Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
We're geeks. We're used to being treated as odd or weird, as antisocial or as "differently social", as unfathomable and hard to understand. This is of course incredibly annoying (at least when we don't tune it out), but it conceals a far bigger annoyance. We geeks are in danger of being labeled in another way, a way that will affect our jobs and careers and opportunities.
We're in danger of being considered too smart to give advice too.
I manage my own investments (which I'm kind of glad of considering the market). Now you may not be up for managing your investments, but there is one you should manage – your career.
Think about what an investment is – you put money into something (stocks, land, a business), from which you expect to get benefits that are greater than the money and effort you put into it. The benefits may not be the same (an investment of time may make money, and investment of money may yield fame, etc.), but the principle is the same – put something in that yields more.
Your entire career is a series of investments. Indeed your life is.
"But I'm not a professional," many people say to me when I discuss their careers.
I hear this a lot. Aspiring artists, writers, publishers, coders, etc. They all figure they're not professional now, but at some point in the future they'll be pros. Until that point they're not professionals – and thus they figure no one will talk to them, they can't join professional groups, etc. Professional comes with some special future achievement like the right job or the right degree.
I think that's B.S. Professional is an attitude.