Becoming a motoring journalist..

[drakkie]

As some of you might know, I am a student in Automotive Engineering. For this study I have to follow a internship. After some personal and economic issues preventing me from entering one, I finally found one.

Last week I started a 5 month internship at one of the Netherlands' biggest automotive magazines; Autokampioen. The magazine is one of the many published by the ANWB, the Dutch Automobile Club. I guess you can compare it to the ADAC or the RAC.
The two-weekly magazine features articles on various subjects related to cars and driving. Most of them are news items, reviews and test drives of cars ranging from the latest el-cheapo to the latest Ferrari's. The focus is on consumer cars though.

What I plan to learn here is the skill to test cars properly. It sounds dead easy but the incredible amount of knowledge, skill and time it takes is often underestimated, I was amazed anyway. I will be working directly with some journalists of whom I have read articles since I was a very small boy, making the experience even more interesting for me.

I allready learned a lot off writing skills and got a good overview of (almost) every phase of producing a magazine. A few articles of me will be published in the next issue. Multiple items are allready on their website. One example (in Dutch) here:

ANWB - Auto - Opvolger Nissan Micra in 2010 op de markt
The article features the first news on the new Nissan Micra/March, to be expected soon, under a different name.

In the near future I hope to keep this thread updated and post some more articles, pictures and so on. Very soon we will feature some nice hot-hatches, which we are testing now.

More coming soon!

[Wouter Melissen]

It's 'minder dan' ...

[drakkie]

It's 'minder dan' ...

In that case the editor reviewing my work missed this as well. Next morning it will be changed ASAP ..

[LeonOfTheDead]

don't want to sound like an ass...but why the internship at an automotive magazine, if you are going to get a degree in automotive engineering?

That said, good luck with that and have fun!

[drakkie]

don't want to sound like an ass...but why the internship at an automotive magazine, if you are going to get a degree in automotive engineering?

That said, good luck with that and have fun!

Because it was the best I could get after 54 letters, 9 interviews etcetera.. Recession causes a mayhem for internships as well. Of the +/- 60 students only 24 found a internship yet, the others all face serious studying delays.

Plus in my study we can choose two directions; one more towards R&D work and one more towards Sales/Marketing/Management, with a strong technical basis. I am doing the latter.

[LeonOfTheDead]

That's clear, thanks.

[Ferrer]

Congratulations.

Being a car journalist has to be one of the best jobs in the world.

[cargirl1990]

Congradualations drakkie!
One of the coolest jobs in the world thats for sure.

[kingofthering]

Congratulations! Try to keep the shiny side up and shiny!

[drakkie]

Congradualations drakkie!
One of the coolest jobs in the world thats for sure.

Absolutely! It's now my fifth day and I am loving it to death. I learned more than in a full year of school Today I get to drive some hydrogen car, in a few minutes I'll learn which one.

[henk4]

Will you get any specific training in writing? I have been banned from the Autoweek site, because I made too many critical remarks about errors, misktakes and plain nonsense. It is abundant there...Somebody once talked about the business bank: "golfman Sachs".....

[leroy]

As some of you might know, I am a student in Automotive Engineering. For this study I have to follow a internship. After some personal and economic issues preventing me from entering one, I finally found one.

Last week I started a 5 month internship at one of the Netherlands' biggest automotive magazines; Autokampioen. The magazine is one of the many published by the ANWB, the Dutch Automobile Club. I guess you can compare it to the ADAC or the RAC.
The two-weekly magazine features articles on various subjects related to cars and driving. Most of them are news items, reviews and test drives of cars ranging from the latest el-cheapo to the latest Ferrari's. The focus is on consumer cars though.

What I plan to learn here is the skill to test cars properly. It sounds dead easy but the incredible amount of knowledge, skill and time it takes is often underestimated, I was amazed anyway. I will be working directly with some journalists of whom I have read articles since I was a very small boy, making the experience even more interesting for me.

I allready learned a lot off writing skills and got a good overview of (almost) every phase of producing a magazine. A few articles of me will be published in the next issue. Multiple items are allready on their website. One example (in Dutch) here:

ANWB - Auto - Opvolger Nissan Micra in 2010 op de markt
The article features the first news on the new Nissan Micra/March, to be expected soon, under a different name.

In the near future I hope to keep this thread updated and post some more articles, pictures and so on. Very soon we will feature some nice hot-hatches, which we are testing now.

More coming soon!

You're a lucky man, Drakkie. I wish I had had the determination to pursue journalism as a career when I left school, but a lukewarm reception to the idea from my parents discouraged me from doing so, to my eternal regret. Good luck!

[drakkie]

Will you get any specific training in writing? I have been banned from the Autoweek site, because I made too many critical remarks about errors, misktakes and plain nonsense. It is abundant there...Somebody once talked about the business bank: "golfman Sachs".....

I will be trained by various editors in writing. Offcourse I have no journalism training, so.. They let me write articles and correct them with me. Offcourse I'll learn from this, taking lots of notes. Also my former Dutch teacher will give me a quick "freshing up" in the near future.

ps: Autoweek creates some good laughs here. The amateuristic level they work on sometimes is appaling. I guess if you put the Autokampioen besides the Autoweek you'll immediately recognise the difference in quality.

[drakkie]

Tomorrow no work. Crashed my Fiesta in a slippery turn. Oversteering heavy, overcorrected, killed a light. Around 2000 euro damage to the front plus about the same cost for the light. Maybe totalled ? I'm allright, bit of neck ache and a hurted ego but no more.
The Ford has a bent bonnet, bumper totalled, leaking radiator, headlight smashed, grille gone. Damnit.

[cargirl1990]

Absolutely! It's now my fifth day and I am loving it to death. I learned more than in a full year of school Today I get to drive some hydrogen car, in a few minutes I'll learn which one.

I honestly was going to do this kind of profession myself someday. I think you can tell that I like to speak my mind when it comes to cars.