Promoting Professional Geekery

Promoting Professional Geekery #9: Build a Site

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(I've moved this series to Monday, since it's a way to encourage you for the week to come – and a good lead in before we know the news of the week).

Want to share your legacy and enthusiasm for professional geekery?  Start a web page.

Oh, I'm not talking a blog – though it may be part of it.  I'm talking a page that has and does something for people you want to reach, mentor, encourage, or just kick in the backside until they get their progeek on.

I'm talking a page that is a tool.  A page that does something.  A page that is basically an application or a library or something that lets people get something done.  Say . . .

  • Maybe an archival page filled with useful advice, lessons, diagrams, what have you for a given profession.
  • A blog/archive where people swap and record advice.
  • A useful interactive map of services, locations, clubs, etc.
  • A calculator, destination-finder, or planner of some kind.
  • Snippets of code, useful stuff, etc.
  • A "compiler" that combines several sites (social media, code archives, what have you) in one place for various projects, lessons, etc.
  • A site documenting a continual project – and it's continual educational benefits for progeeks.

Ask yourself what people need – and then build it.  Or team up with someone to build it.  You get the idea.

What do you get from it?

  • You get to create a unique service for people.
  • You get to make that service available.
  • You get to learn a lot from deploying it.
  • It can combine well with other projects – like speaking or writing.
  • It looks good on a  resume.

Making a site is easier than ever, from a repurposed blog to Joomla to template-driven creators.  Teamed up with (or being) a web developer and the sky's the limit.

Set your sights on a site and help share your professionally geeky wisdom and knowledge!

– Steven Savage

Promoting Professional Geekery #8: Mentor People

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So much like us here, you want to promote the idea of professional geekery.  You want to remind people "hey you can do what you love," and in some case wave it around to remind people it's TRUE.

So be a mentor to a current or future progeek or a bunch of them.

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Promoting Professional Geekery #7: OK. So Write a Guide

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OK, I get it, I get it.  You're not up for writing an entire book promote progeekery, at least not right now.  So how can you leverage all those writing skills in promoting your love of turning hobbies into jobs, of turning fandom into careers?

Write a helpful guide to something relevant to progeekery.

There's probably plenty of things you could write on that'll help out current and future progeeks that aren't book-length.  These are more than a blog post, but less than the commitment to make a full book.

Consider:

  • Did you have a guide to a good resume?  Write it up.
  • Set up a photo gallery for your cosplay site?  Create a guide so people can do it easily.
  • Have a killer way to make a business card to promote your business?  Let' hear how you created that geeky ideal.
  • Have a job search guide for a given industry?  Write up your experiences so people can use it.
  • A guide to resumes for people into cosplay, or video games, or something else.

Where do you put this?  Well, consider:

  • Your website – and you better have a professional website – is a great place.  It shows employers/clients what you're good at and helps you be part your larger community.
  • See if any blogs, relevant fansites, etc. want to host it – you might find a side hobby doing that.
  • Try self-publishing since a lot of the platforms don't mind size – and set it to free.
  • Speak on your subject at a convention and hand out copies.

You've got a lot of knowledge.  So you're not up for a book (yet)?  Put that wisdom in a guide and release it to the world in guide form.

– Steven Savage