Joining professional groups requires a little research to ensure a good experience and that your money is well spent. See this article for some good tips! Written on September 18, 2018 by author Sarah Greesonbach, sharing her personal story of layoff and discovering new territories in networking.
Glassdoor Blog – Should you join a professional group?
I applaud speeches and efforts like this one to encourage women to enter the tech field and stay there. This mentoring work is part of my life every day.
This TED talk struck a chord with me about my own actions in being brave and imperfect. I remember my own hesitation 21 years ago to try a difficult challenge, to move from business user training to technical training. I remember my mentor’s support and encouragement.
I took the challenge with my mentor’s help. I learned I could have good days in tech, and bad days with unresolved problems. In 1998, I worked my first overnight session and fixed a critical problem just in time for FedEx to pick up the cases of laptops. It was on time, but it wasn’t perfect. The problem popped up again a few weeks later. I remember trying on my own in troubleshooting, reaching out for help, educated guesses, reaching out again, and solving big problems with the right people and perseverance.
The big moment when I learned and taught my first MCSE course on Networking Essentials was an eye-opener. With my mentor at my side, I started to see myself as a limitless person and a nerd. I became brave and curious. I haven’t stopped since.
Today, being brave and imperfect means many things to me. Trying out new tools, creating projects, and sharing the results quickly. Imperfect means accepting you have done your best, and releasing your work when the time is right. So much better than waiting, questioning, revising, and questioning yourself until you missed the opportunity, and the things you created are no longer relevant. One can always learn and revise later!
Being brave means being true to my gut instincts about following the work I will enjoy, because that work makes me jump out of bed and eager to start my day.
I apply for jobs when I think the fit is right, and I meet most of the qualifications, not 100% of them. I know job descriptions can be incomplete or inflated to super-star levels based on past performers, or left untouched for years with tools and practices no longer in use.
In today’s world, so many people are quick to judge others based on external values and rules. I am told to hide my age, hide my valuable experiences, to write my resume a certain way, and to not be truthful in order to make it past automated screening systems, corporate recruiters, and hiring managers.
However, I disagree. It is what I think about myself, my life-long learning, my skills, my successes, my interest in nerdy work, and my passion for sharing knowledge that matters. I am the sum of many experiences over 24 years working in creative, innovative, software-oriented jobs that I wanted to do. I don’t leave my career to chance. I have worked hard, often for years, to prepare for and land each job that brought me incredible insights and experiences. I have followed my heart to do what I love to do. So, now I’m looking for my next adventure. I’m a nerd, brave, and imperfect.
Job hunting is never easy for an experienced instructional designer. Our work is often proprietary, confidential, restricted, and hidden from public view. What we deliver frequently belongs to our employers.
On the flip side, potential employers expect us to be constantly adding tools, networking, and building a strong portfolio of work samples. Instructional designers help people learn. So we should be constantly learning and showing our value.
Today, a public portfolio of instructional design work is expected by most employers. Many job applications will ask for your public-facing website. College programs help their students build portfolios before they graduate with their instructional design certificate. Contract work is on the rise. As a contractor, one must maintain one’s own business, and a portfolio is how you sell yourself.
Build your portfolio while you are employed. Don’t wait. Invest in yourself.
I’m speaking from my own experience. Over a four-year period, I spent one year hunting for jobs and building portfolio while unemployed. It wasn’t easy. Experts like Tom Kuhlmann back me up. In 2012, I heard him make this point to over 100 instructional designers in a workshop. Tom is passionate on this topic. Do it while you have a job.
Not enough time? Think of portfolio work as a series of small projects, a 10-hour project in two weeks or a 30-hour project within a month. Then look at your weekly workload. In a 50-hour week, can you set aside 10% of your time (5 hours) to work on your portfolio and learn something new? If you have a boss and an organization that expects you to learn, you may be able to work with them to align your portfolio work with your development goals.
Still not convinced? There are positive benefits.
By building a portfolio, you will be able to test out your ideas, alter them and refine your portfolio to highlight what you do best. You can learn new skills or new tools, and you may discover a new path to follow. You can try fresh ideas on the public with little risk, because you are offering something to the world for free. You can see where you stand with your peers, and work on your gaps or weaknesses. You can set up your personal computing devices with your favorite tools and do projects you would not normally do at work.
Plus, your current employer benefits from your learning whether you make them aware of it or not. Learning new skills and tools makes you a better employee, and more desirable within your organization.
A portfolio can make you feel more confident about your future. Opportunity knocks at unexpected times. Jobs and organizations change rapidly. With a portfolio, you will be ready to open the door to your next job tomorrow, next year, or when HR calls the meeting for another layoff.
A portfolio can help you see yourself in a new light. We often see ourselves and our work in the context of the organization and team. If the team and organization reward us, we feel satisfied and competent. If they do not, we feel discouraged and unmotivated. Through your portfolio, you may find another way to belong, bump up your self-esteem, and achieve self-actualization (quoting Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
Along the journey, you will find surprises. I was surprised when my first SlideShare post attracted 300 people on Halloween night. When I tried my YouTube pie-making video, I learned about the challenges of being on camera. It was fun, the pie was good, and my family and friends enjoyed it. When I shared my instructional design work with peer groups, I realized I knew more than I thought I did. I am absolutely amazed that over 15,000 people have viewed one small 2014 project Leadership Sources of Power on SlideShare.net with very little self-promotion.
The best part about building a portfolio is that it belongs to you. You invest in yourself. Investing in yourself is the path to build earning potential and a strong financial future no matter what happens with the economy. You are a good investment in uncertain times.
Where to start? I know. It is like a blank piece of paper staring at you. Do you create a webinar, video, an e-learning course, podcast, blog, or build a game or lab? What content do you use? Which tool do you use? Where do you share it?
In this series, I’m going to share tips in a three-phase workshop about getting started with your portfolio:
Each one of us is unique and different. We are all traveling different directions. So I won’t tell you exactly what to do. Instead, I will share my experiences to help you brainstorm, and get started with your own ideas. That way you can form your own path and direction.
Next, I will write more on the topic of Research, that is, how to seek portfolio examples. and ideas that appeal to you.
As women working in technology, the road ahead is not always smooth. It’s like riding a mountain bike on a rough trail. Why take on that project? Why learn that tool? See or download the following SlideShare presentation with tips on finding a mentor to guide your ride.
Content by Holly Justice; Graphics by Patrick Coan, Guild of Build.
Holly Justice: Thoughts on Advancing the Careers of Women in Technology
The road we travel as women working in technology is not always going be a smooth ride. It’s like riding a mountain bike on a rough trail.
Graphic by Patrick Coan, Guild of Build
Let’s build our endurance by finding and using mentors along the way!
I’m pleased to be giving a Lightening Talk at the Advancing Careers of Women in Technology event in Portland, Oregon on April 17th.
Special Thanks to Event Creators:
Here is a link to my speech page and supporting materials!
This post is for those of you who wonder:
I suggest taking a new approach. Think of Twitter as a tool for research, a public list of information about any business or organization. You can access this list without logging into Twitter or having a Twitter account.
Employers want proof. So you say you are a writer? What have you published?
Most of my professional writing cannot be published on my website. My work is often sold directly by my employers or restricted to inside publication.
If you have that problem too, take a closer look at opportunities to write elsewhere. For example, I write research papers often for college courses.
Today I posted this research paper on the ADDIE and Kirkpatrick training models for my portfolio:
I wrote this paper for a short cram course entitled “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” based on the popular work of Dr. Stephen R. Covey. Yes, I will “Sharpen the Saw” often. I am a life-long learner.
What do you do to prove what you’ve done? How can you capture and show someone your greatest achievements?
What does it take to convince the “forget it” crowd that social media has value?
Do you use Twitter, Facebook or Linked In?
How do you keep your image professional?
How does social media serve you?
Employers want proof. It is not all applications and interviews. When you finally have someone’s attention, job hunting is about what you have done.
Handing someone an entire book won’t work either. You have to scrub it, strip it down and make it digestible. Think short and sweet. A few minutes will be all the time you have to make your point.
Good news! Creating a portfolio does not mean spending a lot of money. I have created everything here with tools I already own or by using free evaluation software. YouTube, WordPress and SlideShare host my content for free. What you will spend is time. It’s worth it.
Today I’m celebrating as I post this portfolio piece. On to the next one!
What do you do to prove what you’ve done? How can you capture and show someone your greatest achievements?
As I became an advocate for social media tools like Linked In, Twitter, Facebook and blogging, it quickly became apparent most people offline suffer from fear of transparency. What if someone finds out something about me? What if they get to know all of me, who I am under the skin?
Some of you know this reaction well. When you mention a tool, the person’s reaction is to tell you all the horror stories they know to justify their fear of social media.
But hold on a moment. Is spying and negative gossip the reason social media exists? Or are these platforms simply neutral tools to be used for either positive or negative reasons?
Continued on page 2…
Alert! We have a social media gap!
Recently I attended a job hunting gathering in Hillsboro, Oregon at a local community college. Over sixty of us were gathered in a large lecture hall discussing Linked In. One person asked if there were any new networking tools to use besides Linked In. The leader had no suggestions. I promptly suggested Facebook, Twitter and blogging.
The reaction was shockingly negative. As I turned to look around at the crowd, I saw frowns, shaking heads and grumbles. At least 80% of the crowd was visibly upset and rejecting my suggestion. The group leader quickly stated “Linked In is the only one that won’t get you in trouble.”
I consider this a very large social media gap since this meeting was being held in the middle of the Oregon Silicon Forest community. Almost every open job for the job seeker involves making computer hardware or software.
So what do these terrified job seekers need to begin moving forward in social media?
The answer on page 2…
hjustice 