to me, however. Though I didn’t get the nod this time around I will keep myself open to opportunities.