Professional Geekery

Fannish Skills On The Job Search – Art

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I write a lot about using your fannish and hobby skills on the job.  It's sort of a big thing, what with this whole "Fan To Pro" title putting pressure on me.  But there's more to using the skills from your recreation in your profession – you can use them in other "professional areas", which I'm going to talk about in the weeks to come.

Namely, I'll be writing about how your fannish, geeky, and otaku skills can also be used in your job search.  It's even possible you have some skills you don't want to or can't use in your chosen career that are great to use on your job search.  You probably have a lot of unappreciated talents anyway (or at least ones that you may not be great at but you can leverage)

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The History Of Geeks

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One thing I find strengthens my efforts, as an unrepentant geek, is to look back at history of all the geeks, nerds, fanboys, fangirls, etc. that came before me.  A quick review of history reveals just how much was done by people like, well, us.

History is filled with examples of people making great achievements in their own area of interest or outright obsession.  Our world is pretty much build on their efforts, knowledge, wisdom, and odd habits turned into virtues and creations.

How many of us were inspired by language-and-lit-geek JRR Tolken?  A man who loved language so much he ended up making his own.

Chinese history is filled with tales of philosophers, musicians, and sages who were joyfully odballs and geeks – many remembered to this day.

The computer you're using to read this is a product of huge amount of nerd-hours – from hardware to software.  You can only read this because of people that are likely FAR geekeir than you or I doing what they love to make technology.

Just take a LOOK at Einstein, Bill Gates, and . . . well most artists.

Guess what?  History is filled with people just like you.

Look back over history and look for fellow nerds, geeks, and fans.  You'll be surprised what you find.

You'll also be inspired.  If they succeeded, you can too.

– Steven Savage

Signs You’re a Progeek

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Ways you know you're a progeek:

  • When you hear about economic "megaregions" you think of MegaCity One from Judge Dredd or Hive Worlds from Warhammer 40,000.
  • You scan Monday Through Friday for ideas you can actually use on the job.
  • When you get news about things like the Thundercat revival, your first reaction is excitement, but your second reaction is always to ask what it means for you and your career.
  • When you see the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver, you think how useful it'd be for setting up a computer.  Bonus geek points if you make the Sonic Screwdriver noise when no one can hear you.
  • You are excellent at Spreadsheets partially due to your commitment to professionalism, partially for using them to crunch gaming stats.
  • Whenever you hear about economic news in a major city, you can name the major conventions of that city, major game companies, and/or major authors/artists that live in that area.
  • Whenever your favorite comic is made into a film you can discuss its demographic appeal after you finish your victory fist pump.
  • You are able to discuss the evolution of the MMO, and who ripped who off, without using obscenities unless you want to.
  • You're able to estimate the costs of your cosplay group's next outfit in your head because it's just like your department's budget.
  • No matter the crew, no matter the starship, you see their relationships as an org chart.
  • You make lists like this and send them to your co-workers.

– Steven Savage