Recently in Career Category

These links are collected from The Working Geek's Twitter feed. If you have suggestions for news bits, please mail me at andy@theworkinggeek.com.

• Job hopping is career crack for losers: (corcodilos.com)
• Sometimes you just suck it up for an hour: (askamanager.blogspot.com)
• New programming jargon (via @sachmet) (globalnerdy.com)
• Seven reasons you may not be getting a job (usnews.com)
• The job hunting paradox (tompeters.com)
• Find the job before it even exists (karenburnsworkinggirl.com)
• How one sentence can make or break your job search (freelancefolder.com)
• You don't need anyone's permission to get work experience in software (atalasoft.com)
• When was the last time you were thanked? (theworkinggeek.com)
• My June column in PragPub: How to get fired correctly (pragprog.com)
• How to get a job in an awful economy (consumerist.com)
• @punkrockhr nails it again: Job Search 101: Interviewing (punkrockhr.com)
• Slides from Josh Berkus and Ian Dees' Give a Great Tech Talk at Open Source Bridge (slideshare.net)
• How to do a web resume right (theworkinggeek.com)
• Interview rule #1 in my mind: "Make it easy for us to hire you" (punkrockhr.com)
• So you think you want to be a consultant? (unixwiz.net)
• RT @scalzi: "The failure mode of clever is 'asshole.'"
• Ten signs you probably don't want that job, anyway (punkrockhr.com)

Seth Godin's blog entry today sums up so much of my frustration with much of what I see on the Net:

Yes, I know you're a master of the web, that you've visited every website written in English, that you've been going to SXSW for ten years, that you were one of the first bloggers, you used Foursquare before it was cool and you can code in HTML in your sleep. Yes, I know that you sit in the back of the room tweeting clever ripostes when speakers are up front failing on a panel and that you had a LOLcat published before they stopped being funny.

But what have you shipped?

What have you done with your connection skills that has been worthy of criticism, that moved the dial and that changed the world?

Go, do that.

Right on, Seth. To that list of "so you can..." I'd add

• You're a master debater on Slashdot and Reddit
• You're quick with a link to letmegooglethatforyou.com
• You correct people in the ways in which they ask questions in IRC

The tough part is that most of the things that you do "with your connection skills that has been worthy of criticism, that moved the dial and that changed the world" require you to get off your ass and get out from behind a keyboard.

Ever given a talk at a user group meeting? Ever organized a conference? Or lined up a speaker for a user group meeting? Written an article or blog post where people say "That's changed the way I look at things?" Or created software where people say "I don't know how I lived without this?"

When Seth talks about "moved the dial and changed the world," I'll even set the bar a bit lower. When was the last time someone thanked you for downvoting someone on reddit, or being an oh-so-clever snark poster on Slashdot? Ever received appreciations for pointing out what you perceived as someone's shortcomings in a flame war?

Which is more likely?

• "Thanks for telling that guy your negative opinion of him."
• "Thanks for that presentation on Ruby modules."
• "Thanks for reaching level 75 on Farmville."
• "Thanks for putting together this group. I learned a lot."

Get out there from behind your keyboard and do something that builds rather than tears down.

These links are collected from The Working Geek's Twitter feed. If you have suggestions for news bits, please mail me at andy@theworkinggeek.com.

• Resume advice from Savage Chickens: (savagechickens.com)
• You are hereby recruited into the ongoing battle against fear (punkrockhr.com)
• Why you should ask at the interview about the fate of your predecessor (askamanager.blogspot.com)
• The Ten Commandments of being the junior programmer (chadpluspl.us)
• Why you are always unfailingly polite to everyone on an interview (youtube.com)
• What makes a tech book a classic? (pragprog.com)

These links are collected from The Working Geek's Twitter feed. If you have suggestions for news bits, please mail me at andy@theworkinggeek.com.

• Don't forget that your public library is a great source of job hunting help (nydailynews.com)
• Ask The Headhunter: Do I have to have a one-page resume? (corcodilos.com)
• I discuss business cards, resumes and how you want to be remembered in my latest column (pragprog.com)
• Asking for the job is crucial at the end of the interview. Ten ways to do it: (usnews.com)
• "Is it good that they asked for references?" Perhaps, but why try to figure it out? (askamanager.blogspot.com)
• My slides from #posscon, "What schools should be teaching IT students" (theworkinggeek.com)
• Don't confuse "qualifications" with "skills assumed of everyone" (theworkinggeek.com)
• How to say it: "Is this a good place to work?" (corcodilos.com)
• Use Google Alerts to monitor your online presence (theworkinggeek.com)
• More career resolutions, this time from Working Girl (usnews.com)
• How to say it: I don't have a degree, but hire me anyway (corcodilos.com)
• The skill of interviewing (insideria.com)
• The skill of interviewing part 2 (insideria.com)
• Career advice part 1: Don't settle (greatleadershipbydan.com)
• Via @sachmet, a startup where each developer gets his/her own house (developertown.com)
• Experienced programmers, which common mistakes do you see those of us with less experience make time after time? (reddit.com)
• Geek behaviors present during conversations (stanford.edu)
• Social tips for geeks (stanford.edu)
• #milwaukeejobcamp is only two days away, and there are sessions on everything: (milwaukeejobcamp.org)
• It's always interesting to see what from the book resonates with readers: (estravizhausen.tumblr.com)
• Milwaukee Jobcamp on the TV news (fox6now.com)
• Video from my talk at #milwaukeejobcamp is here: (ustream.tv)
• Get to the point first (blog.webnet-it.co.jp)

Next time you apply for a job, the hiring manager is going to Google your name and see what she finds. Do you know what people say about you? About things you've written? You should.

Google Alerts is a fantastic little tool that I don't hear people talk about enough. Google Alerts lets you enter a Google search once, and Google will update you whenever the Googlebot finds new matches for your search, often within only an hour or two of the page's publication.

The most obvious Alert search is your name, as a phrase in double quotes, but that's just the start. Here are some more ideas:

• Your name ("Andy Lester")
• Your nick ("petdance")
• Your email address ("andy@theworkinggeek.com")
• Your company's name
• Resumes related to your job market in your area of expertise (I have an alert for "resume Perl Chicago" (but without the quotes)
• Titles from blog postings you've made
• Links to specific blog postings you've made using the link: syntax

Keep an eye on the results. It's not vanity, it's understanding your personal brand.

For more of my suggestions of how to improve your working life in 2010, see the January 2010 issue of PragPub magazine. It's a free download in three different electronic formats: PDF, ePub and mobi.

These links are collected from The Working Geek's Twitter feed. If you have suggestions for news bits, please mail me at andy@theworkinggeek.com.

• A great question to ask in your job interview (askamanager.blogspot.com)
• Webcast of @berkun's talk Confessions of a Public Speaker available (oreillynet.com)
• Yet another tale of how being a jerk works against you in the working world (askamanager.blogspot.com)
• Laurie Ruettimann digs up the issue of the privacy of your salary history. Again. Read and decide yourself. (punkrockhr.com)
• What everyone with a job can learn from Groucho Marx (sethgodin.typepad.com)

On January 21st, 2010 at 6pm, I'll be presenting my talk "Effective Job Interviewing From Both Sides of the Desk" at a Chicago Nerd Social Club meeting.

The meeting is at OfficePort Chicago, 9 W. Washington, Chicago, IL. Doors open at 5:30pm, and I'll be presenting at 6pm. Afterwards they are hosting a Tech Thursday meetup for socializing and drinks.

One lucky attendee will win a free copy, either electronic or paper, of my book Land The Tech Job You Love.

I hope to see you there!

About my presentation

Interviews have too long been treated like interrogations, probing and testing candidates like they were fruit at a grocer. Effective interviewing reframes the interview as what it really is: the candidate’s first day on the job.

For job-seekers, topics include:

• How to prepare an effective portfolio that says more than words about your skills.
• Your primary goal at the interview.
• Using the power of stories to tell what self-description cannot.
• Understanding the process through the interviewer’s eyes.
• How to turn the interview into a working meeting.
• Five dreaded questions you must be able to answer, and how to answer them without fear.

For managers, you’ll learn:

• Effective pre-interview research
• How to increase your chances of choosing the best candidate.
• Increase your odds in judging cultural fit.
• Why you must ask the dreaded questions like “Where do you want to be in five years,” and how to ask them without asking them.

These links are collected from The Working Geek's Twitter feed. If you have suggestions for news bits, please mail me at andy@theworkinggeek.com.

• The BBC shows why you want to bypass HR when going after a job: (publius-ovidius.livejournal.com)
• Great review of "Land The Tech Job You Love" from @mstine (java.dzone.com)
• Fans of "Land The Tech Job You Love" can upvote the DZone review here: (dzone.com)
• New issue of PragPub is out, with article from me on keeping your crappy job (pragprog.com)
• A prime example of why objectives are worthless: (hiringhorror.com)

You wouldn't think I'd be advocating hanging on to a job you don't love, but in today's economy it may make the most sense. In the latest issue, #6, of PragPub, the free magazine from Pragmatic Bookshelf, I talk about how to make the most of the time you're spending in a job that you have to keep. It's also the first in my new monthly column for the magazine.

PragPub is published every month in three different formats, so you can read in the format that works best for you. I admit, I print mine out. Sorry, trees!

Finally, from last month, there's an article with me in the blog Interview Mantra.