Career

Thoughts on Aspiration

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Aspiration.

It's a funny word, really, not one we use a lot. We talked casually about aspiring to something, having aspiration, but "aspiration" isn't one of those words people use a whole lot. It’s just a funny, useful words that we take out occasionally, like a special tool we use only under certain circumstances.

I've been thinking about this word lately, as I do; language fascinates me. Thinking about it, I realized that what a lot of people actually lack in their careers is aspiration. Maybe one of the reasons we don't use this useful word is because we don't experience what it means very much in our lives.

Aspiration. Aspiring to something. Directing ourselves towards something and hoping to get there. It's really a lovely word.

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Second-Class Formatting?

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Yes, once again I'm going to talk about my Amazon Kindle. No, this is not a case of me going on how great it is, how much I love it, ad nauseum. You've probably had enough of that as it is. Instead, I want to share an insight on the nature of e-books that I didn't notice until I began using the Kindle so much.

What have I noticed? I've noticed that, despite many of the e-books I'm reading coming from professional print sources, some of them have distinct formatting errors on the Kindle. I'd say easily two thirds of the books I've read on the Kindle have noticeable formatting problems, some of them quite distinct and incredibly annoying, such as unclear graphics, oddly placed titles, mashed words, and more.

It's as if Kindle books get a kind of "second-class" formatting.

Somehow, I don't think I'm alone in experiencing odd, strange, and outright painful formatting problems on books I'm reading on the Kindle. I'm quite sure other people are experiencing this as well; all those people on my daily trains reading Kindles doubtlessly are experiencing questionably–formatted books too.

So unless I'm the unluckiest reader in Amazon–land, everyone is experiencing formatting problems with their Kindle books now and then. So why aren't we complaining?

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Resume-Worthy Followup!

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You know that one of her favorite words around here at Fan To Pro is "resume worthy." That, of course, is our term for the kind of company that should get your resume, often because they are cool, make neat things, and of course have probably received boatloads of venture capital. What can I say? We progeeks have got to help those folks spend that investment money wisely.

I'm sure you see our listings here of “resume–worthy” companies. I'm sure you see them yourself when you read the news, glance over blogs, or read interesting e-mails from your fellow pros and friends. We all do it, looking at the company and saying "wow, it would be cool to work there."

We all say that. So let's make sure those of us looking for work follow-up on it as well.

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