Kiddo: If you weren’t respected, people wouldn’t use enduring nicknames. Take “kiddo” as “I like you and I think you have potential — you’re going to be a good one.”

There is no substitute for experience. That’s a statement you can’t even fully grasp without experience. I remember I got turned down for a job on the San Diego Evening Tribune’s editorial desk because “I didn’t have enough grey hair.” I was a good enough writer and smart enough, but the lack of experience, I now see, made my insights far to shallow to suit their needs. As I’ve progressed in my career and moved higher up, I can see every day how experience plays a role in helping me do my job. It isn’t just enough to know what I know because I learned something in a book or from a teacher or mentor — being able to see situations or decisions through the context of experience is a whole other level of thinking.

Go to YouTube and look up Ira Glass … he has a series of videos about making video .. but much of what he says applies to any creative pursuit (which includes newspaper reporting).

You’re obviously good and smart. Let your work speak for itself, accept compliments, and don’t worry about being seen as young … us older folk are only jealous, anyway.

And it’s funny what you say about the long-time employees. I’m the youngest of a mostly young newsroom (there’s another guy a month and a half older than me who started here about a month before me). We have some discussion about age/generational differences once a week. Yesterday it was about popped collars and how my editor’s generation championed the trend the first time around. ;)

I did an interview once and the man told me that when his wife saw my mug shot in the paper, she asked, “What is she? 12?” I laughed my butt off. Because when people see you’re young, they expect you to be unprofessional. When you’re not, they are pleasantly surprised, and they like you. But they still see you as young, and, for whatever reason, are more likely to open up.

Eat it up, my dear. Because while you’re complaining that people view you as a kid, I’m sure your boss or coworkers are complaining that people view them as old gray-haireds. And I’m willing to bet it’s MUCH better to be in your shoes :)