Pizza Vending Machine. Here Comes The Future.

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Yes, a Pizza Vending Machine is coming to the US.

Now I could joke about this, or talk nerd culture, but I’m going to get serious:

  1. This is Pizza.  This is a complex assemblage.  If this works it means more interests in automated food machines, because a valid pizza can be seem as a proof-of-concept of other vending possibilites.
  2. This will also normalize food vending like this.
  3. I have predicted before that automated fast food may become a norm.  Combine the first two points and I see this as opening up new opportunities in food automation.
  4. This could lead to some other technical opportunities in engineering, mobile (imagine MOBILE PIZZA ORDERING), etc.  So if automation is your schtick (or marketing it is), pay attention.

So yeah.  Automated pizza.  This, my progeeks, is one of OUR moments.

– Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

 

Watch Your Language: Regional Differences And Careers

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Recently while helping a friend look for work, I had a strange experience where a recruiter vastly underestimated their skillset.  I was trying to think why this would happen – and then realized it was a regional difference as the person and the recruiter were nearly on different coasts.  In this case it was a Silicon Valley recruiter mistaking some communication experience for “just another tech writer.”

The more I thought this over, the more it intrigued me, and the more I looked into it, the more I realized that if you’re doing a job search, the ways you describe yourself and even your title can vary from region to region and even coast to coast:

  • The titles can be completely different from jobs.  Words like “publishing” and “engineer” can have widely ranging meanings.  In fact I got called on this a few times – “Programmer” is a term that isn’t considered very encompassing for most software engineers/developers and can even seem insulting.
  • Titles can vary not just in region but also “how deep” you are in a large corporate structure.  What is “editing” in one profession is “communication management” elsewhere.
  • The “core skill” of a profession can vary by what it’s called from region to region as well.  An “artist” in some technical regions is assumed to have pretty advanced digital skills.  I suppose in some regions an artist would nearly be a Programmer . . . er, Engineer . . . er, you get the idea.

If you’re on a job search where a regional change is in order, check your language to make sure you’re not sabotaging your own job search.  A few suggestions:

  • Search job boards in a region but use single words related to your job – coding, art, graphics, editing, marketing, etc.  See what jobs come up and read the descriptions to see which ones fit you – and see what titles you fine.
  • Ask someone that lives in the region on terminology or have them introduce you to someone.

So moving?  Start checking your language out to see if you’re sabotaging yourself.

– Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/

Reasons To Employ Geeks: Avoiding Weedlord Bonerhitler

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OK, imagine you decide to livestream a petition from the internet, printing out the various people who support your position.  Supposedly.

If you tell your average Geek (or hell any internet-savvy person) they will tell you this is a dumb publicity stunt that will be trolled with stupid names.

The Republican Congressional Committee did not think about this, and thus you got signers like Weedlord Bonerhitler, which may be the most trolltastic name I’ve seen yet.

So another reminder of why people need you, my fellow geeks.  You would have been able to explain in a few seconds why this was a terrible idea.

– Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach for professional and potentially professional geeks, fans, and otaku. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/