You are on the record

This piece expresses it well: Your tweets are always on.

For now, we are always representing our company online. It’s not quite fair, but we are always judged by what we write when we communicate (or say) and if you use any online services (blogging, social media, etc), then you could end up getting in trouble because of what you push out there.

I don’t know if it’s quite as bad as the article states, since I think you can show some separation. However you have to follow my advice and make a second account for non-work stuff. Show separation, and if you want to make political, religious, etc. comments, do it from an account that doesn’t have your employer’s name on it.

Don’t Be a Ghost

This is a post on technology workers from Troy Hunt, but it could apply to many industries, and more of them all the time.

It’s perhaps more applicable in the technology industries, but I could see this applying to other places as well. The idea is that you shouldn’t be someone that comes to work, sits in an office and gets things done without ever making some mark in the world of what you do.

I think this makes some sense, but you don’t need to be out in the world making an impact publicly. However you need to document the places you do make an impact. You should have a whole history of projects, skills, whatever you’ve done.

If you do those privately, unpublished on the Internet, then make sure you have a private URL you can give to recruiters and prospective employers. Or a file you can send them.

Showcase Your Knowledge

While working on another piece, I ran across this post: Seven Things I Learned About Data Visualizations. It's a short list, with details, of how this particular subject taught the writer a few things. It looks at a variety of other pieces, in different subjects, and interprets these items with relation to data visualizations. In addition to being an interesting read, it's a great career piece for the author.

If I were looking for someone that could help me produce data visualizations, this piece would mean much more to me than a dozen questions in an interview. I would have a much better understanding of how this author looks at the subject, and I'd have a frame of reference and some topics to discuss in person.

This article allows me to complete quite a bit of due diligence for someone before I would even meet them.

This is a great example of how you could produce some work on a blog that showcases your knowledge, but more importantly, showcases your thoughts.  This is the type of work that gives an employer confidence that you understand a particular subject.

This gives you a brand in this subject area.

The Work Life Balance for Men

A great piece by LZ Granderson, and one that really make me stop and think a bit. Work and life is always a balance, and men certainly don’t have it easier. We make different choices, or we set different priorities. It’s worth the read, and as you do, before you dismiss it, consider this: how would work life look if women had been a part of business and work for all of history?

I sometimes look at the way I do things, and wonder if I’m balancing too far one way or the other. Ultimately I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but I keep an eye on it.

Reduce Your Incompetence

Are you unconsciously incompetent?

I hope you answered “yes”, because if you didn’t, you’re really unconsciously incompetent.

I’m not trying to offend you, but it’s a fact that all of us don’t know various things, but there’s an even larger set of things that we aren’t even aware that we can’t do.

For example, in databases, I wasn’t aware that there was a DBCC Check Constraints until I read this post. I didn’t know this was even an option, much less what it did. There are probably lots of people in a similar situation in my field, people that don’t know some feature or option exists, and never use it.

That’s the case for most of us in many fields, but also in our own. One of the ways to advance your career, maybe shape it in a way that suits you, is to learn something new about your field, try to expand your horizons. You may learn there’s an area you’d like to move into, or one you want to avoid (perhaps more important).

You don’t have to do this, or any specific piece of advice I give, but do something.

It’s Working–Touch Your Resume

I stress in my talk a few times that you should touch your resume every quarter. It’s the last thing I leave people with, but I’ve rarely heard people come back to me and tell me they’re doing it.

That changed, as a friend mentioned me in his post recently called Dust Off That Resume.

Glad to see the advice is being repeated, and I think it’s the single best thing you can do for your career. Have this up to date, and thinking about the change you make, or don’t have to make, is a good way to keep you focused on your career.

Speaking Advice

From a Pluralsight author, there’s a difference between talking and teaching.

Overall I think it’s good. I try to keep some of these points in mind when I talk, though I haven’t always kept the agenda slides in. I’ve tried them in a few places, and I like them for pacing myself and transitioning things. It also reminds me to ask for questions.

I completely agree that “You probably already know this” is poor technique, whether writing or speaking. Don’t assume people know something, and if you have doubts, ask.

Speaking well takes practice, as much for your delivery, as for the comfort you get after lots of talks. The better you feel, the better your talk will be for the audience.