I’m still on a bit of a break from writing. I’m missing it and thinking that I actually want to do more, and more in depth. I’m not worried about that never happening, because I have a relatively decent track record of writing stuff down (like what I’m doing right now) and then remembering it and taking action, or having others remind me and then taking action. I think I’ve also done a fair job of realizing goals for myself. There’s the adage about goal-setting that says that people usually set short-term goal as too great and set long-term goals as too small. I think I’m often in the middle on that – which honestly is about where I aspire to be. Compared to many others, that probably appears as though I’m an early adopter because I aspire towards goals and use technology to help get there. To many, that is “a geek” in simple form.
In light of that self-disclosing bit of info, what got me to think down this path was this post called “Aspire to be a geek?” by Chris Secca, who is one of Google’s Principals for New Business Development. In general, I appreciate his approach to the things he talks about on his blog. It sounds real and genuine and in many ways is actionable information. That’s what makes it simple and worth my time to read.
So – the post that got me to think down this line was about being a geek, or aspirations towards being a geek. It hit home because ALL of the points mentioned are things that I spend plenty of time doing. Those of my friends or associates that I would not consider geeks, well, they spend hardly any time doing this stuff. I think Chris is onto something good! The whole post is only a little longer. Here are the main points if you don’t want to leave this wonderful, black hole of splendid info site of mine… 
“…advice to non-techies who want to do well in tech and find their inner geek? Four things:
Read blogs – Blogs are where fresh, insightful and prescient thoughts are born on the web. When I first came out to Silicon Valley six years ago, the only way I, as a peon, could get any access to the thoughts of the likes of John Doerr, was to be fortunate enough to be a fly on the wall of one of his meetings. Today, dozens of top flight VCs regularly publish their thoughts in real time. On the other side of the coin, entrepreneurs detail the travails of building a company and lessons learned as they arise. All of this content free for each of us to digest. Rarely do I encounter a theme in today’s newspapers or magazines that hasn’t been well-hashed out in blogs first.
Wikipedia – Keep it close at all times. Why does the Wikipedia keep coming up in an increasing number of Google results? It is good content. Don’t know an acronym? Need a definition? A quick historical context? Background on an exec? The Wikipedia is almost always good for it. The Wikipedia has allowed me to go from zero to fluent in a couple of technological realms for projects at GOOG. That said, don’t be shy to contribute. It is our collective responsibility to make it work.
Best Buy/Fry’s – Or whoever is your local electronics retailer. Stop by regularly. Check out the new stuff. Get your hands on it. Demo the gadgets. See what the user experience is like. Get a sense for pricing. Look at how others react to items. Play with it all. Be able to explain to your friends what makes something better or worse.
Your parents – Ask your parents about the tech they use. Teach them new things. Explain blogs, and spam and feeds. Take yourself out of the realm of the cognoscenti and see things from the perspective of the actual end users. Armed with this knowledge, dive back into geekdom and be more aware of the shortcomings of the gadgets of today.”
If you know me at all, I bet this makes perfect sense. And, I bet you’ve probably had some involvement with me at some level with at least one of those things. Chris did a little update to mention Kids as a another area of great input and insight. I think that’s a nice list of advice. Thanks Chris!
Filed under: Blogging, Geek, Ideas, Perspective
