Advice

Not geeky enough for your job?

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Have you every worried you're not geeky enough for your job?

A weird thing to say when many of us don't want to discuss our extensive addiction to Legend of the Five Rings in a job interview, but it's actually a factor.  Jobs like game programmer, artist, writer, reviewer, etc. are positions where you're expected to have a certain level of geek on display.  Believe it or not, people do worry about it.

Think of your geekiness as a way of displaying certain talents, affiliations, and even knowledges and competencies.  There are expectations people have, and you may find yourself actually being NOT geeky enough – or at least worrying that during that vital interview with the guy who has multiple piercings, your business outfit may have seemed a tad  . . . boring.

I've had to deal with this.  I still do in some cases as I'm a Project Manager in IT – I am PAID to be the dull guy with Gantt charts, spreadsheets, and organizational skill.  I just do it in geeky jobs, and need to communicate my passion about the subject matter before I discuss my love-hate relationship with Team Foundation Server.

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The Advantage of Double Doing

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When it comes to having the career – and hobbies – you like, you'll often find yourself pressed for time, especially if your life is more "in progress" than anything else.  You've got commitments, assignments, friends, conventions, etc. to take care of.

Worst, you often feel like these things conflict – time to work on a fan website conflicts with a class you want to take, hanging with friends means missing a seminar, a chance to travel overseas for work means missing a convention, etc.

An approach I find helps with this is to look for chances for "Double Doing."

By this I mean, look to see what there is in your life, even in the most stressful tasks or situations, that you can get multiple benefits from.  What is there in your demanding schedule that benefits you in many ways and your many sides as a person – or how can you make things benefit you in multiple ways.

That convention you go to may be a chance to do some networking (or slip in an interview at a local company).  If you've got to learn a new web tool at work, can you use it to rebuild your fan site?  Those free reviews you write may also let you hone your skills and be a better technical writer.

You can even take this further by going out of your way to see what you can do that "pays double" for you – classes in technology you use on the job and off, a chance to relocate to a better job can put you near a convention you like and make you look good to management, etc.

You get the idea – a lot of your life can pay off in many ways – personally, professionally, in entertainment, etc.  You have to look for it – and occasionally make it.

– Steven Savage

What level are your career issues really on?

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So you're not happy with your job.  You know it.  Maybe your whole career isn't working out.

Usually, you're pretty sure what it is – your boss, the position, the company.  However I'd stand back a second and ask yourself this:

Are you sure of just what you're dissatisfied with?

I often find people are dissatisfied with their job on a different "level" than they expect.  They may be happy in a particular industry, but not like the position – but have soured on the industry they work in.  They may dislike an industry and figure it's the position.  They may even dislike a particular technology they have to use.

It's too easy to get our levels of dissatisfaction mixed up.  A small thing can make us dislike an otherwise ideal job, we can do the ideal job in an industry we dislike, etc.

This is a complicated issue, but one I think is important – especially in geeky jobs where we assume we'll love everything about our career.  Dissatisfaction's origin is not always obvious, and possibly isn't at the same "level" we think it is.

So if you're not happy, ask yourself if you're sure why you're not happy.  You may be looking too high or too low, and miss what's right in front of your face.

– Steven Savage