Avatar photoSteven Savage

News of the Day 8/26/2009

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Career:
5 Typical Job Search Problems and how to solve them.

Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:
The stock market seems 'broken' to one expert – it doesn't seem to be making much sense. A quick but thought-provoking read.

Awesome: an automatic graph to let you see how a lot of famous companies grew. Play with it a bit and see if it gives you any ideas of where to work or what business to start.

Must read: how banks (and others) diversify themselves into incompetence – Full article here. This one strikes home for me as I watch large, lumbering companies survive only by leveraging debt and past success, and as business gurus talk nicheing. I think we can all name companies right now engaged in expensive battles by trying to do everything.

Tips on becoming a freelancing powerhouse, especially in writing.

How to work in the Japanese gaming industry.

Anime and Manga:
Hulu adds 'One Piece' to it's library – Meaning of course they keep up with those big titles. Wonder how these will go over when they work out the UK distribution?

Publishing:
A small press picture book publisher isn't worried about the Kindle – And makes some good points about the psychology and issues and designs of some books. Food for thought – and makes me wonder about digital comics and the like and their viability. Some things are ephemeral – some people want to keep.

Sports:
More sports geek news? You bet – NBC is working on a sports video site in India. With the news of Yahoo's move to the Mideast, I am now wondering if we're going to see an increased trend of companies moving to specialized regions or expanding out of their normal geographic/cultural limits. Brush up on and keep track of your language skills if this trend continues.

Social Media:
A quick overview of the growing Teens don't Tweet meme going around, including comment from a Twitter co-founder and plenty of links. Frankly this isn't worrysome as I think Twitter is doing well enough, though it does suggest they'll want to monitor demographic usage to see if people use Twitter more LATER in life, or if theres a demographic that is not changing.

Resistance to social media is fading – so how can you use this on the job and career? Might be useful to show this to a recalcitrant client, boss, or partner!

Technology:
Amazon moves to it's cloud computing offering – I just can't help but feel they're starting to go way afar from their initial goals.

Further WTFery: Apple's new Snow Leopard OS may not work with all apps – At this rate I am concerned Apple is flailing and not thinking ahead (this pretty much feels like a get-a-jump-on-Windows 7 effort). Is Apple confused in the Everything Wars?

Geek Need alert: Telecos likely to increase spending. This means technology sales and geeky jobs. You know what to do!

Video Games:
Ouch. Turbine is suing Atari over nasty issues involving the D&D franchise. Not pretty. I reccomend no resume-sending to either until resolved, this has the smell of potential ugliness.

-Steven Savage

Fandom Reminders

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You're in a job you don't like or aren't thrilled with.  You want to move up or out (or over).  It's tiring, exhausting, and you are having trouble focusing on what you like.

It's time for a Fandom Reminder.

Those posters in your cube?  A reminder of what you love.  That action figure?  A reminder that you want to move on to marketing.  That amusing LOLCat?  A subtle hint of the business you plan to start.  Those pictures from your last convention?  More than a conversation piece, a constant lighthouse guiding you to the day you'll have your own fan/geek career.

Those seemingly pointless reminders, collectibles, decorations, and pictures are a way to remind you of what you care about even in the worst job situation or bleakest career.  They're little sparks of light to guide you a bit farther whether you want to change jobs where you work now or want to start your own company.

Those geeky reminders that seem so pointless or ephemeral may be very important to you to help keep you on track in your life.  Don't discount them at work – a single desktop theme may be what you need to keep going a little farther.  Everything does add up.

In fact, it can be more.  Want to move to the IT division?  Put up articles on IT you've been reading for your co-workers to talk about and you to be reminded by.  Want to be a voice actor? Put up that picture of Scott McNeil or Steve Blum you took at a con.

If you're lucky your job reinforces you.  But if not, find a way to make your environment a little more of a guide and reminder to where you're going to go.

– Steven Savage

Convention focus: Erie-Anime-Experience

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See the rest of our convention ideas!

Erie Anime Experience is a small convention in Pennsylvania, and I had a chance to talk to the convention president, who gave me some interesting insights on the convention, and a few ideas for folks working on a fan-to-pro route.

One event at the convention is discussing the historical background of anime – in this case, the Kenshin series.  This has proven to be a twofold advantage – it not only takes the fans interest deeper, it's also proven an interesting way to get the professionals who've worked on the series involved when they visit.  It's a different take on the usual talk-to-a-pro panel that intrigued me – involving the professionals in discussing the larger context of their work.

In fact, we discussed another element for future cons that I think is needed more in any professional track – the history of an industry and deeper understanding of it.  Many career-oriented people can benefit from knowing the history of what they do – and passionate fans/geeks often get into the history of their interests, from anime to computer games.  A good history of any property or media can be useful.

Some interesting insights from the convention. If you're in the area, give it a try!

– Steven Savage