Advice

The Professional Advantage of fun – relating

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Earlier I'd praised the importance of fun, even dumb fun.  But I'd like to go one bit further for us progeeks – fun has not just an inspirational or recreational advantage, or an intense skill/life building source – it can be useful on the job directly because it helps you relate to people.

I work in IT, and have since 1995.  I am old-school, hardcore IT geek turned manager.  My hobbies have proven invaluable on the job.

We all need to be able to relate to people, and I dealt with a lot of geeks – still do in fact.  Having similar hobbies proved invaluable.  In short, the fact I can recognize Halo action figures and characters from Naruto is a great way to build rapport.

Geekery is a great way to get to know people.

  • It shows that you have similar interests.  It bridges gaps between people.
  • It shows you're like other people – they can relate to you.
  • It shows you have a life outside of work (which may sound odd in geeky jobs, but there you go).
  • It gives you a way to socialize with people outside of work, and build deep relations with them.
  • It gives you a way to recreate with people you work with, to blow off stream, and relax.

So yes, that fun you have has other uses besides the skill-building or recreation and such I talk about.  It lets you relate to people and helps you connect with them, and that's important no matter what your job is – and important as a person.

– Steven Savage

EDIT: I made a mistake and put down my IT career as starting in 2005.  It actually started in 1995.

Job Has Evolved into NeoJob!

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I've talked to people who, one day, realized that their job wasn't what it had been.  They hadn't changed, but the job had.  Requirements changed, software knowledge needs changed, etc.  Suddenly they were doing different things, or worse, were less and less qualified to do what they were doing anyway – and seniority wasn't cutting it.

Jobs change.  They change in the skills needed, in the contacts needed, in the knowledge needed, and the vendors you deal with.  Jobs evolve, grow, mutate – and even die off.

It's way, WAY too easy to assume that a job will be the same forever.  We have names for jobs, good solid nouns and adjectives, that give us a sense of solidity, of permanence.  Jobs are an activity and a process though, they slip out of the simplicity of nouns and adjectives (or end up adding new ones).

I can't emphasize this enough – stay aware of how your job – and your career – are evolving and changing.  Follow trade mags, news, take classes, etc.  Be aware of it, because chances are in this high-speed, erratic, global economy, what you do is going to change even if the title is the same – and what you do in the future will change as well.  Make job review a regular part of your life – perhaps even meet with friends and fellow pros every six months to discuss your careers, compare notes, and seek advice.

With geeky jobs, it's even worse – stuff we progeeks do is often cool, cutting edge, creative, diverse, and evolving.  The tools we use change, the goals change, the vendors change, what we produce changes.  Manga moves in on comics, comics license to movies, movies create special effects unimaginable ten years ago, videogames becomes series of DLC, anime goes online, etc.

The way around this is, as I noted, constant research, awareness, and evaluation.  Band together with your fellow progeeks, it'll make the bumpy – if exciting – ride much easier.  The world is going to change – and so will your job, perhaps even the one you're doing right now.

– Steven Savage

Convention Idea: Career Tracks

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My original column on how conventions could invite more "career" guests (legal reps, marketers, special effects teams) along with their "name" guests generated a good deal of feedback from various people.  After some though, I've decided to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and flesh out other ideas on how conventions and similar fan/geek events can encourage professional development as well as fun.  There's no real endpoint to the series – and I'm always looking for new ideas.

For this column, I want to focus on another way to make conventions skill-and-career building as well as social and fun – a career track at a convention.  I've seen a few ideas like this implemented from con to con, and wanted to discuss my ideal version of how they could be done.

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