Anyone that's talked to me, or read the blog here, obviously knows I'm big on the idea of leveraging one's fannish activities, one's hobbies, toward one's career.  In fact it's safe to say my ultimate goal is to make sure my hobbies and job are indistinguishable.  I want to earn my daily bread in ways I care about.

When we talk about career-fandom intersections, it's easy to discuss things like gaining skills, making contacts, or learning about industries.  There's another advantage to being of the fannish/geeky persuasian however, and that's the "meta-skills" you build in your fannish activities.  I'm going to discuss one of those: the advantage of having a fannish project.

A lot of us have fannish projects:  we write epic fanfics, manage website, build cosplays, do art.  I have Seventh Sanctum.  Friends of mine do dolls and fanfic.  A lot of us engage in epic month or even years-long activities to get these projects done.  Those ten-person cosplay skits don't happen spontaneously.

It goes without saying that not all of our epic fan projects seem to be applicable in a career-oriented manner.  There's nothing wrong with this of course, because there's nothing wrong with having fun or enjoying things or just being plain silly and fannish.  But we also ignore the value of these activities at our own peril, and fannish projects I feel get taken for granted because people don't always see the value.

The value of a fannish project?  It's the ability to actually do it.  It doesn't matter if it's a model of LAMP-style webwork or an ten-part multi-fandom crossover fanfic pile-on – when you're able to achieve that large-scale, long-term, complex fannish project you've just learned the ability to DO a project.

Planning, getting organized, tracking and meeting goals, these are all skills that are extremely important to any part of life, from jobs to recreation, and a fannish project is a great way to learn them.  Sure you may not be able to describe the skills in ways that don't sound bureaucratic ("knowing C#" sounds a lot cooler than "Project Management" take it from a Project Manager), but they're skills nonetheless.

The best thing about fannish projects?  You can pick up a lot of not-exciting sounding but useful abilities by having fun.  When that website is done, when the fan interviews are posted, when the cosplay team is dressed up, you've learned an awful lot while having a ball (for most of it at any rate).

It's important to be aware of this so you don't discount the skills and abilities you've gained – so you can improve them if you want, use them better, and apply them both fannishly and on the job.  If this essay makes you go "hey, wait a moment" then take a little bit to look at your fannish projects and ask yourself just what skills you use and what you've learned.  You might be surprised – and might get a few ideas.

A few skills you may have picked up:

• Record-keeping.  You may have had to track supplies, plans, etc.
• People management.  You may have made assignments, provided leadership, and smoothed over conflicts.
• Project management.  You may have made and tracked schedules, assigned priorities and talent, and otherwise provided organization.
• Budgeting.  If you had to figure out costs for cosplay materials, etc. then you probably gain some budgeting skills.
• Delegating and outsourcing.  Perhaps you needed to get outside help or delegate tasks to others out of your team (even if it's a team of one).

So take a look at those fannish projects, you've probably learned more than you'd expect.