Sunday office blues

Writing for a computer technology title is probably a nerd's wet dream. You get to play with the latest gadgets, toys and hardware – often before the rest of the world has a chance to. Even better, you get paid for doing that. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Sadly, that kind of situation is probably only totally true when you're simply a writer. If you happen to be the Editor, or better yet, be part of a one-leg-kick office community where you are personally responsible for churning out 146 pages of content a month (OK, so maybe it's not 146 pages, about 20 odd pages are taken up by ads) with no more help than one other writer, things tend to get messy pretty quickly. Not only that, working late and on weekends ends up being a regular part of your life. It doesn't help that the job has no provisions for overtime, and that you're expected to get your shit done anyway by hook or by crook. The pay isn't all that great either.

There are perks to the job though. Once in a while, a vendor will organise junkets to faraway places, and maybe pay for your way there. So far, my passport's been to Singapore, the USA and Germany. Sometimes, those vendors will organise appreciation lunches or dinners for the media, in the hopes that a full stomach will make it easier for you to say good things about their products. Once every so often, you'll land freebies such as thumbdrives, mobile phones or even home appliances. Sometimes it's as simple as the Editor in Chief coming into the office on weekends to watch us work, and buy us writers and designers lunches or dinners.

As I write this, i'm sitting at my desk in a brain-locked state. I just finished compiling the pictures and writing out my article for CeBIT which happened earlier this month. I still have about 30 pages of hardware reviews to check, compile and write; It's already the 26th of the month, and the mag should already be at the printer's. We're horribly late, and I am in no mood to do any more work for the day. What i'd like to know, is it all worth it?