Wednesday, February 18, 2009
How to Market Yourself for Geeks and Laymen
I was invited to speak at Mukti '09 -- A National Level Technical Symposium on on GNU/Linux and Free Software, organized by Linux Users' Group NIT Durgapur. It was a great conference and I really wished I could stay longer but I had to go back home to Kolkata. I loved being out in a smaller city which is Durgapur. The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Durgapur campus was great. It was a quieter town than Kolkata, less people, less traffic, and less pollution. I felt like I was on a weekend getaway out in Woodstock from New York City.
The crowd consisted of undergrad students so I spoke mostly about how to market yourself online and offline. There was a great discussion on whether one should have a blog, and if writing too many personal things is a bad thing, and what do you do when someone uploads a picture of you that is not appropriate online. We spoke about Google's Orkut -- the largest social network in India, Facebook and how to use LinkedIn to get your profile out there.
One thing I didn't cover that @indradg managed to pick up was on marketing yourself as a coder or programmer. As an employer he Googles people and checks forums, IRC, and change logs for coding. They're all available online and they can be traced back to you as a programmer. Of course, the more active you are the better. There was a lot of things going on campus so there were those who wanted to attend but missed out so I'm uploading my presentation here.
Mukti09-YuYuDin
I'm having formatting issues with Scribd and Star Office. You can always follow me on Twitter: @yuyudin or connect with me on LinkedIn if you have questions etc.
On top of that, check out the following links on marketing yourself online:
How Dan Zarrella found a job using Internet marketing in a recession.
10 Ways to use LinkedIn to find a job by Guy Kawasaki
How to find, network with and influence people using social media this last one is a super list so it'll give you plenty of stuff to do.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Quit Your Job During a Recession?
I did. I know, I'm a bit crazy but I've been wanting to do it for a long time. Right now I'm on day 8 of my notice period. The stipulated period is 60 days. I'm traveling in between to speak at conferences so it's going to be 70 or 80 days before I actually leave the office.
There's been a lot of rumors and people interested in what I'll be doing next so I hope this answers your questions:
Do I have a job? Where will I join?
No, I don't have another job lined up. I'm not joining anywhere but you can hire me as a freelance writer, editor, and/or Internet marketer. If you want to build software or manage or IT stuff, you can talk to my soon-to-be colleague/partner. There's a couple of things I'll be doing. Most of it is writing, traveling and fund raising. I want to use my skills to change things in a big way. Read on.
Am I going to Delhi?
No, I'm not. So stop asking but I have to go speak at an event and meet an editor.
Why did I quit?
I'm doing my own thing. My mission is to get solar panels into Myanmar. I got the inspiration when I visited in May 2008 right after Cyclone Nargis hit. My plane literally landed when the storm cleared. First thing my mom said after she cleared off her tears was, "No water, no electricity. Food is there because we have leftovers." My parent's house had only two parts of the roof broken. One on the veranda so it didn't matter, the other one for the bathroom, which they had already fixed with a spare plastic roof we had around the house. That part of the house was the brightest in the whole house because the plastic was clear. I had to go to my aunt's place to have a shower because they had a well. I had to go see my 94 year old grandma as well. She didn't know what was going on but she asked, "Why did they stop the trains?" She can't see anymore and she's mostly bedridden.
The next day, I looked up in the bathroom and it was almost like divine inspiration that struck me, "Why don't we install solar panels dad?" I said. So my dad said, "Ya, that's possible." I've been wanting to get into solar panels for a long time since I know that West Bengal produces them but I've been too busy with work to think about other stuff. That was the moment when I connected the dots and knew that this is possible. It's renewable energy, it's clean, and it's going to benefit the people.
I stayed there for only a little over a week but stuff I saw changed me completely. When I landed, the city I knew in my childhood had completely changed. The big huge trees I used to see on my way to school everyday had all fallen with their roots in the air. There were long lines of cars at the natural gas pumps and other gas stations even though gas prices where USD$10.00 a gallon. It was like a war zone. My dad called it, "the end of the world" or "apocalypse." My aunt's neighbors did not have a house to live in so my aunt had to attend to them. Neighbors poured out to help each other, cleared the streets. Our church raised USD$10,000 (that's a lot of money in Myanmar) in relief funds within a Sunday service. Whole villages had disappeared. 100,000 people were declared missing or dead.
Our country prides itself in exporting rice to other countries, but because of the cyclone, for the first time in history we are importing rice. I heard horror stories of merchants jacking up prices. We heard on the radio, sitting in the dark after dinner that the food prices around the world had gone up yet again. It felt literally like the end of the world. I want to go back there and change all that.
So come May 2009, a year after the cyclone, I'm launching the Spirit of Light Myanmar. We already have a name and a logo. I can't help it, I'm a marketer, I think like a marketer. It's also awesome having partners like Jeanne, who is a kick ass Internet marketer and graphic designer and Indranil, who is a power networker and change agent among other things he does. We have a couple of partner organizations in West Bengal and Myanmar and a couple of big wigs who will eventually form the advisory board for the project.
This is just one of the major projects that I'll be launching and handling. Ya, there's more so you're gonna have to stay tuned!
Photo by Windy Sydney
Friday, December 19, 2008
How to Get a Job Without Looking For It
News of the current unemployment rates in the US and job losses saddens me. Even in India the papers are saying that there's a slow down in hiring. As I look back at 2008, I realize that this is probably the tenth year of my working life, albeit three years in the middle, when I took a hiatus. I came to India, got myself a degree, and learned new skills. I worked on freelance projects and tested the waters of corporate India. All this time, I've never looked for a job. Not even for the freelance gigs. I did it because I had a great network of friends, colleagues, and a caravan of characters.
When I think about my luck at getting phone calls of jobs and projects from folks, I realized that it can't be just luck and friends. There has to be something more. And I'm not even including the HR consultants who call on this list because my resume is not registered with any job sites. However, I am on LinkedIn and Twitter -- which I suggest you get on too if you're not already there.
I'd like to share the 6 key things that I do that gets me offers for jobs without looking:
1. Don't be comfortable
I'm a person who is never really settled. I was born a nomad and that I will always be. Usually I'm not comfortable with doing just one thing. My "monkey" brain often wanders off. That's how I get great ideas, and keep myself creative and innovative. I'm always in search of "the next level." In order for you to grow as an individual and a professional. Ask yourself: "What's MY next level?" Be brutally honest with the answer. You might even have to change yourself, re-learn things, or pick up new skills. It's natural to be scared of change, but it's OK. And you're not alone in being scared of change here's a study on why change is so hard.
2. Know your shitz
When I started out in film, I only had the creative brain to write stories. I had no idea about filmmaking. When I became managing editor of a print magazine, I had no idea how to run a magazine. When I took over my current position, I had no clue about email marketing. (Catching my drift?)
For filmmaking, I was selected to be in a summer intensive course. We were taught about everything from the process of filmmaking to film theory. Then we shot the film. For being a managing editor, I read a lot of books, on writing, and on running a magazine. My boss was gracious enough to teach me Quark Express and give me pointers on how the printing press worked when he was free. I had to research all the stuff about what makes email marketing work. I'm so grateful that sites like ClickZ, MediaPost, and iMediaConnection exist. I would be lost without them.
My then boss gave me a general direction to work with the creative. We had great brain storming sessions on content, but that wasn't going to give me clicks. I had targets to meet, and fast. I evaluated the creative, hand coded and changed the back end HTML structure. (I was told not to touch it ^_^) Oh, and I threw away the software I was supposed to be working with. But yes, the targets were met and we set new ones. All my bosses were happy. I get to keep my job and I'm happy.
Go back to your paper: what will it take to achieve your goals? Do you need to train yourself more? Remember even doctors who are professionally trained need to keep up with the latest medical journals. Again, do you need to change something that you've always done? Just because it's always done that way doesn't mean you can't improve the process for better results. Know what you have to change, experiment, wait for results. Repeat.
3. Give advice or ideas freely
If you know it, act like it. You won't believe how many times people walk up to me and ask me for directions on random streets and bookstores. In fact, just this morning a family walked up to the most foreign looking person, me, and asked me if they were in the right metro station.
Once you get on Twitter, or any forums, groups you hang out you'll see topics and questions. When someone asks a question, respond to it if you have the answer. Chances are, he or she is not the only one who have the question in mind. For LinkedIn go to the Answer section. If you're going to be active I suggest you get the feed of your field of expertise on your feed reader
This is also how I get more people networking with me or following me. When you sound like an expert on something, you ARE an expert. You don't need to prove that with paper certificates and rubber stamps (which are very very very important in India and Myanmar.)
Word of warning: people should not be using you as a walking Google or Wikipedia (they call me "yu-kipedia" here.) There's a limit. That's when you politely say, "Type so and so on Google." or wear a tee shirt that says, "Just Google It" (no, I haven't done that! But if you want it you can get it here.)
4. Network like a diplomat, not a headless chicken.
Whatever I learned about networking today, I learned from my career diplomat parents. The diplomatic community in any city is always close knit. They know who the people are to network with, what country they represent, and what they do officially. Remembering this is very important, it determines precedence, protocol, and how you act with the person. My parents stayed connected with both people from their own country and other countries.
Here's how to apply that to the Internet: Go to Twitter Search and type in your industry, field or profession check out people's profile. Follow @MrTweet and get your report on who to follow. Decide whether it'll be good for you to follow or not and follow them.
Do the same on LinkedIn but remember it's a more professional space than Twitter. Best way to do it on LinkedIn is to look at the Answer section and add the people who have interesting answers to the questions. Of course this space is best for people whom you've actually met at trade shows, conferences, conventions etc.
Don't add people like a headless chicken, adding or following everyone you see. Leave that to the teenagers (or now not so "teen" folks) on MySpace. The number of followers or friends will just be a useless number if you can't harness the power of your network. Besides, twitter will kick you out if you're following insane amount of people, have very little updates and almost no followers. Chances are tweeple will see that you're a bot and block you.
5. Never burn bridges
This goes hand-in-hand with networking like a diplomat. You know what happens when diplomats stop talking? War. One of my mentors wrote that we should know people in high places as well as in low places. But that's very vertical or linear. Life's not like that anymore -- today's mail room clerk (do they still have them?) can be tomorrow's CEO of a fortune 500 company. Just because someone is your staff, colleague, or someone who is not related to your current job process doesn't mean they would not be at a place of influence -- chances are, they already have a sphere of influence.
People are more networked and well connected today than before. Your future employers will ask about you to their friends, clients, people they've worked with either formally or even informally in conversation. Your future colleagues will always ask to the people who have worked with you, "How is she to work with?" "What is he like?" This happens a lot in India, not just for an expat like me but people generally talk about people. (Of course, you get a special spotlight when you're an expat.) Your friend or classmate can become a client. The decision your future employer makes between you and the guy or gal next to you can be that one reference. (Yes, I've faced both scenarios.)
Now once you burn a bridge, their friends, friends of friends, connections, potential clients, potential job offers are gone too.
6. Keep in touch, be visible, and put yourself "out there" (for the right reasons)
I started carrying business cards in high school. I was a cocky school president who tried to pick fights with Rudy Crew, the Chancellor of NYC Board of Education. I advocated for the alternative school system, I was part of that system. Now, I've stopped carrying business cards. I tell people I meet to just google me. I'm narcissistic enough to get a kick out of it, but I'm saving trees.
Ask yourself: Can people google me? What will they find if they do? If you don't like what you see, you better bury that stuff with the good stuff you want them to find. A quick way to do this is to sign up for all the major professional social networks like LinkedIn, Plaxo, Naymz, Xing, join a niche social network of your industry on Ning, Facebook (though it's more 'social'.) Make sure your name is in the URL like: http://linkedin.com/in/yuyudin. Remember, your name IS your brand. Protect it with your life. Manage your reputation online and offline. The next thing to do is to have a blog with your name on it. But you need to update that on a regular basis. Talk about the subjects that you know. Read this article for personal brand. Read this one on your online reputation management.
Thanks for reading this until the end (it came out longer than I thought) ^_^ Click here to get connected with me on LinkedIn or click here to follow my crazy thought process on Twitter. Thanks CC for the proof read!
Photo by: khalilshah
