Advice

How To Cope With the Usual “Be Like This Startup” Comment

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So lately I got laid off from my latest startup.  As you can guess, I’m kinda getting over the startup thing.  As I look back on my startup experiences and those of friends, one thing comes to mind repeatedly.

Comparisons.

You cannot easily measure how tired I am of hearing the stories about “what Facebook does.”  I’m only slightly more tired of that all the other “we should be like X startup” comments I’ve tolerated over the years.  You can imagine how tired I am; you probably are yourself.

We’re tired of “be like X.”

Let’s be brutally honest here: these comparisons are usually ridiculous.  The startup or company you’re at is not Facebook.  These little “be like X” invocations are tossed around casually and they’re ridiculous and dangerous because they ignore harsh realities and serious differences.

So, when confronted with them?  Here’s my checklist to see if the comparison is actually relevant – and how i respond.

Is the startup being invoked in the same business as your company?  If not then the comparison is already suspect.  If the company being admired isn’t in a business yours can relate to, the comparison may be of no value.  Of course there may be another valuable comparison.

Is the startup being invoked using any similar technologies?  If the much-admired startup you’re being harassed about isn’t using any similar technologies, then really, there’s not much to say.  If there’s no solid underpinnings you share in common, what’s similar?  Well, OK there may be one thing . . .

Is the startup being invoked using any similar business processes?  This can actually be relevant because business processes like SCRUM, Kanban, etc. can be remapped more easily than technical ones.  However, people still have to demonstrate that the processes can be imported because . . .

Is the startup being invoked one that has any similarities to your business at all?  If not, then why the hell is anyone comparing it?  Similar supply chains?  Something?  Really?  If there isn’t anything, then there’s no comparison.  But finally . . .

Is the startup being invoked one that’s gonna be around and have the future you want?  Even if it’s actually good advice in the short term, in the long term is the latest popular startup someone you’re going to want to be like in the next year or two?  If not, then the comparison isn’t really a valid one.

Personally and professionally, I’m very tired of the “be like the latest startup” trend.  I’m sure you are too.  So here’s a bit of ammo next time you have to wade into the war of ideas.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Skill Portability Roundup

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(9/17/2016 – These posts have been expanded in a book, Skill Portability: A Guide To Moving Skills Between Jobs)

Looking at those huge amounts of skills you’ve gained over the years and wonder how they apply to a new job or a new career?  Here’s a quick and handy guide for you!

Exploring Skill Portability – Why you want to do it, and the DARE system.

Direct Skills – Those directly applicable.

Advantageous Skills – Those that give you advantages.

Representative Skills – Those that tell a story.

Enhancing Skills – Those that enhance other skills.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached

 

 

Grow Up, Don’t Grow Old

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I’m a 40-something year old “Professional Geek.”  “Geek 2.0” I call myself, and rather shamelessly at that.  I’m a geek professionally, a geek for money.

I also to not intend to “get old.”  I’d also recommend you, my professional geeks, do not either.

Oh, I intend to mature.  Maturity is how I turned my interests into a career.  Maturity is how I realized this blog is needed.  Maturity is why I value each contributor here.  Maturity is like a good wine or cheese, it’s where things age into a delightful form.

So please, by all means you pro geeks, mature.  Mature and grow.

Just don’t get old.

When you get old you become worn out.  When you get old you become stagnant as opposed to mature.  When you get old you become out of date.  When you get old your age becomes the first and perhaps only thing to matter.

So by all means grow.  Mature.  Grow up.  Just stop before you get old.  Keep enough of the useful enthusiasm that got you here to stay energized.  Keep enough of the energy that drove you so you keep developing, and keep maturing.

As you tell people about your fannish, geeky, and otaku ambitions, they’ll tell you to grow up.  What they really mean is to give up and get old, stagnant, and boring.  What they mean is being like an ideal norm that isn’t normal because it’s all statistical averages and doesn’t exist.  It means pre-aging yourself into ossification.

So don’t grow up and get old.  Mature enough until you’re ideal for what you want, and go on being the person you are, the professional you are.

In fact, shout this to the heavens, because if you’re the best you, the mature you, then you’ll have one hell of a career edge over people who gave up, “grew up,” and grew old no matter what their age.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.