I saw this on Queen Street West yesterday. Maybe “GULLIBLE” was already taken:
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Category: It Happened to Me
Many cultures have “big players” that form part of their collective demonology, symbols that are reviled, yet envied at the same time. Small-town folks in the U.S. point to New York City and Los Angeles as bad places filled with bad people who get a disproportionate share of the pie; small-town Canada does the same with Toronto. For indie musicians and filmmakers, the reviled and envied demon is Hollywood. In the world of software, the world in which I work, it’s Microsoft.
And as of this morning, they’re my employer. Hail Satan!
Truth be told, I’m pleased to be working on a team with a lot of smart people, some of whom were already my friends. I’m also happy to be employed again, and for a company that’s going to give me the chance to reach more people than ever before. I’m also thankful for the new company-issued laptop, which has a working up-arrow key!
(My personal laptop’s up-arrow key doesn’t work, and I’ve come to appreciate how important the up-arrow key is. If you haven’t yet done so today, go to your computer right now, look at your arrow keys straight on and tell them how much you love and appreciate them!)
Ahem.
The next few months on my tech blog, Global Nerdy are going to be interesting ones. Part of my new job as a Developer Advisor (a.k.a. Developer Evangelist) is to blog, and since my tech blog already has a decent-sized audience, it’s the best onhline vehicle for my work.
I’d like to point a couple of new articles on Global Nerdy about the new job, and for the most part, they’re layperson-friendly.
Company Man (or: The New Job)
In case you haven’t yet read Company Man (or: The New Job), it’s the article in which I announced to the world that I’ve accepted a position at Microsoft.
California Bound (or: I’m Going to PDC2008)
Next up is California Bound (or: I’m Going to PDC2008), the techiest of the articles I’ll point to here. It’s about my flying down to Los Angeles next week to attend Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference.
The Journey Begins
Finally, there’s The Journey Begins, which covers what I plan to do for my first few months at Microsoft.
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And Now, the New Job
An apt metaphor for the new job.
As promised, I am announcing my new job today. But not here: you’ll have to go to Global Nerdy to find out what it is.
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Changes are Coming
The new look on my tech blog, Global Nerdy, is just the tip of the iceberg. Big changes are in store for both the blog and its author, Yours Truly. It’ll all be made clear in a post tomorrow, which will include an update on my employment situation.
Since getting laid off, I’ve been getting a little less exercise. My bike commute to work, a 14-kilometre (8.7 mile) round trip, is gone. I also haven’t been going to the gym as often, even with the extra free time. I’ve lost five pounds since getting called into my layoff meeting two weeks and two days ago, in spite of the reduced exercise and some pretty big meals, including an anniversary dinner, Wendy’s birthday dinner and the farewell dinner b5 threw earlier this week. I needed to shed that weight anyway; I should make sure not to gain it back once I land a job.
Should you lose your job, your mileage may vary depending on how you respond to stress. I’ve been waking up about an hour earlier than normal to work on my career plans, research the companies who’ve shown an interest in me, and to do a little extra work on some blog entries. I also haven’t felt like eating as much, which comes from feeling twitchy about the situation. If your response to stress is to eat more or drink lots of beer (a.k.a. “liquid bread”), the change in your weight is likely to be the opposite of mine.
[This article also appears in Global Nerdy.]
Because I was laid off and not fired from my former place of employment, they’re taking me out for a farewell dinner on Tuesday night. It’s a nice gesture on their part, and I appreciate it greatly.
I’m allowed to choose the restaurant, and I must let them know my choice by Monday, October 6th. The problem is that I’ve just got too much on the brain and need help picking a place. If you’ve got suggestions, I’d like to hear them!
Some parameters:
- It should be within easy walking/transit travel of Queen and Spadina (that’s where the office is)
- My guess is that there will be about 10 people total.
- There will be drinking. A lot of it. At least 2 two rounds of “Irish Car Bombs”, too.
- It can’t be terribly expensive (which means that Nota Bene is off the list).
- The usual office after-work hangouts are Wayne Gretzky’s and Jack Astor’s. While perfectly serviceable, I’m looking for alternatives.
- The Pickle Barrel is not eligible.
[This article was also published in Global Nerdy.]
Technology, media and pop culture writer Douglas Rushkoff, who’s got a guest writing slot at the uber-blog Boing Boing, points to an essay titled Riding Out the Credit Collapse. Published in the spring 2008 edition of Arthur magazine, it:
- Provides a layperson-friendly, non-drowsy explanation of how the credit crisis came about
- Suggests the single most important thing you can do to protect yourself and your interests during the credit crisis (and in fact, any crisis, including being laid off during a credit crisis)
Don’t let the article’s apparent length scare you off — read it! Yes, it’s ten screens, but it’s set in a narrow column. If you’re still skittish about reading that much, shame on you, and here’s the part on which I want to focus:
Whatever the case, the best thing you can do to protect yourself and your interests is to make friends. The more we are willing to do for each other on our own terms and for compensation that doesn’t necessarily involve the until-recently-almighty dollar, the less vulnerable we are to the movements of markets that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with us.
If you’re sourcing your garlic from your neighbor over the hill instead of the Big Ag conglomerate over the ocean, then shifts in the exchange rate won’t matter much. If you’re using a local currency to pay your mechanic to adjust your brakes, or your chiropractor to adjust your back, then a global liquidity crisis won’t affect your ability to pay for either. If you move to a place because you’re looking for smart people instead of a smart real estate investment, you’re less likely to be suckered by high costs of a “hot” city or neighborhood, and more likely to find the kinds of people willing to serve as a social network, if for no other reason than they’re less busy servicing their mortgages.
I think Rushkoff’s got the right idea, and I’d like to torque it a little further. Forget for a moment the more fanciful ideas of printing your own “Canadian Tire Money”; when he says “local currency”, I want you think of these things:
- Reputation,
- Goodwill,
- and most importantly, Luck.
Among the many things that I’m churning in my brain right now — along with updating the resume, finding a place to put all the stuff that I used to keep at the office and getting that eye appointment with Dr. Heeney before my work-provided insurance coverage expires — is real-world testing an idea and writing about it here. That idea rests on two principles, namely:
- Having friends and being friendly makes you lucky. I’ve always suspected it, and Marc Myers wrote a book on the topic.
- I’d rather be lucky than smart. It’s the mantra of my all-time favourite financial planner, whom I shall refer to as “P. Kizzy”. If I get even a tenth of P. Kizzy’s business acumen, I will be a very happy man.
Watch this space, ’cause I’m going to expand on those ideas!