Professional Geekery

One of the important things about careers is that things change.  Your vision for yourself and what you want to do has to deal with time, technology, and more – at times within a few years.

At the same time, being aware of the history of what you do with your life is critically important.  Industries, jobs, personal callings, etc. do not spring fully-formed from nothing.  They have histories, often long histories, and understanding these is vital to your success and happiness.  You can't create a blockbuster movie without understanding the early blockbusters (Jaws, Star wars, etc.), you won't be a successful sports writer if you ignore the successes of the past.

So your challenge this week is to play the history game.

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If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know Bonnie and I are people who are aware of relocation issues from research, news, and our own experiences (such as my cross-country move).  Relocation is something that you'll have to face – either doing it or deciding why you haven't.

Set aside an evening for this one.

Your challenge for this week is to identify five places you'd like to live that are both geekily satisfying and good places for your careers.  List why you've decided that these places are worth moving.

Now that you know these places, do bit of research:

1. 1) Where do they stand in the CnnMoney.com best places to live?
2. 2) Take a look at the same pages city information and see if anything changes your mind or confirms your ideas.
3. 3) Go to Meetup.com and see what kind of events are in your cities of choice
4. 4) Go geektastic and visit UpcomingCons.com – a great website – and see what cons are in and near that location.

So, did any of this research confirm – or reduce – your interest in these places?  For that matter, how much research did you do in the first place?

– Steve

I'm always reading books on careers, business, economics.  It's not all of course -  I read about other things after all – but this is a blog on careers.

What I like to do is get into a rhythm of reading – not only cycling through my different interests, but also looking ahead to what books I WANT to read.  I always buy/borrow/check out a few books ahead to make sure I research them, have them, and can get to them any time.

Sometimes that book sitting on the shelf or in your briefcase is a GREAT reminder.

So here's your challenge to start this week.

• Sit down and figure the next two books you WILL read for your career/business/job.
• Go and get them, borrow them, or check them out and keep them visible so you're reminded they're there.
• Start reading and finish them in the next month.

– Steven Savage