technology

Technology, Speculation, and Failure

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I've talked a lot about technology in this blog – it's both a geeky subject, and something we're all interested in and dependent on.  Technology is changing fast and that changes jobs for ALL of us.

I want to address how technology is changing the nature of speculation and of failure in our careers.

For many of us progeeks and fan-to-pro types, technology is making some or all of our career ambitions easier.  If you want to be a writer, you can self-publish the first edition of your novel, comic, or book.  If you want to do a webcomic, the tools are there – including publicity tools.  If you want recognition as a history teacher you can edit wikis, write for blogs and websites, etc.  If you're a musician or an aspiring one I don't even HAVE to talk about what technology has done for you.

We all look at what technology lets us do from a positive side.  I'd like to call out another advantage that the onslaught of new technologies has done for us that we may not be looking at – speculation and failure.

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Fandom, Software, Technology

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You're probably amazingly literate in computer software and the internet.

To some of you reading this, you wonder if I've had my morning Red Bull because you've done a lot of boneheaded things on the computer.  You accidentally erased files, you just had your far more tech-savvy neighbor redo your security settings after the virus incident.  You don't feel too competent, and you STILL don't know where your vacation photos went.

But you're a fan.  You're obviously wired enough to be on-line to read this.  I'm betting you've got a lot more software knowledge than you've realized.  You may geek out more over bishounen than technology, but if you're your average online fan, you have a lot more knowledge than you may realize.

This of course means a few things:
1) you may want to reassess your resume because you have a lot more technical ability than you realized.
2) You may want to rethink some career options as perhaps you like the technology you work with, you just aren't sure you're too good at it – but if you like it, training can make up for ignorance.
3) You may want to reassess what you're doing in your current career as you may be able to do more than you thought, or may be able to improve your skills more quickly than you thought.

So ask yourself just what you know?
* DId your fanfic writing help you get to know a Word Processor?
* Did doing the budget for a convention make you better at Spreadsheets?
* Were you able to use visio to chart out how to get that cosplay done?
* You were editing a fan-wiki,learning all the markups and ins and outs.

You probably know more than you think, software-wise thanks to your fandom.

Keep that in mind.  Maybe give your resume or your career a once-over and ask what you know that you've missed.  Also ask how you can improve it.

– Steven Savage

Convention Idea – Engage your technology

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The roundup of ideas for providing more career/professional elements at conventions is here.

Most of my "convention suggestions" for professional events have focused on, well, the actual conventions themselves.  So as I brainstorm other ideas, something else has come to mind.

Making job and professional elements part of the convention website and forums.  People are going to be going to the website for information and to network on the convention – so add a professional subsectrion if it fits.

Some ideas:
* Add a career section to your forums.  People can discuss jobs, what they'd like to see, etc.  Have people who regularly speak at the con on careers (or organize those events) moderate it.
* Consider a "going pro" section of the website to have pro-attendees network, see events, etc.
* See what kind of job-oriented newsfeeds, job feeds, etc. may be available for the "pro" part of the site or forums.
* Form a mailing list for career-oriented convention information.

There's plenty of other possibilities I doubtlessly haven't come up with.  But if you're going to add serious pro elements to your convention, why not go further with the website?  It'll keep interest, attention, and help promote your ambitious ideas so people get involved.

– Steven Savage