Global And Mobile

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A lot of time in these pages we post about relocation – I did it big time (moving across the country), others we know have considered it, others we know have done it.

Now as you may guess, I am all for proper revocations – one has to find the right place for themselves and their careers.  Some people even take it farther and live far more mobile lives – I've seen jobs with 50% travel that frankly don't care about where you live.  However, there's one factor I wanted to discuss.

Mobility isn't going to let anyone escape Global changes, and those have to be part of your career – and relocation -plans.

We've pretty much found that out in the latest economic downturn – global effects (like, say, a financial meltdown) can affect you pretty much no matter where you are.  Few places are immunite to the effects of things like an economic meltdown – or a new technology innovation, or increased gas prices, etc.  The different locations may let you mitigate the effects of a world-wide change, but some things border on the inescapable.

I of course can testify to this from first-hand experience.

What this means for the potentially relocating:
1) If you're moving to get away from something, make sure you'll really get away from it.
2) When you relocate, ask yourself what global factors can affect the place you're relocating too.
3) Explore how potential areas of relocation will be able to adapt to various possible problems.
4) Finally, sadly, make sure you have the ability to leave if you have to – a permanent, un-reversible move may be a bad idea unless not moving is a worse idea.

Moving is often inevitable and often a good idea. But some things will follow you anywhere.

– Steven Savage

Let Me Bore You: Stability and Profit

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And let's get down to some more boring career advice!  You know you enjoy it, if only because it saves on sleeping pills!

Today's subject – stability versus profit at work.

Sure we all want high levels of pay, and a lot of us probably deserve them.  However one of the factors to consider in long term career planning, is that just because you get paid a certain amount a year on average, it doesn't mean that's what you'll make in the end.  You will face pay cuts, layoffs, etc.

That has to be taken into account in working on long-term plans and budgets.

What's the average rate of pay in your profession – and the average amount of time someone spends unemployed – and how often does it happen?  If you've found over eight years that you get laid off every 2 years and it takes you 3 months to find a job, that's not eight years of solid employment – that's 12 entire months of unemployment in 8 years – you really only worked 7 years.  In short, you made 7/8 of your pay rate (not counting unemployment and severance of course).

That little bit of math can be a lifesaver in long-term planning because it not only lets you project ahead and tells you about your unemployment prospects (for instance in some professions certain months and quarters are more likely for layoffs), but also lets you do some long-term budgeting.  You can, with just basic math skills, do a bit more planning ahead and calculations to stay on an even keep financially.

So, take an inventory of your past employment and see what you can see in layoffs, hiring, and how it might impact your budget.

– Steven Savage

Welcome to The Everything Wars

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Bonnie and I write on video wars, text wars, audio wars, book wars.  I'm starting to think that we may have this wrong.  Not that we're wrong about there being a LOT of competition over standards, delivery methods, media, etc.  I think we're not looking at it from a big enough picture.

We've seen Google announce an OS aimed at Netbooks.  Microsoft suddenly announces Office for Web really isn't as far away as it seemed.  Amazon is working on text deployment (Kindle of course), which conflicts with Barnes and Noble, and also runs on the iPhone.  The iPhone now has to cope with Android (Google), but Verizon is also getting in on the phone app store act.  EVERYONE is busy with some kind of video, while Hulu finally explains why PS3 people got locked out for awhile, and Netflix is scrambling to work with Microsoft.  Microsoft as we noted, is tussling with Google, so who knows what's next.

We don't have video wars.  Or audio wars.  Or text wars.

In the technical side of the Geekonomy we've now got the EVERYTHING wars.  Everyone at some point seems to be butting heads with everyone else in the technology and media side of things.  I'd say we've got unprecedented conflicts, changes, and just plain weirdness coming our way for at least two years.

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