Promoting Professional Geekery #2: Contribute To A Site

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Last time we discussed promoting the idea of professional geekery, I discussed sharing your mistakes, since mistakes are great to learn from, and you might as well share your greatest screw-us to spare people some pain.  Now, though I'm sure all of us have some spectacularly displays of dumb, let's take a positive focus for this column.

So you want to promote the idea of professional geekery, that what you love can indeed be your career, your calling.

There's many sites out there that are quite inspiring – I'd like to think we're one, of course.   There are plenty of examples, from 3 Geeks and a law blog, or even community-industry focused blogs like the Smart Bitches that are great for professional geeks.

You probably read a few.

So, start writing for them.

Really, you've probably got plenty of stories to tell that promote the professional geek, profan, protaku dreams.  Maybe they're cautionary tales of what happens after you graduate, grand adventures, or stories of a successfully tame career.  Either way you have plenty of things to say (even if, as noted last time, they're warnings).

Think people don't want to hear your stories?  Well you won't know if you try.

Even if you're telling a tale everyone else has told, changes are you'll be reaching people who need to hear it and happen to this time.

Even if your story is so weird or hard to relate to, chances are someone can – and has been waiting to hear about a person, experience, or career like theirs.

So, go out and contact the people at these blogs and sites and start writing for them.

Now I don't recommend just asking "hey, can I write," even though that may work.  I also don't recommend going super-formal unless said site seems to encourage or want that.

Here's what I'd recommend:

  • Have an idea of what you want to do – a column or two, a series, or a regular.  Include that in a letter.
  • Be friendly and social, don't go overly formal unless, again, it's strongly encouraged.
  • Be willing to propose writing a few articles ahead or even delivering a whole series.
  • Stay in touch – follow the site or contact on twitter, add them on LinkedIn, etc.  Don't be wham-bam-goodbye.
  • Become part of the community or form bonds with the people you work with.

Go on, share that professional geekery.  In fact, we'd love to hear from you here, and you can contact me at my site.

– Steven Savage

News Of The Day 8/31/2011

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Apparently no one got my letter that said we weren't allowed to have any more huge tech stories for awhile: The U.S. Justice department filed to block AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile which I figured was a done deal. Essentially it's an argument based on antitrust law.

Sprint shares jumped on the news, and AT&T said they'd bring back some jobs to the U.S. once/if the deal goes through.

So this isn't done, and this is a surprisingly aggressive stance from the government, the fallout from which should be interesting to watch. I expect that:

  • This throws some unsurety into the mobile market.
  • This means mobile companies may start figuring they're 'bounded' one way or another.
  • Competitors will scramble to take advantage of AT&T's temporary disorientation.
  • This may or may not come up in the presidential campaign.

Career:
Why you want to write a book to boost your IT career. Lots of good stuff here and of course I buy it.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Mass layoffs increased in July 2011.

Ecosystems:
Amazon is shipping a 7 inch tablet in October and a 10 inch in Q1 2012. Sounds like they want to lead in with a holiday competitor then bring in the big guns.

Sony has an updated eReader which sounds pretty slick. They do stand out for having library book checkout in the ePub format, though as the article notes it may not make a lot of difference. Interesting promotional tie-in with Harry Potter. Oh, and read more below . .

Sony's new tablets will play games from the PS1 era. I wondered what was up with that infamous emulator. Looks like they're marching erratically towards a kind of media ecosystem – not a full-bore one like Apple, but more entertainment-oriented. Keep watching – and of course send resumes to them (or their competitors).

Music:
It just. Does. Not. Stop. Now Facebook is launching a music service, which is mostly due to partnering. So it's not quite it's own music service, and I'd like to see more details (like, is it possibly a combiner with extant services, which might be welcome). Still music seems to be the must-have thing these days . . . much to my surprise. See what they're up to because at some point A) it seems music services are going to be universal, and B) not everyone can have a successful one, so there will be employment and opportunity changes.

Technology:
Google launches offline versions of Gmail, Calendar, Docs which doesn't surprise anyone. Oh and it works via Chrome right now. Continuing their steps to . . . well continued dominance. I actually am impressed they're going to support other browsers, which keeps mindshare and keeps a good disruptive strategy going. If they move more and more offline, you might want to be there working for them – or competing with them.

Bandwidth issues could screw up internet TV in Canada.

Video Games:
PSN is folded into Sony Entertainment which is one way to rebrand after their last embarrassment, and is probably a good idea.  May want to check opportunities?

Is it just me or is Sony pretty – and understandably active?

QUESTION OF THE DAY: So what do you think will happen with the AT&T/T-Moble merger?

– Steven Savage