Advice

Ask A Progeek: Name-Dropping

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Been awhile since I’ve published one of these?  Well, we do have a new question for our progeeks: How Do You Name-Drop?

We all wonder – should we mention someone we know in our cover letters?  Should we, in short, shout out we know someone there?

Actually, let’s back up.  Is name-dropping a good idea?  The answer to that is, in general, no.

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Promoting Professional Geekery #38: Raise The Children Well

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

When did you first realize your hardcore geekdom was a possible career?  Me, I think I was about 7 or 8.

I was into science and medicine and such, and already figured that’d be my job.  I got some encouragement from my family, and even more later on in my life.  It probably helped that only a few people even knew what the hell I was talking about, but at least no one tried to derail me.

And, decades later, it worked out pretty good.

So if you want to promote the professional geek ideal start helping out young people.  They’ve got enough challenges to face right now with a failing economy, bad school systems, poor . . . er, wait, I’m depressing myself.

Let’s focus on the positive.  If you’ve got a way with the younger generation, from experience with your own children to recently having been the younger generation, start helping them out.  Bring them into the progeeky fold.

Here’s ways where you can start helping progeeky kids with an early step up:

  • If you do the con scene, do events for young creative, geeky, technical people.  Crafty things, fun events, what have you.
  • Teach, work with, or other wise help at youth events and clubs.
  • Encourage your local schools to start after-school classes or events on careers that you (and your friends) can speak and advise on.
  • If you have kids of your own, younger siblings, or friends with kids, always be supportive of them career-wise.  Even if you don’t have children, the kids and their parents may give you ideas of how you can do more.
  • If you write, then consider books for a younger set on career issues.

Think of what you can do to educate, help, and support.  For that matter, think how many parents may be thrilled that their children are getting some career ideas early that they also enjoy.  That helps a lot when they look at the cost of college.

Come to think of it the parents are someone you should keep in mind, and that’s for next column . . .

– Steven Savage

How Your Safe Career Isn’t Sustainable

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A good career is one that’s sustainable.  It can take hits and return, it continuously evolves to more stability, and of course keeps paying the bills.  It’s like a sustainable agricultural practice, or use of raw materials, or what have you.

The thing is we mix it up with “playing it safe.”  There’s a big difference between a stable career and playing it safe.

Playing it safe is about doing things the same old way you did them because innovation seems threatening.

Playing it safe is about holding on to things no matter what – even if you don’t need them.

Playing it safe is about not taking chances even when taking chances is what’s needed.

Playing it safe is about not changing your goals even when they no longer form an overall, sustainable, picture.

Playing it safe . . . is usually stagnation.  Stagnation doesn’t last, just the same way stagnant water gets rather disgusting.  You career ends up all green and sludgy and attracts mosquitos.

OK, I sort of lost the metaphor there.

Anyway, when you’re playing it safe in your career, there’s no guarantee it’s sustainable – and quite likely it’s not.  You need to think of what you have to do, what you have to learn, to make sure the good state of affairs continues and improves.  The same old same old won’t cut it.

Your Next Step?  Look at your career and ask how sustainable it is, and what you have to do to improve that state – even if it scares you.

– Steven Savage