Don’t Let Employment Define Your Identity

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I remember my first layoff in 1996.

It was weird and traumatic.  I'd been let go before, I'd had temp assignments run out, but this was a case of everything just ended.  The company I worked for was gone, my co-workers scattered to the four winds, and I was out of a job.

I'd like to say that immunized me against future layoffs.  It didn't.  There's really something about your job just ending, and not because of anything you did – but because a company collapses, or runs out of money, or just decides to cut staff.  Your job is just gone.

In some cases, it feels like you're gone too.  You're not making money, not doing anything, and you don't feel like anyone.  Like it or not, we define a lot of ourselves by our jobs.

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Book Review: Craft, Inc.

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Craft Inc.: Turning your Creative Hobby Into a Business
By Meg Mateo Ilasco

PROS:

  • A mix of business and personal advice on turning a craft hobby into a career.
  • Provides excellent examples from actual successes.
  • Covers a wide variety of ground very well.
  • Extremely artistic layout makes it accessible (and a great gift)

CONS:

  • Occasional digressions can break the flow of the book.
  • Small typefaces may make reading difficult

SUMMARY: A useful, friendly, and information packed guide to turning crafty hobbies into paying business

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News of the Day 5/3/2010

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You're probably helping with Greece's debt, the iPad doesn't seem to need any help, and Crunchyroll owns you all. It's must-know geek news!

Career:
Some advice on body language and your career.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Here's something I missed – since some of the bailout of Greece comes from the IMF it's going to really get bailouts from many countries, including the US and Canada. Want to bet this will not go over well when it gets out?

There's some rather upsetting evidence that the housing market problems were soft-pedaled in the US. This is an area of concern to me as I keep wondering what we don't know just what's wrong or has gone wrong. On the other hand, these activities, if brought to the public's attention, may get more movement towards better financial regulation.

Anime and Manga:
Tokyopop will be publishing the Hetalia Manga in the US. For anyone whose been paying attention, the surprise is it took this long.

Crunchyroll sees amazing growth in Q1. Try a 25% growth in unique visitors. Know what they need? A streaming presence on game consoles. Once again, Crunchyroll is ruling the world.


Green Tech:
Google invests in wind farms. This is one of many of their green efforts (in fact, they are regulated as a potential power utility). This will help raise the prominence of wind power just a bit more – and green tech is an awful geeky area to work . . .

Publishing:
iPad Sells a million copies, but iBook sales are slow. Not sure what this says, but I figure this is a simple case of 'it's going to take time.'

How quality of published content has changed in a digital age. Worth reading, and I think he points out a few things people miss – including issues of correctness and craftsmanship.

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine now accepts electronic submissions. A historical change.

Technology:
A quick profile of Crunchbase – Which I include not just for curiosity, but to give this great resource a quick plug. Fantastic for doing company research.

Kindle getting social media tools. Interesting. I'm wondering if the goal of Kindle is to create a "minimal media" footprint on it – to have just enough to get people to buy it, without overdoing it, and pricing it right.

IronKey raises $22 million for secure flash drives. Lots of money, a good product, and you have a resume . . . see a connection?

Video Games:
Sports Illustrated makes a Fantasy Football Facebook game – Try saying 'Fantasy Football Facebook' five times fast. Social Media, video games, and sports come together? Quite interesting. This is one to pay attention to, as other media-oriented magazines may take note of how well this plays off – and there's plenty of other sports out there begging for a game.

Playdom closes most Green Patch games – Green Patch was one of their past acquisitions, but apparently the games don't fit their business plan.

Finally, a beautiful story of how Make-a-Wish let a boy be a superhero for a day.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Should Crunchyroll create their own streaming service on game consoles? Can they?

– Steven Savage