If you can, teach. If you can't teach, do.

On the subway ride to work, I was thinking about Drupal and what I'd like to do for my next assignment. My current project will be wrapping up on October 24, and I get the feeling there would be plenty more Drupal work to do. As an application developer, I could build on all that experience I'm gaining in my current assignment: an understanding of how Drupal fits together, some practices for configuration management, testing and documentation, code snippets I can reuse, and so on.

But what I'd really like to do is teach all of this to other people so that I can focus on things I can't teach. There are many things I do that I don't know well enough to teach, and there are many things I do that seem intractable. I can teach tips for networking, but I don't know how to teach people how to connect the dots. I can teach techniques for creativity, but I can't teach creativity. I can teach ways to discover and develop passion, but I can't teach passion.

I'd like to make this unique part more of my paying work. Ideally, I'd be able to do so while keeping my manager happy. It'll help if I can figure out what kind of a difference I'm making and I want to make, and if I can find people who think I'm creating plenty of value.

If you can, teach. If you can't teach, do.

Something worth thinking about….

I'm getting a better idea of the work I enjoy doing. Here's a rough sketch:

• I love sharing what I'm passionate about, helping people learn more and become more effective, and encouraging people to grow. In my current role, I get to do plenty of presenting, conducting workshops, coaching, and writing. People appreciate not only the information I share but also the enthusiasm with which I share it and the thoughtfulness with which I help people learn.
• I love learning about all sorts of things. I'm currently working on visual literacy, and I'm looking forward to using the Cintiq tablet to experiment with graphics even more. I also love learning about social networking, communication skills, and other topics that I can share with people around me.
• I love connecting people with other people, ideas, or tools. It gives me a thrill whenever I can introduce people to just the right person who can help them do what they want, to a book or article that fits their interests, or to a tool they'll love.
• I love exercising my creativity and helping people brainstorm. As part of my work, I often get to help people brainstorm Web 2.0 business ideas, and I really enjoy bringing in things I've learned from all the different aspects of my life.
• I enjoy working on lightweight projects based on open source technologies with vibrant user communities. I get to do this with my Drupal-based project and with my Emacs book. I love being able to read source code and learn from other people's contributions. I love sharing tips on my blog and learning more from others. I love giving back to the community, too!
• I can write technical documentation better than most developers can. And I don't mind doing it, too, as long as it doesn't require me to keep changing applications or operating systems.
• I don't like working on front-end interfaces, such as designing graphics, writing CSS, or trying to make a page look exactly like the design. I can do it, but I'd rather do a simple design.
• I really don't like working on cross-browser or cross-platform issues.
• I really don't like dealing with inconsistent, fiddly, or frustrating things such as bugs in one's operating system (really, my mouse should Just Work) or convoluted administrative paperwork. Some people enjoy solving problems like that. I don't.

I'd like to explore sales at some point, too. I want to find out if it might be a good fit for me, too, and I like the idea of helping people find the right solution for them.

So that's a general idea of my strengths. I love helping people be more effective, whether it's by sharing ideas or tips, connecting them with others, or building or tweaking tools for them. I enjoy software development and technical writing too, but mainly as a way of supporting my ability to help people be more effective. Those are the "whats," at least right now. What about the hows?

I don't see myself working on projects with unrealistic time expectations. I don't see myself sacrificing life for work or for career advancement. If I did, I'd be going up the ladder, yes, but it might be the wrong ladder for me.

The things I love doing and the things that make me special all require me to be happy and passionate about my work. I believe that I can be successful at them while living according to my values. I'm looking forward to seeing the kind of life I can build. =)

Have you thought about your whats and hows?

This week gave me an opportunity to think about time, work, and money.

I had spent much of Sunday and my evenings on conference-related work. As much as I enjoyed the opportunity to reach out and touch people I wouldn't ordinarily get to meet, I also realized that it was time I took away from my personal projects and my other relationships. By the time the conference wrapped up on Wednesday, I was looking forward to a quiet day working at home.

Although I'd already worked the typical number of hours for the week, I still felt that I needed to keep working on Thursday and Friday. I wanted to make some more progress on my main billable project, and I was also helping a number of volunteer efforts get off the ground. I put in a full day of work on Thursday, and I headed into the office on Friday.

After I did some more work on my main billable project, demonstrated some of our internal Web 2.0 tools, and replied to my e-mail, I looked into the process for filing overtime. I had given the company my personal time because the company wanted the value I could create, so I figured that I should be able to get some of that value back. I knew I could be compensated in either money or time, but I needed to do some paperwork.

Catching myself getting frustrated by the process for filing overtime, I decided to put off the paperwork until next week and enjoy some of the time that I had earned.

Don't get me wrong–I love the opportunities I have to grow and work with such wonderful people. I just want to make sure that I'm living the values that I want to live, because I won't be effective if I'm not authentic. This doesn't mean that I don't love my work. This means I love it enough to want to always love it, instead of coming to resent it or losing touch with myself.

During my commute back, I looked at the options of no overtime, overtime for money, overtime for time, and free overtime, thinking about their effects on my happiness, relationships, increased opportunities to help, career progress, and bank balance. This is the chart I sketched on the subway ride home.

VALUES: Personal happiness and relationships are very important to me. I enjoy opportunities to help, but I'm not too worried about it because there are more than enough awesome opportunities to reach out and make a difference, both inside and outside work. I think about but am not overly concerned with career growth, because that tends to follow opportunities to help. Money is flexible. I don't mind growing wealth and I'd like to share in the value I create, but because I enjoy being frugal and I don't have many financial demands, I'm not driven to earn more and more.

OPTIONS:

No overtime: If I try my best to stay within the 40-44 hours that forms a "typical" work week, I think this will have a terrific effect on my happiness and my relationships. I'll be able to explore other areas, exercise my creativity, and keep myself from going overboard. I'll miss out on some opportunities to help at work and my career won't progress as quickly as other people's might, but I'll have more opportunities to help outside work and those opportunities may turn into things that can make money for me, too. This doesn't stop me from volunteering on things I love about work during my free time (but only the things I love!). =) What will I do with the rest of the time? Experience new things, think, learn, write, dream, doodle, listen, share, grow…

Overtime compensated by money: Ideally it would be overtime for something I really enjoy and would be doing anyway, but even in that case, I'd still have to deal with the paperwork. Once I sort out the paperwork, though, this will be less stressful. (I should revise this chart after I complete the process a number of times.) On the downside, I might find myself doing overtime on things I don't particularly care about, in which case I'll probably feel the strain of not enough rest, reflection, or creative randomness. I may also end up finding it easier to focus on work than on relationships, so that's not too good either. In addition, money is flexible, but time is irreplaceable. On the upside, it'll open up more opportunities to help at work, it would be good for my career (particularly that utilization target), and it would grow my bank balance (well, after taxes). It's also a good way of making sure that I spend time on things that other people will find valuable.

Overtime compensated by time later on: This depends on the circumstances. I would need to fill out paperwork and coordinate with my team members, which will take effort. On the other hand, if this allows me to move time around so that I can have more chunks of free time, then that can work out well for personal happiness and relationships. If I can put in work when demand is high and take time for myself when demand is low, then my opportunities and career would probably be positively affected. On the other hand, there will probably always be demand, and it's hard to take a break when other people are working hard.

Free overtime: I can skip the paperwork, but that doesn't solve the problem of being more stressed because I give up time spent on rest, reflection, learning, or relationships. It's good for opportunities and career, and has a neutral effect on money.

SUMMARY: My intuition tells me that the no overtime case gets me closest to living my values without too much stress, and even if that might limit my career advancement, it opens so much more of life to me. Overtime for money and overtime for time are pretty much tied, but it'll be a moot point because overtime is going to be phased out for my job category next year. Free overtime is good for the company, but it doesn't help me confront and try to live my values, and it's too easy to get sucked into work.

I'm going to work on the paperwork so that I can get what I'm eligible for and so that I can understand the process. After that, I'll avoid working overtime unless the company really really needs it, and then I'll see if I can either take that as time off (preferably) or as money.

I think it's good to think out loud about things like this. I've learned more about my tradeoffs, and I'd love to hear your insights. If my employer disagrees with the way I currently think, I'd rather hear about it now (and maybe work out a different view?) than later. It doesn't mean that I don't love my work. Again: all this means I love it enough to want to always love it, instead of coming to resent it. I hope that by thinking about my values and decisions, I can make the fit better and better.

It's not about time management or productivity.

I probably work less than most new hires do. I don't work long hours because my evenings and weekends are full of wonderful things to do. (Okay, I do some work in the evenings and on the weekends, but that's because it's fun.) I've also kept a careful rein on the urge to immerse myself in work because I've heard that it can take over one's life. This is not to say that people who live for work have made the wrong choice (we owe so much to people like them!), but I like the balance I have.

I don't think I work significantly smarter than other people do. This is not about tips for handling e-mail faster or to make better use of your downtime. I've read a good number of productivity books and blogs, and I've incorporated many of their suggestions into my habits, but that's really more to minimize frustration than to trim every last minute and streamline my daily routines. Besides, all these things are things other people can do. Whenever I come across something that saves me time, I try to teach it to other people–lifting as I climb. I'm not looking for a competitive advantage. I want to make the path even easier for other people than it was for me.

Besides, it's difficult to compare productivity anyway. Let's take my current project. I can read and figure out PHP code quickly, but it takes me forever to do cascading style sheet designs for websites. Am I faster or slower than my teammate? I don't think it matters. My manager and my team members are happy with my work. I fulfill my end of the deal, and I help other people work more productively as well. I'm happy with my work and how I spend my time, and that's probably the best result.

So if it's not about longer hours or greater productivity, what's the deal, then?

These three things are true about time: you will always have the same amount of time in one day as other people do, there will never be enough time to do everything, and there's plenty of time to do the things that matter. The first point is the answer to "Where do you find the time to do this?" The second point is what stresses lots of people out. The third point is what makes all of that easier to deal with. It's like the difference between a half-empty glass and a half-full glass. If you're stressed out because you feel you don't have enough time, you'll feel even worse and you'll use up more energy when you're doing things. If you're happy that you have the time to do a number of valuable things and maybe even a little more, you'll feel better and you'll bring that energy to your work and your life. So much of happiness is in how you see things.

What matters? For me, my formal responsibilities matter. My team relies on me to do certain kinds of work. I can see the value in what I'm doing, and I know that if I do a good job at what I do, I help other people create even more value doing the work they do. So yes, my work matters.

But my formal responsibilities aren't everything. Even when it comes to work, I feel that it's important for me not to run totally flat out. Some people relish that kind of challenge. Me, I can probably pull it off as a sprint, but not a marathon. I'm not the kind of person you want working 80-hour weeks, schedule packed to the brim. I need gaps of unstructured, potentially "unproductive" time.

Where does that "unproductive" time go? I use that time to reflect, to learn, to reach out, and to share what I'm learning.

I regularly reflect on what I've been doing, how I've been doing it, how I can do it better, and where I want to go. This helps me practice relentless improvement. Reflection is such an important part of the way I work and live that when I don't give myself the time to step back, I feel raw, stretched, frayed. I need that quiet time. I need that space to learn, and I need that space to share.

When I learn, I divide my time between focused skill-building (like the way I'd burn through twenty books on a single topic or focus on a particular programming platform), general scanning (a feed reader makes it easy to stay up to date), and random-walking in search of serendipitous connections. All three types of learning have given me incredible value, not only for myself but also for other people. Focused skill-building gives me the deep knowledge I can use at work and I can share with others. General scanning lets me fish out just the right example from my memory when we're throwing ideas around at a meeting. Random-walking helps me draw connections between different areas.

Reaching out to people lets me find opportunities to learn more and to be of even more help. I'm a little shy about inviting people out for a walk or interrupting their concentration with an instant message, but I feel comfortable commenting on blog entries or e-mailing people about something we've talked about. My blog also helps me reach out. People come across it for all sorts of different reasons, such as a search result, an e-mail signature, or a casual conversation. If they find it useful, they sometimes write to say hi or to ask a question. So even if I'm shy or busy working on something else, my blog is always out there, reaching out to people for me.

My blog is also the primary place where I share what I'm learning. Teaching something helps you learn it more effectively, and you can create lots of value by doing so. I spent at least two days struggling with multi-step form validation in Drupal, and I happily spent fifteen minutes writing about it in the hopes of saving other people time. I try to do the same with the other things I learn. Teaching what I'm learning is a natural fit with my reflections. It helps me learn more effectively. It's a terrific way to reach out. I also give presentations, answer questions through e-mail, coach people over the phone, and talk to people. A lot of that material starts out as a blog post, though, as I try to figure out what I want to say and how to say it.

Teaching–whether it's an informal blog post or a dressed-up presentation–is a fantastic way to keep getting extra value from the time you've already spent learning something. It's like what I tell myself when I make a mistake or when I spend a long time trying to figure something out: "You've already paid the tuition. Now collect the paycheck." If you're the one in that situation, you know that the time you spent is gone. You won't be able to get it back. What you can do, however, is not only to learn the lesson, but to get even more value out of it by sharing it with others. It's like passive income, except it's about creating additional value over and over again. A little investment of time now can save lots of people time in the future, and that has a way of working out for you too.

So that's the long answer to "How do you find the time to do the things you do?" I do this stuff because it matters to me. It looks like it matters to other people too, so maybe I'm on to something here. I hope it works for you too!

The energy I get from sharing what I know with people–giving presentations, writing articles, talking to people in small groups and one on one–coupled with a slight imposter syndrome–difficult to avoid when working with such experienced people!–had left me wondering if developing software was still in my future. I've been good at it before, but I was wondering if it was the kind of competence that had taken me far but which could keep me from doing something that would bring in even more of my passions.

One of the things I loved about programming was working with people directly. When I maintained an open source personal information manager named Planner, I enjoyed helping people who were passionate about becoming more productive. I wasn't sure if I could get that kind of experience in commercial software development, where there might be layers of analysis and design between me and actual users, and where we typically work on larger projects than the highly personalized customizations I helped other Planner users make. In the seven months I'd been with the company, I hadn't really been on any projects that made me feel good about programming.

I was feeling pretty blah about coding. I could do it, but I wasn't feeling that spark. I figured that it might be just be the relationship of skill to joy. I remember coming across something like this graph when I was reading about the role of deliberate practice in developing expertise.

When you start learning something, you enjoy it because you're learning a lot. Then you hit the plateau of mediocrity. No matter how much you practice, it seems as if you're making very slow progress. This lasts until you become good enough to stop thinking about doing things and start enjoying yourself while you do them. Deliberate practice gets you through that plateau of mediocrity. It's not very fun, but if you can trudge through that plateau, you can break through to new heights.

Actually, the skill/joy curve looks more like this:

… because there's always more to discover. (And that's a good thing!)

Researchers found that this holds true whether you're talking about tennis, chess, music, or anything else in life. I was feeling it with my work. I'd gotten good enough at presenting to have fun doing it (although it still makes me nervous), but I was stuck in the plateau of mediocrity when it came to programming. I was frustrated because I couldn't get a sense of my progress.

But this week, I immersed myself in Drupal code, learning enough of it to rewrite some code to follow the Drupal way of doing things–and I felt a shift in the way I wrote the code. I love picking up the idioms of a language or a programming platform, just as I enjoyed learning enough Japanese to understand the juggling unicyclists at Ueno Park. There's something magical about feeling your brain start flowing along different paths. Picking up programmatic idioms, learning more about other people's code and ways of thinking–that's what turns the isolated activity of programming into a social activity for me. I'm not just writing code. I'm listening to and talking with the other programmers who had touched that code before. I'm learning the lingo. I'm grokking it.

I'm looking forward to doing more work in this area. I'm still very far from a Drupal whiz (that's probably a number of other joy/skill cycles away), but it'll be fun getting there. =)

In a word, what I am talking about it responsibility. I may not be passionate about my 8-5 job, but I am passionate about being a quality employee and coworker. To buck Gen Y stereotypes, I guess you might say I am passionate about responsibility.

Holly Hoffman, worklovelife.com

That reminded me of this excerpt from a book I read last year:

Rather than quit work and go on a sabbatical to discover some burning career passion, which, by the way, might be just the ticket for some people, I've decided to go all in with my work because, well, it's my work. Seriously. I decided that whatever work I do can be a source of fulfillment and even joy, depending on the extent to which I go all in with it.

It can be a chicken-or-egg question. Should I wait until I find work that I love before I commit to go all in? Or should I go all in so that I will begin to love the work that I've got?

Why would I conceivably not want to be the best I can be at whatever I'm doing? I like the idea that whether I'm sweeping a street, weeding my yard, playing drums in a band, teaching a class, taking photos at a wedding, working as a customer service representative, selling insurance, washing cars, running a company, being a personal fitness trainer, bagging groceries, or writing a book that I take the attitude that I will knock your socks off with how I do what I do. Or maybe it's my own socks that I want to knock off.

Work Like You're Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today (p. 72) by Joe Calloway Read more about this book…

Go and knock your own socks off.

[Never Wrestle With A Pig]:

McCormack addresses time management here, making several astute points. The biggest one - and the one that I see many people not actually doing - is to set a very strict time for leaving work and sticking to it. Doing that ensures two things: one, that you have adequate time for personal growth and rest so that, two, during the time you're actually there, you can be highly productive. I've seen people burn the midnight oil quite often - it works fine for a little while, but they usually wind up exhausted, underproductive, and bitter about things, none of which are helpful for your career.

The Simple Dollar - Review: Never Wrestle With A Pig
I'm in my twenties, and this is supposed to be when I focus almost exclusively on my career, put in the long hours, and do whatever I need to do in order to get on the fast track and stay there. That might work for other people, but I don't think it would work for me. I need the space for growth and rest, and there are other important things in life. I'll work hard when it's time to work, and I'll invest time in developing other areas of my life as well.

I've read that new graduates often come into the workplace thinking they know everything. There's no danger of that here. From my point of view, I don't know anything compared to these folks. I keep warning my teammates not to expect that I know anything. ;) On the way into the meeting yesterday, I told my teammate, "You do know that I'm a complete newbie at this, right?" She told me that it was fine and that I shouldn't worry about it. Well, if she's okay with that, I guess it will work out. After all, everyone started from somewhere. =)

And so can you. If you're new to the job, cheer up and don't be intimidated by all the other people who do it so easily because of their experience. If you're already experienced, please look out for us newbies and help us settle in. =) After all, everyone has to start from somewhere!

On Technorati: career

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What's my title? I'm somewhat in between titles. I'm moving away from being a tech evangelist because it doesn't capture my focus on processes and practices. I help companies help people connect. I want to get really good at spotting and telling great stories, refining and sharing best practices, and exploring new tools and new ways of doing things. I want to help companies enable more connection, more conversation, more collaboration... and more innovation. And I want to do all that and make it _fun._ Fun the way discovering how small the world is when you discover that the other person in the elevator with you also reads tons of books and you end up chatting about great reads all the way to the cafeteria and all throughout lunch. Connection is fun. Networking is fun. I want to make it easy.

Connection catalyst?

On Technorati: career

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Helping companies help people connect

What does that mean?Let's look at the core idea: to help people connect. I want to help people connect with the people they work with and with the people they would never have gotten to know otherwise. I want to help people expand and deepen their networks. In the process, we will make the world smaller. It takes only a few random links to bring different parts of the world together.

Why are these networks important? Because opportunities flow through networks. Conversations are rooted in networks. Ideas begin in networks. I believe that there's a lot of untapped potential for great ideas, teamwork, and innovations in the worldwide conversations that we haven't yet had. I believe that we are going to need that potential to face the accelerating rate of changes and challenges that my generation is going to inherit.

I'm not just talking about connecting people with other people in the same organization. I want to connect people with other people who can help make good things happen, no matter where they are or who they are. I want to connect people with the ideas and tools that can help them make good things happen. I want to help people connect with themselves, too: that rich, unconscious collection of experiences and insights and potential that needs to be shared in order to be understood.

I want to help people connect, but as much as I enjoy building these links one at a time, I don't have enough lifetimes to do everything. So I want to help companies help people connect. I am part of a very big thing, too big for me to do by myself. I want to learn how to help companies learn how to help their people connect with each other and with people outside the company. By refining and sharing best practices and tools for connecting, I want to help companies help people connect the dots. Maybe the person who would never think of giving a speech in front of a crowd might share a tip or a bookmark to a great resource. Maybe the person who would never think of going to a networking event might make a great connection online thanks to a blog entry or a forum post. And maybe these new connections will help bring us this much closer to the ideas and innovations we need in order to keep moving forward.

That's what I care about. That's why I'm here: helping companies help people connect.

(Stay tuned! I just realized that I've been thinking about some things all wrong…)

Why would I conceivably not want to be the best I can be at whatever I'm doing? I like the idea that whether I'm sweeping a street, weeding my yard, playing drums in a band, teaching a class, taking photos at a wedding, working as a customer service representative, selling insurance, washing cars, running a company, being a personal fitness trainer, bagging groceries, or writing a book that I take the attitudee that I will knock your socks off with how I do what I do. Or maybe it's my own socks that I want to knock off. (p.72)

I'm looking forward to knocking my socks off. =) I'm going to learn a lot and things won't always be smooth, but I'm going to find and engage that passion.

On Technorati: career

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IBM consultants are always talking about "verticals", or industries on which people focus. Banking, real estate, pharmaceuticals, education - for salespeople to truly excel in any of these areas, they need to invest time into learning the industry inside and out. They need to know the vocabulary people use, the concerns people have, the opportunities for growth, and even the competitive context around their clients. Focusing on an industry allows people to develop deep competence and strong relationships both within and outside the industry.

On the walk to class the next morning, I thought about how that deep knowledge of an area helps me make deeper connections. I love having read most of the Toronto Public Library's holdings on social networking. I can quickly recommend appropriate books and tips. I'd love to have that kind of knowledge on a business area. So I started thinking about what I should focus on...

A friend once told me that he had no idea what he wanted to do at the moment. I told him that if you know who you want to be, then you can figure out what to do. I want my career to help me be the person I want to be. I don't want it to just pay the bills until I accumulate enough money to "retire". I want it to factor into my personal growth.

At some point in my life, I'd like to know a lot about real estate. I won't be able to make the most of it right now, though. Microfinance? Investing? Education? None of these really hit me as the right next step given my passions, skills, and the needs of people around me.

Then I started thinking of it in terms of who I want to be and what I'd love to do. I want to help people think, and I want to help people connect.

The first explains my interest in personal productivity, notetaking strategies, etc. The second underlies my passion for social computing. One standard business area that covers both would be HR. Human resources - seems to be a fantastic fit for what I'm doing right now and where I'd like to head in the future.

At networking events, I perk up whenever people tell me they're in recruiting—not because I want a job for myself, but because recruiters know how to manage lots of relationships and get a sense of who fits into what positions. What excites me about my research at IBM is the idea that I'll be able to help people find and connect with other people within the company.

I think the second part - helping people connect - is what I'm going to focus on for a while. We'll see if I need to further niche myself. Large tech companies that need social knowledge management tools for internal use, such as IBM's offerings? HR consultant for lots and lots and lots of small companies to help them grow professionally, source people, etc.? We'll see. Whatever space I choose, I want to learn everything that I can learn about it, and I want to own that space. =)

So that's my vertical, and my ideal job description for the next step is getting clearer and clearer. I want a sales + evangelism job (both aspects!) focusing on HR products and services that help people connect. I should find people in the area and ask if they niched themselves even deeper (HR for real estate companies? HR for campus recruitment of technology companies?). Then, just as companies post job ads describing their ideal candidate, I'll get a better idea of what an ad for my ideal company would look like... =)

On Technorati: career

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Being an evangelist has it benefits, but you soon get tired of the frequent flyer miles; the anonymous hotels; the loneliness; the adulation of knowing the right thing at the right time. I can’t tell you if now is a good time to jump, or not, what I can tell you about mistakes, they’re the only thing that you can truly call your own.

This is something to keep in mind. I'm excited about living on my own, but someday I might tire of it. I'm looking forward to going on all sorts of speaking tours, but someday I might get tired of going up on stage or being "on" all the time. Someday I might get tired of always being in a different timezone from the people I love. Someday I might hate missing birthdays or casual get-togethers.

But while I'm young and unattached and eager to learn, I might as well sacrifice that comfort for learning. I want to learn how to listen, how to connect, how to sell. I know how to converse with a hundred people. I want to learn how to converse with thousands. I want to learn how to speak geek and speak suit. =)

(Thinking of it, though: If I'm going to be travelling a lot, it won't be fair to uproot my cat from sunny Philippines where she gets fed regularly and where she can hang out with our other cat... I miss her!)

On Technorati: career

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... Oh my goodness, a Distinguished Engineer blogged about me... Gwee!

I was glad to hear that they're coming around to seeing people as people instead of just as consumers. ;) I love how companies are gaining faces. They may have lost Robert Scoble, but they've learned the importance of having human connections! John said that they're moving more towards thinking of relationships, which is one of the things I've gotten really interested in.

In the course of the chat, John asked me what languages I program in. I rattled off a few - Emacs Lisp leading the list, of course. He had seen my resume online, so he knew that practically all of my experience was with free and open source software. I told him that was because open source was how I could work on things that mattered, even as an undergraduate in a Third World country. I loved learning from other people's code, and I still do. Microsoft won't—can't!—make me spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about open source. =)

What about IBM? If I can do Enterprise 2.0 evangelism, then it would be tremendously exciting to get in on the ground floor and help shape the technology. I've gotten to meet so many amazing IBMers through blogging and social bookmarking, and that kind of a connection isn't just something to walk away from! I also really, really enjoy mashing together all the Enterprise 2.0 services. =) If IBM can help me make *just* the right career for myself, then they've got dibs on my brain for taking that chance on me and giving me all these wonderful things to play with.

IBM doesn't quite have an evangelist track, though. I've been advised to look into technical pre-sales or business analysis. If Microsoft comes up with something that's an even better fit for my interests and goals, I'll consider them. After all, they have "evangelist" as a proper career path! =) I really want to be around lots of other people who do what I do or want to do, and I'd love to go to conferences and summits to meet other developers and evangelists.

John asked me what I wanted in a position. I want products and services that I'm passionate about and people I love working with. I want to get out there, meet people, and help them succeed by connecting them with other people I've met, showing them tools they'll find useful, and supporting them as they figure things out. I want to always be learning something new, always be playing around with something cool. The more I learn, the more I can give to more people. I want to be part of the community, and I want to help start communities elsewhere. I want to bridge worlds. I want to tell stories about the cool stuff other people are doing, and what people can do.

I like the picture John painted of evangelism. I'm going to do something like that. What company I do it with depends on a number of factors: the specifics of the career, how I feel about the company's solutions, the connections I have, the testimonials of other people within the organization... I'm looking forward to sorting that out next year! If I go with Microsoft or another company, that's okay - I think I'm creating enough value for IBM to make my fellowship more than worth it, and I'm going to keep ties with them. =)

Here's a sample job ad for the "enthusiast evangelist" position John mentioned. This isn't for Microsoft Canada, but it gives a good idea of the kind of work involved.

Come join the team that is changing the way Microsoft is connecting with influential end users as an Enthusiast Evangelist for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Headquarters. Our connection with “influential end users” lies at the center of Microsoft’s continued long term success as a platform company.

Candidates will be young graduates coming from a technical, marketing, media or other appropriate background and can prove to have a deep passion for technology. Participants must have excellent English and interpersonal communication skills.

Candidates are strategic thinkers, able to balance individual creativity with working as a team and will have a high degree of customer and partner focus.

We have created for you a program called MACH (Microsoft Academy for University Hires). Of this program, the candidate will participate in the Marketing programme which is a two-year international graduate course that will make the graduate familiar with the marketing culture at Microsoft.

The first year is structured academy training, and the second focuses on career development. The programme is for participants with less than 18 months of work experience. Though challenging, they equip the participants with the skills and know-how required for a rewarding career.

Required Profile

• Passionate about digital lifestyle and rich consumer experiences across different mediums and technologies.
• Individuals may come from either a technical, marketing, media or other appropriate background.
• A deep strong understanding of this end user community proven by participation in online communities and/or user groups.
• Flexibility in regards to work schedule and travel.
• Solid understanding of the competitive products (hardware and software) and how to differentiate Microsoft from its competitors.
• Strong communication and negotiation skills.

Candidates are born communicators with a passion for, and solid knowledge of the influential end users, the blogosphere and online media and most things that are part of the Digital Lifestyle.

The candidate will need to show the potential to develop strong leadership and program management skills as well as cross group collaborations skill and knowledge of the field.

To be successful, this candidate will need to show pragmatism and willingness to roll up the sleeves and get the job done!

I'd love to talk more with people in both companies doing the kind of stuff I want to do so that I can get a better idea of what it's like. But yeah, exciting times...

On Technorati: career, purpose

Random Emacs symbol: gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group - Command: Mark all articles in this group as read and select the next group.

I'm really lucky to know people like Stephen Perelgut, who reminded me in his e-mail:

And, for the record, you are in a rush. You may not know it yet, but you're very ready for a mentor. Just accept that the inner-parent in me "knows".

I need a mentor. I need more than one mentor, actually. If I'm thinking of being in Canada for a while, I'll need a whole new personal board of directors. I miss talking to my parents, my godparents, and other people back home. It's hard to talk about everything, though, because so much context is missing. I can't blog everything, and it's hard to explain things over the Internet! I need people I can talk to here.

I'm growing rapidly, and opportunities unfold everywhere I turn. I need to make sure that I'm growing sustainably and in the right direction(s). I have a lot of hats on at the moment, and I'm having a hard time fully living up to some roles. Here's what's on my plate:

• Graduate student (MIE1402, KMD2004)
• Researcher (IBM CAS project, University of Toronto)
• IBM 2.0 evangelist - I could do a whole lot more than I am right now
• Graduate House Council member - sustainable
• VP Education, Toastmasters - I don't do enough to help out with this
• Daughter, sister - I don't keep in touch well enough
• Friend - I don't keep in touch well enough

And somewhere in there is the networking I also care about and love doing...

I have a number of goals, too, and I need help figuring out which goals really matter to me and how I can go about accomplishing them. My short-term goals are easy to figure out:

• Finish my schoolwork.
• Finish my thesis.

But I'm not spending all my waking hours doing these things because I'm also trying to build a few more things before I need them. An excellent professional and personal network. A personal brand. Useful skills.

I remember how my very first roommate finished her project with CAS, looked up, and found herself without any job offers despite having a MS from the University of Toronto. I don't think I'll be in that situation, and even if I were, I have confidence in my contingency plans. (I can do a lot of cool stuff in the Philippines!) So it's not that I'm in a rush to do all of these things, to write that bestselling book, etc. I know there's time.

I have to admit, though, that it's *very* hard to resist the urge to focus on things outside my short-term goals. I feel that I could make such a difference if I concentrate on, say, IBM 2.0 evangelism: pour myself into it, devote my energies to it, make it happen. I feel that the time would be right for such things, too. Thanks to the constant reminders of my research manager (Hi Julie!) and the occasional restraining hand placed on my head (Stephen's figured out how to get me to stop bouncing, at least temporarily), I do manage to resist it. Barely.

This is one of the reasons why I really need a board of directors whom I can tell about opportunities, ask for advice, think things out loud with, hold myself accountable to...

And I'm surrounded by wonderful, wonderful, wonderful people whom I am glad to have as part of my life and whom I would love to include in whatever successes I may have.

Quinn Fung, Dan Howard, and Jed Smith have taught me so much about love and friendship. I owe them big time.

Stephen Perelgut is practically on my board already, what with all his help and support. I'm really, really grateful for his help.

Gabriel Mansour has volunteered to be on my board. He's my crazy-idea go-to person who can enthuse about my crazy ideas and help me figure out how to make things happen.

Ian Garmaise has taught me a lot about networking and speaking, and I look forward to learning more from him.

There are others, but it's 2 in the morning and I need to sleep at some point. =) And of course, there's my extended circle of mentors, and that could include you reading my blog: thank you for putting up with my random thoughts and telling me about everything from how to prepare really good oatmeal to free software evangelism opportunities!

So yeah, I need a board of directors. They don't have to read my blog (I write way too much), but I'd like to keep in touch with them quarterly at least. Probably monthly, as I'm changing so much. I need that help as I'm growing. I also need to find role models who have succeeded at the things I want to do, so that I can learn from their insights...

I'm 23 years old. I haven't quite figured out life yet. With your help and theirs, I'm slowly getting there.

E-Mail from Stephen Perelgut

On Technorati: life, reflection, career

Random Emacs symbol: ps-mule-plot-composition - Function: Generate PostScript code for plotting composition in the region FROM and TO.

Testimonials?

Speech transcripts?

A short pitch for something interesting?

Hmmm.

On Technorati: career

I have a lot of options ahead of me, and I want to think about this carefully. My first job doesn't have to be perfect, but it would be good to understand what my values and priorities are. I want to be extraordinary. I know, I'm 23 and my direction in life will change as I discover more about myself and about others. =) But it's good to think about it every now and then...

So here's where I stand, so far:

These are the two prospects I feel most passionate about, and I may be able to pursue them both. I don't want to be so heads-down in tech that I serve a narrow audience—only the users of my system—nor do I want to be so heads-down in management that I lose touch with my technical side. I think I can make this happen, though.

So, how can I go about doing that?

For social systems, there are all sorts of little things that I would like to build for myself or suggest to other people. I can learn good design through exposure and experience. I can write about features and systems I would like to see. I can even prototype them. I should spend some time learning how to make better user interfaces (a proper mouse may help!) and prototyping things on Rails or some other quick platform. Easy enough for me to get into.

For outsourcing, there might be a good opportunity to help set up a relationship between Direct Leap and either QSR or Exist. I know a few people who want to help me learn how to do this. I'm all for it!

My master's degree can help me with both. My research is related to the former, and my coursework is related to the latter.

Hmm. Sounds like a good plan. I've got other plans, just in case, but these are the two best plans at the moment.

On Technorati: purpose, reflection, career, business, outsourcing

Every time I use Emacs+Gnus+Planner+BBDB, LinkedIn, OpenBC or even my little black Moleskine notebook and fountain pen, I always find little things to improve. I'm in that zone again, and I'm having *so* much fun. Emacs and my Moleskine are nearly infinitely hackable within the constraints of computer and paper, respectively. As for LinkedIn and OpenBC—that *itch* is making me want to write code for someone else.

The last time I felt like this was when I was in the thick of Planner development, working with a fantastic community of enthusiastic users around the world. It was *amazing* being able to make all these little differences in people's lives. I stayed with the project until I found myself too content, and then I turned it over to someone else because it was something that deserved passion.

Maybe I've found my coding passion again, something wider in scope than the little ways I customize my blog or my e-mail client or my contact database.

The more I think about it, the more attractive it is. How strange that low-key services like LinkedIn and OpenBC appeal to me more than the big names in the industry! I have the feeling that I'll be able to make more of a difference there (at least for now) than in companies like IBM, Google, or Yahoo - although those three are certainly exciting in terms of the other cool geeks I'd get to work with...

... but oooh, imagine the opportunity to work directly with really cool users? I could so totally rock. I'd *love* to be able to bring my technical *and* social passions to the table. That feels like a good short-term next step.

Figuring out my options...

On Technorati: career, purpose, networking, passion

“Ask yourself three questions. First, what comes easy to me, but harder to others? The second question is, what would you do for work for years and years and never have to get paid for it? And the third question is, how can you be of service and how can you give back?” Gray advises.

Same questions my parents taught me to always ask myself. =)

On Technorati: life, career, purpose