Promoting Professional Geekery #42 – Be Interviewed

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(The Promoting Professional Geekery Roundup Is Here)

A big way to promote the ideal of the professional geek, the fan-to-pro dream, is to be that dream.  However people actually have to see it in action, and there’s more to do after the usual blogging, books, con speeches, and so forth.

That is to be available for interviews – and to get interviewed.

See you’re testimony to the Power of Progeek.  Also you’re probably good-looking and charismatic.  So we need you out there sharing your wisdom and experiences, and if nothing else your bad examples.

So first, be available for interviews:

  • Make sure there’s contact information on your site, blogs, cards, etc.
  • Make sure that if you are interviewed, you list it on your website with contact information, so people know you can and will be reached.
  • Respond to any contact requests on interviews promptly.
  • If anyone contacts you about information, note your availability for said interviews.

Secondly, go get interviewed.  No, this isn’t arrogant, this is about you sharing your knowledge in a format that people like.  If you’re uncomfortable then reconsider or tone it down, but you need to seek out changes to share you and what you do.

  • Join groups like Help A Reporter Out (http://www.helpareporter.com/) and respond to the posts for information and interviews.  Yes, journalists and researchers are seeking people like you, so go get involved.
  • If you hear about calls for research, information, and interviews go for it!
  • If you’re helping out people with a website or other form of communication, offer to do an interview as a way to share information.  It’s a pretty efficient format, actually.

You’ve got a lot of wisdom to share.  This is just one method to do it – and one that’s pretty efficient when you do it right.

– 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/

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/