So at the start of June I finished editing Serdar‘s next book, Flight of the Vajra.
Now you’ve heard him talk about it here, so you may be curious. All I can say is, yes, actually, it’s really good and will be well worth your time. I won’t go into much detail as it’s A) his book, and B) I want to discuss about how it relates to your career because that’s what I do here.
I’m a big, big advocate of using hobbies in jobs as you’ve kind of guessed by the fact i’ve been at this blog for five years. One of the things we miss though is that some of our hobbyist/amateur skills are relevant, but not spectacular.
Yes, we all think of the writer who wants to go pro. We know artists who want to go pro. We know game enthusiasts who want to go pro. We know many a person who does big and bold in your face things and want to go pro.
Only, maybe we’re not them. We don’t write big novels, or do art, or make games. So we may not think that our hobbyist skills are relevant to our careers. We’re in the background, we’re support.
It’s easy to forget that, just because we’re not in flamboyant costumes or writing giant novels, that we have skills and abilities that are worth developing in our hobbies and our careers.
You may not write – but you can edit, or make a cover, or format a book.
You may not draw – but you can market, you can built portfolio websites, you can critique.
You may not speak at a convention – but you do audiovisual, or run accounting, or order the registration.
You may not cosplay – but you can sew, or run a 3D printer, or build props.
You may not program games – but you’re a crack QA tester or know how e-commerce works.
So your “fan to pro” journey may not be spectacular. You may not be the big in-your-face person, you may not be on the front line. Well, good and fine, you’re the person that makes the front line possible. You’re the person who runs the engine. You’re the person who makes sure things can happen even if you don’t do them directly.
You’re behind the scenes. So what – if plays didn’t have people behind the scenes moving the curtain, operating the trapdoors, and calling out lines there wouldn’t be a play.
So if you’re wondering “do I have any skills I enjoy I can use in my career” take a moment to pause and ask yourself what you might be missing because it’s not big and spectacular – just vital. You may be surprised.
Take it from me, it works. I’m a Project Manager. No I don’t code, or even QA test. I keep things running, stay aware, and ensure it’s all getting done. It’s not a spectacular job from the outside (and hey, more opportunities for me . . .), but it’s satisfying and fun and it’s what I do.
Take a moment and look behind the scenes. You might already be there – and happy with it.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.