Advice

Shipping, Anyone?

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You may have missed the news that eBay is trying a limited (as in San Francisco) same-day delivery service.  It makes sense considering Amazon is going that way anyway, but I want to mention career opportunities.

Supply, supply chains, and shipping are big.

I had relavites in supply chains and shipping.  I nearly moved into supply chain technology when the opportunity arose.  Supply Chain Project Managers do really well in the market.  Let’s face it people need to get stuff to places, and that doesn’t change in any economy.

The Shipping, moving of good, providing of transport is an area that is heavily geeky.  It’s a ballet of technology, coordination, and more, and one we’re really not aware of.

As it looks like it’s getting new attention now from big internet names, I recommend you consider it for your career.  It may not seem glamorous, but it’s profoundly high-tech and wide-reaching . . . and probably on the grow.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

How Fandom And Hobbies Return A Sense of Control

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Ever feel like you can’t do anything?  Ever feel disempowered?  I pretty much already know the answer: yes.

Psychologically, a feeling of no control, of helplessness is incredibly damaging.  Anyone that’s taken Psych 101 knows about how it can lead to depression, mental illness, and general dysfunction.  That’s of course on top of what we experience or have seen.

Career-wise (and though it may be insensitive to switch over to careers, that is what this blog is about), a sense of having no control is also destructive.  Beyond the psychological issues people face, there’s the fact that lacking the sense that we can take charge of our lives affects our livelihood.  When we feel out of control, our ambition is checked, opportunities missed, and quite frankly we may come off as helpless or stagnant in the career world.

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Promoting Professional Geekery #49 – Be A Role Model

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(For more Promoting Professional Geekery, see this Roundup of past columns.)

It’s time to share your progeeky successes with people.  You need to tell people how you made it

Why would you do this, beyond sharing your own awesomeness?  That’s simple:

  1. You’ll be a role model, which I’ve noted is very important.  When people see someone and know they’re successful, they find it easier to emulate them.
  2. You’ll be inspirational.  People need to see being a professional geek can work.
  3. You’ll be educational.  If you can give detailed descriptions of what you did right and how you did it, people can learn.
  4. You’ll be a reminder that success is possible.  Believe me, people need that.

What format? So what’s the best way to do it?  That kind of depends on what’s best for you.  Among these columns I’ve suggested the value of blogs, books, guides, etc.  The best thing I’ve found is to:

  1. Pick a format that makes it work.  What method works best to share your success stories?
  2. Pick a format that works for you.  After all some methods just aren’t for you.
  3. Pick a format that reaches people.  This is one reason I like blogs is they’re around for a long time if you pay your server bills.

How should I do it?  This is actually simple – make sure you share your success story in ways that people can actually follow in your footsteps and apply your lessons.  This means:

  1. List how you did it, what you did, what you did wrong, and what you did right.  Let them see your path so they can duplicate it.
  2. Always, always include cause-and-effect when possible so people see how (and what) results should follow.
  3. Include resources you used so people no what to use.
  4. Include “Takeaways” and “To dos” to inspire people to action.

What about my ego?  If you’re worried you look like an egomaniac, then make sure your work keeps the audience in mind first.  Ask how you help them, what you can do for them, how this can pay off for them. It puts them in he foreground, your ego in the background, and you can stop worrying.

I’m sure you’ve got plenty of successes to share.  Get to it!

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/