Following Sarah Lacy’s controversial post on Techcrunch, “Who the hell is enrolling in journalism school right now?“, which ridiculed j-school training, several student journalists have asked me for my thoughts on the matter. I certainly don’t believe journalism is dead, but it is very apparent that the traditional structures for supporting quality journalism are dead.

Dan Blank has a helpful post here, which lists the ways media professionals can help their careers in a recession. These tools and approaches are very important, and I think the next generation of journalists are in a perfect position to build a skillset during university which will ensure they are desirable to employers upon graduation. Although I have a lot of respect for some of the journalism courses (even seeing “viral marketing”, “social media”, and similar terms in the curriculum), I’m concerned that some schools are still just teaching new dogs old tricks.

In order to carve a journalistic career, I highly recommend that students start building a skillset and a reputation that will solve problems and add value to a publication, rather than just relying on good quality writing and a relevant degree. We are living in a transparent world, and it is very easy to prove how good you are from an early stage. There is no need to wait for a “big break” at a major publication, no need to rely on internships of dubious value, no need to fight to get your op-ed into the student newspaper, as your ONLY source of journalistic validation.

I suggest that you aim to leave university with the following:

• A well-maintained, well-written, and well-respected blog
• A reputation and network of relationships, formed from online participation in debate relevant to your future career area and interests
• Knowledge and practical ability in content marketing, SEO, and multi-platform distribution
• Intimate knowledge of the contraints and benefits of every emerging social content platform (from Facebook, to digg, to twitter, to [insert next "big thing" here])