In the words of the great, late Aaliyah, “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number”.

A mantra I often repeated (maybe slightly more eloquently) to former bosses who suggested that I wasn’t fit for promotion as I was too young. Luckily, I found Mantra, now Speed, which has leaders that promote and reward you based purely on merit.

I’m still a few years shy of 30, a Director and growing a team with a diverse range of clients. I have worked very hard over the last six years and glad I didn’t have to waste the first three making tea before I could speak to a client.

Now there are some that say to be great in PR you need to have years of experience: you need to have sent press releases through the post, and then via fax; you need to have spent many hours and big budgets wining and dining young dotcom clients in the late 90s; you need to have started on £12k and suffered solvent abuse from spray mounting coverage day-after-day.

I disagree – the right people can fast track and earn the respect of peers, clients and the press. But boy do you have to earn it. You have to face years of abuse from all these parties who often make an assumption that you are stupid, can’t spell and don’t know anything about the industry. Not to mention those dusty old hacks that take particular offense at being pitched to by a young 20 something.

So I was interested to read that the new Media Editor of The Times was a  graduate trainee just last year (according to Gorkana). A bit of research found that although this guy is fairly new to the world of journalism, he is far from green, proving to be a bit of a super star trainee who broke several notable stories.

My tweet on this got a number of responses including one from Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor of The Telegraph, saying: “Don’t diss grad trainees. DT grad trainees who joined 2008 have done great things incl @jonswaine @rowenamason @rupertneate.”

I wasn’t “dissing” them Harry, merely interested in how such an esteemed – and pressured – position could be carried by someone so new. But he does, in fact, carry it very well.

There has been a bit of a revolution both sides of the PR vs journo wall in recent times. Social media and the internet gives you access to more insight and greater experience far quicker than would have ever been possible a few years ago. A relationship that would have taken years of bi-annual lunches can now be formed in a day over twitter. I wonder what will happen to the classes of 2007 and beyond – launching their careers in a changing environment. I shall follow their progress with interest.