Slashdot Mirror

Wrong. Network. Skills are worth less than networking. When the axe falls in a company, he'll need a good network. Skills are a bonus.

Network both inside and outside the company. I know it sucks. Been there. Done that. If networking isn't his thing, have him start with Toastmasters.

There's a cheaper way and better way than taking a bullshit speech class with Mrs. Magoo. Look up a local Toastmasters club in your area. Try out a few to get a feel for how it goes and which local chapter you fit best into.

If you have difficulty expressing yourself in front of others for whatever reason (stage fright, for instance) consider joining Toastmasters.

It's a club for people who want to learn to speak in front of an audience. It's got branch clubs all over the world, so there's probably one near you. They meet twice a month (more or less - depending on the club) and have a nominal yearly dues.

After about two years of going you start to "get the hang of it" and become more relaxed and fluent when talking to groups.

If you think you might get a Skype interview and if you have trouble with presentations, you should check them out.

there are several subjects that a person NEEDS to handle life.

math: to at least the lower levels of algebra
Geometry : regular solids and such minimum
Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry and a basic grounding in Organic Chemistry
Physics: Basic grounding here so you know things like NOT to try and argue with a semi when you are in a smart car

i think that covers most of the Science stuff (but suggest other bits as needed)

If you are really concerned that he is missing stuff like public speaking do the same thing that the Trophy Wife you keep chatting up does with her daughter to fix the lack of Ballet Courses in the public schools ARRANGE FOR THEM AFTER SCHOOL.
http://www.toastmasters.org/ToastmastersMagazine/ToastmasterArchive/2007/May/Articles/Teaching.aspx

(and btw you might want to have your son chat with said daughter also)

Yeah, I was going to say, you want your kid to take public speaking? Behold! Not everything needs to happen in school.

Besides, we don't need to cram every damn thing into high school. I took a public speaking course in high school. It was an elective. There were other electives I would have liked to take as well... I took them in (drumroll, please...) college! I also took a worthless Chemistry class in high school - but the teacher was horrible, not the subject (I think our class collectively scored a 40% on the state Chemistry test).

You can also learn and practice conference leadership, organization, funding and logistics skills through Toastmasters. http://www.toastmasters.org/

The part about IT is not the problem. The issue is that you need to learn to make presentations. Take up public speaking. There are several ways to acquire this kind of skill. I suggest Toastmasters as an inexpensive route. Not instantaneous, but in a year or two you can do well.

If you're serious -- try to find a local Toastmasters club.

I've been in Toastmasters over 8 years. What was just described in the review of this book, a person could learn in presenting and receiving feedback in three to six speeches (six weeks to six months depending on your initiative). As a long term educational and development program, Toastmasters can go into much more depth as well. The main strength of Toastmasters is that it provides a safe place to practice, receive friendly support and receive accurate, helpful feedback. Clubs vary greatly, so shopping around is encouraged.

Visit http://www.toastmasters.org/ and use the "Find a Club" link. If there is not a club conveniently close to you, consider making a trip to one and asking for help in starting a club. I guarantee they will get someone in touch with you and will offer assistance in forming a club closer to you.

I'm not a professional public speaker yet, but everything reviewed about this book above I've already learned and experienced.

Having never heard of the author, I Googled him and found his website. Watching the first 5 minutes of his video in the bottom right had me cringing - unprofessional dress (maybe appropriate for where he was), playing around with the "stage," too much hand waving, too many "filler" words to hear his message clearly, mispronunciation or diction unclear, speaking too fast and moving around too much.

I won't be buying the book from what I've read and seen.

Toastmasters is an organization that helps people become better public speakers. (Linky)

I've never gone to a meeting, but I know a few people that have and they say it's really improved their speaking skills.

Toastmasters is a club that is for public speaking. During a meeting, there is a time where you maybe called upon to talk about a topic that's pulled out of thin air to teach you how to think and speak on your feet, you have speaking assignments to get a certification, and you get to critique others speaking. Some clubs from what I understand, are so big that you hardly ever get to speak so "shop" around clubs. Also, it's pretty G- rated.

First, before you try to leave, be sure your attitude and other emotional baggage you carry from your current employer isn't going to hamper your efforts. If you are letting the resentment, anger and hate swell and fester inside you, then it will be very noticeable in future job interviews (whether different industry or the same).

Try the exercise in this Zig Ziglar video.
If conditions are truly bad, it may not help those conditions, but it will help your attitude in REACTING to those conditions. It helped me put my current job in perspective as I work on developing new opportunities for myself.

Second, you need to start mingling, socializing, and communicating with people. Most IT professionals tend to be loners and back-room shadows, so you need to start developing relationships. Outside activities such as clubs and volunteer organizations are a good place to meet people who appreciate you and your time. This will also boost/help your attitude and mental state, and even help you develop a network of people when you start looking for another job. You may also find your relationships with people at your current job improve as well.

Finally, there are some skills/abilities that are in demand everywhere: communication and leadership. A Toastmasters club can help you develop speaking and leadership skills, which will server you very well when it's time to jump ship and go elsewhere. This isn't a Toastmasters commercial, but a personal recommendation.
http://www.toastmasters.org

Good luck in your quest.

While you're at it join Toastmasters and get some practical experience too.
It did me a world of good!

Like any sales job, pitching is an art, one requiring a skill set that doesn't necessarily overlap with the one that produces good games.

Just as any developer builds their skills with coding, graphics engines, world builders, etc. they should work on their people/sales/pitch skills, too. This seems to be rampant through all industries, but sticks out like a sore thumb in IT. Part of the reason many people enter the IT field is because they don't want to deal with people. Putting a developer in front of a crowd and asking them to speak is like throwing the deer in front of the headlights.

It's been offered here before, but I'll offer it again for any of you would-be proposal spokespeople or anyone that simply wants to improve their confidence, communication and leadership skills: http://www.toastmasters.org/ It's inexpensive, doesn't take much time and can make a world of difference in just a few months.

Please, before you throw yourself to the wolves, find a club and let them help you.

I was comfortable speaking in front of a crowd as long as I was talking about computers and speaking in technical jargon. What didn't occur to me was whether or not the people understood what I was saying.

There are specific items in Toastmasters that will apply directly to what you're seeking. Overall the ability to listen well and speak directly to your audiences' needs regardless of their level of understanding.

Impromptu speaking: the ability to provide an intelligent, concise answer on the spot, or the ability to deflect it until you can provide an answer. This is a phenomenal skill when dealing with supervisors or when interviewing.

Structured thinking: you'll start writing speeches in a structure (opening, body, conclusion) and have nested structure within that. Before long it will affect your thinking and you'll find yourself telling people exactly what they need to know in a clear, easy to follow manner.

Time saving: due to time limitations of speeches, you'll put emphasis on getting your point across. In addition with practice and removal of crutch words (ah, um, so) and unnecessary pauses, you'll be able to say more in a shorter period of time.

Meeting management: perform certain tasks in a timely manner, ensure things run smoothly and accomplish all tasks/goals expected. This can apply to a formal business meeting or even a "hallway hijacking."

Leadership skills: you learn to take the helm especially when there is no apparent leader and you learn how to steer any situation in the right direction to accomplish a goal.

There are advanced projects that will help you with this specific issue: speaking to management, speaking to inform and technical presentations.

Obviously this will not happen overnight, but I am quite certain that in a good, healthy club you'll notice immediate changes within six months.

Hit the http://toastmasters.org/ website and use the "Find a club" button to locate a club near you. Visit several clubs just to get a feel for the environment and find out which ones are healthy clubs. You might even find one with numerous technical members. If you'd like specific assistance finding a club or want to know more, send me a private message. I'd be glad to help.

http://www.toastmasters.org/

Find your local toastmasters club and practice. Since joining toastmasters, I have had many comments from people in both my work and personal life about how much my verbal communication has improved.

Each speech will give you supportive and constructive feedback from multiple people, from multiple experience levels, and from multiple walks of life. I now find myself re-thinking how I explain quite a few technical things to others and catch myself when I am talking to non-technical people and I start to use the jargon that is so automatic among technical folks. I still pause and think about how to appropriately re-phrase what I was about to say to make it more appropriate to the people that I am talking to, but at least I am catching myself now when I used to rattle on and lose them long before I realized that they weren't getting it.

Besides, the dues are about the same as a magazine subscription. It is quite inexpensive for what you get.

The meaning of the word "free" as Stallman likes to use it has existed long before Stallman was even born. He's using the language as it currently exists, not redefining it.

So here we have you defending RMS right to use language as it exists, without redefinition, when the original thread arose because of people taking umbrage with someone, uhhh... using language as it exists, without redefinition.

Wow.

Spot a weakness in the above?

Those Boing Boing links are hilarious.

I've recently noticed that the Toastmasters (safe link) logo has more than a passing resemblance.

The other instructors in our department recommended that I make my PowerPoint slides available on the course web site before the lectures. [...] These students downloaded the notes, frequently skipped class, did not participate in class discussions, and then complained that their low test scores were due to my bad teaching, not their lack of effort.

Since your colleagues made that recommendation to you, would it be possible that your colleagues didn't get the same negative results you did when they uploaded their slides?

There is no need to answer that question. Online, there is just no way to tell whether you're a good lecturer -- or not. Besides, I just wanted to recommend http://toastmasters.org/ a public speaking club that's very useful for practicing and receiving feedback in a safe supportive environment (not that you need it, I'm just mentioning it -- just in case).

Go and read through http://latex-beamer.sourceforge.net/ and especially its manual that comes with the tarball on https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?grou p_id=92412&package_id=97753 .

You will absorb a different way of approaching a presentation, even if you won't use that LaTeX package to create slides.
But typing some by hand might make you a skilled craftsman of that trade...

And for the speaking part, join http://www.toastmasters.org/ !

Parallel comparison: I'm in Toastmasters (http://www.toastmasters.org/), an international organization promoting communcation and leadership skills. There's an educational program that takes an average person about five-seven years to compete. Numerically it boils down to about 55 speeches, a major project in leadership and mentoring about 23 people. The first part (10 speeches) takes about one to one and a half years. I felt like I raced through it in 10 months, but later I heard about someone really racing through it in 10 weeks. I met that person and discovered that they had definitely missed the point. He was not a skilled speaker at all and could barely understand all of the meeting roles or the opportunities for service to the organization beyond the club level yet he had achieved the first level of education.

Indirect comparison: World of Warcraft power-levelers (or any game with specific goals). The people who play a single character to level 60 and they're "done." They quit and state "I've seen and done it all." Completely missed the point. The game, like school or professional organizations, is comprised of a great deal more than a simple ladder for reaching the "top." These people miss out on so much content, relationships and experience. I'd compare them to someone who goes to a buffet, tries a single bite of each item and calls that dinner.

Where is this coming from? Has our sense of achievement been condensed to "do the minimum requirement as fast as possible?" I guess it's the opposite end of the spectrum of people, companies and communities that are so laid back that they see no reason to change anything at all ever.

I am envious of Banh that he obviously has a high IQ and the ability to absorb a great deal of information quickly, though I wonder how long he can retain it. Patent lawyer? What a waste of a good brain.

I know Java very well, but my true strength is in design. It doesn't matter what languages come and go, those skills will always be useful.

Learn good communication skills so others will think you are competent. Even if you aren't.

Learn persuasion skills so you get good compensation.

Prepare side interests that you can ramp up into money-making ventures in a few months. If your company folds, you get laid off, or you decide to retire (or just plain quit) and the job market sucks, you at least have an avenue to pursue.

Go out and get the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I know it's a stupid little paper back. However, if you take it seriously, it can change your life.

The other thing you might want to do is network by joining Toastmasters. Both of my sons (18 & 19) go and they think it is great.

Great post.

Another valuable skill (...and this IS a skill) is public speaking.

I'm not talking about giving keynote speeches to thousands of adoring geeks. Rather - developing confidence to present your ideas to people you are working with.

As a citizen of the U.S., one giant advantage that you have is your understanding of our own culture. When you add to that technical understanding AND the ability to communicate your ideas, you really should not be without opportunities for long.

I'd also add that switching jobs (whether forced or voluntary) is not always a bad thing. As a geek, you are probably interested in learning new things - and probably get bored easily. MANY corporate jobs are really are designed to be boring (think division of labor).

Both of these came from Slashdot

why nerds are unpopular

Slashdot on Aspergers The word has a P in it not a B!

I think what helped me the most, putting social skills into practice was joining a toastmasters organisation, meetings include regular and positive feedback on your communication skills, with the self restraint imposed by people who know they're going to be next on the "evaluation" roster.

Most nerds are never going to be interested in doing what it takes to be popular all the time, there are just so many other things that are more important. But they can be taught what it takes to get a "normal" person's attention and help when they need it. Basic psychology would help. The other thing is they need to learn that there are a lot more lies out there than truth. What is in novels about heros is much more how the writer (usually another nerd) wishes the world would be, not how it actually is.

The most important thing a kid can learn is that humans aren't the least bit rational or reasonable. They're often emotionally or chemically driven. Example, you might be explaining perfectly rationally why it is important to have a van for work, but your boss may have just experienced a tradgedy involving vans and refuses to budge. You might present to a committee, that preventing accidents costs less than cleaning up after them. But all the committee will see is a cost now that might not be a cost later (they're wrong but they won't see it).

Nerds like everyone else, operate well on the whats-in-it-for-me. They know not to judge a book by its cover. They may not know that everybody does judge a book by its cover - at least at first. So to get a kid to take time over his appearance is as simple as getting him or her to understand that s/he will be teased if s/he doesn't make any effort get it right.

Only put your hand up in class to answer a question once per lesson.
Don't make it obvious that you know heaps more than other kids. They will be annoyed and then nasty.
Do help the slower kids, and do keep this quiet. Helping other kids helps you develop social skills and it also helps you learn, and it helps keep the whole class moving a bit quicker.
If your class is going too slowly (you're bored), do ask your teacher for extra reading/exercises, and do it in class - you will earn points with your peers for appearing to not be paying attention.
Remember the right university will be full of kids just like you, and all these stupid kids in school won't matter any more - except when you're trying to get a research grant.

When I left a full-time office position to work full-time from home, I made a concerted effort to maintain planned human contact in other situations. For instance, I became more active in Toastmasters. That helped me maintain human contact -- especially with positive people. I also scheduled racquetball games with friends and former colleagues.

I also worked very well in that arrangement. I never burned out because I could always take a break when I needed it. Take a nap, see a movie, whatever I needed when I needed it. I produced very well because I was doing the work when I wanted to do it, and the customer loved the work. If only they had kept paying their bills!

-Steven
quite ready for that again

This far in, this post will probably not get read but...I just landed a 4-month contract that will yield a considerable amount of cash. When I was going through the sale, the client told me that they saw similar applications for less than 1000. They wanted to know why I was asking for 30,000.

The old line "you get what you pay for" is still very valid. You will find that companies are still very much willing to pay for good work. Granted, they're not paying $200/hr, but there is still money to be made. The bottom line is that you have to convince your potential client that you are offering them quality. Quality, support, and personalization in the development of the software. If you can show them why the job cost as much as it does (through a detailed Statement of Work), it'll be much easier for them to accept it.

But this is not the true purpose of my post. To be sure, this is a very scary time for many people and I am very sympathetic. Finding new jobs is very difficult, but there are a couple of things that you can do.

First, let me just say that I hate sales. I don't know anyone that enjoys selling, but you have to do it. Now, I have an edge as I have been an independent contractor for over 10 years. But anyone can do it on their own.

The key to being successful is networking. Quick tip for those with a bit of free time. Pick up a networking book such as Masters of Networking. Figure out who you know and who you can sell to. Put yourself in situations where you are forced to meet new people - preferably 10 a day. This is not selling in the pure sense. It's not cold calling. Just go and get involved in activities that involve other business people.

A couple of thing that I have done recently:

1) Join a business network group, such as BNI.

2) Join a social group that attracts business people. I recommend Toast Masters. As an added bonus, you will learn to present yourself better.

3) Every one is freaking out over the SoBig virus right now. Similarly, a lot of people want to go wireless in their homes but, with always-on broadband connections, are afraid of getting "0wn3d". Print up some flyers, walk around your neighborhood, *personally* meet with every neighbor, and offer, for *free* to help check their PCs for viruses (virii if you're so inclined), configure their firewalls, recommend a router. This will get you in front of people, generate goodwill, and let your neighbors know of your availability.

One of the most powerful ways to find new work is through referrals. I haven't made a cold call in my life. All of my new clients come to me through referrals. Word-of-mouth and a personal recommendation can do a lot more for you than any marketing brochure or telemarketing script could ever do. Go over a list of people that you have worked for and with in the past 5 years. Call them up, catch up on lost time, work in that you're available, meet for lunch. Don't turn it into a sales pitch, just keep it friendly. They'll get the idea. And you'll get out of the house.

Find ways to get yourself in front of people and let them know that you are here. It's not easy, that's true. I was extremely shy when I started. Now, I speak at tech conferences in front of more than 7,000 people. I carry a stack of business cards with me at all times. I find opportunities to start conversations with people.

I didn't start out knowing how to "work a room" and I still have a long way to go. But, I am making a living. Not as much as a couple of years ago, but my bills are getting paid and I am sleeping at night.

Consider this. When you see a job posting, there are over 1000 applicants that you are competing with. As you might guess, most HR/recruiters do not have the time to read through all of them. They'll go through the first

I used to get that kind of answer...

I mostly solved it by joining a toastmasters club. Ironically the interviewer that recommended that to me, ended up joining about 3 years after I did, and I thought he recommended it because he'd been in it...

There is always a way of saying what you have to say in a way that is absorbable by your audience.

Example: Nobody likes to hear "you did that wrong" but most people are interested in how they might do something better so they will usually absorb "I think there is room for improvement here, and you might like to try blah".

Often now, when asked a technical question that might have a superficially simple answer, I answer "the simple or usual answer is blah", and then I ask "Do you want more technical detail on the possible variations?" Mostly they don't.

The other possibility is you might have a mild case of aspergers (nearly autism), where things that are important to most people like who is having a good day, what their family is up to, what clothes to wear, and which famous person is dating whom, etc is completely unimportant to you.

And then you have to learn modified communication systems to talk to these people. Unfortunately, you'll frequently find them in management. ie your boss.

It isn't really unreasonable, after all you wouldn't expect a computer that speaks netbeui to understand one that speaks tcp/ip?

Which reminds me I can't get my win98 machines to see each other. curses. I'm trying IPX/SPX next. Eventually if I ever figure out how to make gnome2 work I might be able to give up win98..

Right now, I'm spending most of my free time on public speaking and I'm already past the point of college.
What about you? How are you spending most of your free time in your life?

If you want to improve your presentation skills, join your local toastmasters club. It's one of the best and cheapest way to learn how to speak in public and/or give public presentations.