Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Promoting Professional Geekery #23: Start A Pro Section At A Con

The roundup of Promoting Professional Geekery is here.

OK you're speaking at a con about careers.  You might be managing an entire track of career events.  So what more can you do to encourage people attending your convention or conventions to try the route of the professional geek?

Why, by inviting other professionals - but not just to speak.  Give them tables, give them their own area.  Start a Pro Section at your con.

Promoting Professional Geekery #22: Talk To The Parents

If you're a progeek of any kind, it's likely that your parents kind of were worried about your career goals - if they even understand them.  If you were one of the people who had supportive parents who got your goals, you're quite fortunate - I think a changing world and economy makes the generation gaps worse at times.

So right now there's a lot of young future progeeks out there and maybe their parents need to know their children are on the right track, aren't going to starve, and can get some mentorship.  It's time for them to see professional geekery in action so they're fine with their little geeks growing up to make money at what they love.

That, by the way, is where you come in.  If you want to promote the fan-to-pro life, it's time to help out parents so they can guide their kids, not panic, or realize they may be doing things right.

• If you have your own kids, well, hey, do a good job.  Nothing like being a role-model.
• Help out your friends and family with children.  Be accessible to them for questions, offer to help with career advice, and don't be afraid to mention your success.  Be a resource.  Oh, and on Christmas and Birthday's remember those books, memberships, and programs that can be useful career tools to give a hint . . .
• Do events at conventions.  I myself have experimented with a "for parents" event (that is still in revision) to help them "get" what their kids are up to.  If you do, say, anime or game conventions, there's probably a few parents needing something to do- captive audience.  Bring donuts.
• Write.  Yes, you can blog like me, but also there might just be a book in it, a column, a post at a website, etc.  If you think you have the chops to help parents with their future progeeks, seek out the opportunity to share their wisdom.  Heck, talk to us here.
• Get involved in education.  Your local schools, clubs, and more would probably love to have a professional come in and speak to kids and parents.  Also, you're probably free.
• Share the resources.  There are books, websites, and more that are good career guides.  Get them out there.

Help out the next generation - by helping this generation see progeekery is a realistic goal and nothing to panic over.

Plus, if you have kids of your own,a  chance you'll land some babysitting partners . . . 

- Steven Savage

 

Promoting Professional Geekery #20: Help Out Reporters!

Want to help the world appreciate the fan-to-pro ideal, the geeky lifestyle?  Try getting yourself in the news, and in a way that's not overtly embarrassing.

Help out reporters.

Promoting Professional Geekery #19: Flaunt It!

The best way to promote pride and awareness of professional geeks?  Well there's many debates that can be had, and I myself won't side with one way or another in order to encourage people.  But one of the more effective, in my highly biased but doubtlessly right opinion, is to basically "flaunt it."

No I'm not talking about wearing a T-shirt reading "I am a professional geek, bow before me" unless that's your thing and you have a good design.  I'm more talking about the fact that you go out of your way a bit to communicate you do what you love for a living and believe in it.  Not shoving it in people's face, but keeping in mind there are chances to promote the ideal.

Some of them MAY involve the obnoxious t-shirt and the shoving it in people's face, but I'd like to keep those the exceptions.

It's important people see proud, happy, healthy progeeks.  There's too much assumption you can't do what you love for a living.  There's too many negative ideas of basement-dwelling obsessives being the closest thing to professional geeks (not that there's anything wrong with that if it's your thing).  They need to see people who are progeeks.

They need to see you.  You're an example, a role model, a testimony.  Yes, I realize just how disturbing that is, but stick with me here.

Whenever people see functional (or at least functional enough) progeeks, even those who are just realizing their ambitions, they see that important idea manifest: you can do what you love for a living.  You can be that.

Here's how you "flaunt it" without overdoing it.  Unless you consider me to be overdoing it, to which I say "bow before my virtual t-shirt."

• Mention it in your blog, site, posts, whatever.  Be proud of it.  Talk about your experiences.
• Discuss it at cons as I've mentioned ad nauseum.  Show people it is possible.
• Help out people professionally - to find their geeky careers.  They'll realize it's possible.
• Geek out at work and be yourself - appropriately.  People should know you're a geek - just like they know who's a gamer, football enthusiast, foodie, spawn of the Deep Ones (it's the gills).  Be the reminder or example.
• Stop repressing and start expressing.  Learn to catch yourself when you're harshing your own geek buzz when it's not needed.  Learn to let it out so people can see.
• Be yourself.

You are the testimony, the reminder, the example.  Scary thought, but it's up to us to show people dreams are worth living, even if it's in ways you never expected.

- Steven Savage

 

Beyond The Loading Screen: December

There’s a quote by Douglas Adams that goes, “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”  I undertook this project to get a number of things done; namely, publish my book, make my cartoon show, and revive my company.  However, behind all those tasks was one big giant goal, and that was to get my life started.

Promoting Professional Geekery #18: Evangelize About A Professional Association

Last week I mentioned that, to promote the idea of professional geekiness, you should let a professional association you belong to know about your fellow fans, subcultures, etc. with an interest in said profession.  OK, so you got your fellows informed about people like, well, yourself, right?

Now it's time to turn it around and let your fellow fans know about your professional association.

Promoting Professional Geekery #17: Evangelize To A Professional Association

If you've read this blog for any length of time, or any of my books, you know I'm big on people joining professional associations.  They're great for networking, for keeping your skills up, and more.  They're de rigeur for any professional.

So I'm going to assume that you're joining one, have joined one, or are so seized with guilt after the above paragraph you're going to join one.

Now, when you are/if you are part of a professional association, you want to make sure they know about things from the geeky side of things.  They might not always know about the people who have a passion for the same subjects they do - but are coming at it from the fan/geek/otaku side.

A Reminder Of Why You Geeks, Nerds, Otaku, and Fanpeople are Important.

Let me note that SOPA is a reminder of why you, the geek, the fan, the otaku, are important.

SOPA was and is  a grand illustration of ignorance, greed, and stupidity.  It would  destroy a great deal of freedom, was a legal and technical nightmare, and contained so much wrong it'd be hard to describe (fortunately others have done this for me).

Of course we geeks knew this.  Tech geeks could see where this was dangerous technically and security wise.  Culture geeks saw how this could destroy sites and communities.  Artistic geeks could see their livelihood curtailed or destroyed.  We knew in short it was REALLY BAD.

An awful lot of geeks rallied to give congress what-for, and are continuing to do so.  They do this because they get how things work - and know what's happening.

Promoting Professional Geekery #16: Pass On The Books!

if you're any kind of professional, you have a lot of books that you read to assist you and improve your lot.  If you're any kind of geek, you have a lot of books in various formats.

So if you want to keep promoting professional geekiness, it's time to start passing the books around.

Of you don't have to give them away permanently (though it might be nice to buy some as gifts, hint, hint).  Just make sure that those amazing, life-altering, career-building books get read by the right people - in short, people like you.  If you don't want to give them away for awhile, then recommend them forcefully.

I'm big on recommending and lending (OK, pushing) books to people, as you can kind of tell here with my reviews.  There's reasons:

• There's a lot of books out there for careers and related subjects, and filtering them is hard.  You can sort through the dross.
• There's also the case of finding the right books out of all the good ones - you know which ones fit your friends and fellow fans.
• If you do lend out books, it's a good way to save friends, family, and fellows money.  In fact you save money just helping them sort through the wastes of money.
• You can find what won't bore or confuse people - which is a big issue in career books.  What excites one person may bore others.
• It helps keep people reading and improving their careers.  Always good.

And best of all?  Once you start doing it, other people start doing it.  They'll help others, they'll pass books on to you.

- Steven Savage

P.S. Don't forget book-lending for eBooks like Amazon, or just posting good reviews for books.  Anything that gets the word out!

Promoting Professional Geekery #15: Pass The News On

News is your friend.  I'm talking real news of course, not a lot of stuff out there that is to real news what cheese product is to cheese (a greasy, unsatisfying substitute).