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I took up blogging at the suggestion of my friend Cory Doctorow when my job responsibilities had been whittled down to five minutes of actual work per day. What started as a way to break out of boredom turned out to be a life-changer: I made many new friends, got a couple of TV appearances, landed a couple of jobs, met my wife and even dodged a bullet. In this presentation, I'll regale you with stories about how I made my life better through blogging, share what I've learned over the past seven years and give you some tips and tricks that I've found useful. And yes, there will be prizes and a rock and roll accordion performance, too!
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Internet Explorer 6,Windows ME
and Comic Sans:The Holy Trinity of the Web
Joey deVillaDeveloper Evangelist
Microsoft Canada
Better LivingThrough Blogging
Joey deVillaDeveloper Evangelist
Microsoft Canada
Who am I?
“Since it’s now fashionable to laugh at the conservative Academie Francaise, I have remained a rebel by joining it.“
-- Jean Cocteau
The Take-Away
Outliers: The Story of Success(Malcolm Gladwell)
How to Make Luck(Marc Myers)
There is a formula for success
Ability alone is not enough
Effort alone is not enough
You need opportunitiesalong with ability and effort
You need ways to create opportunities
The Accordion
May 1, 1999 (daytime):Queen’s Park Cutback Protest
May 1, 1999 (nighttime)Sanctuary Vampire Sex Bar
November 30, 1999:New York City
December 1999:Chapters Online Holiday Party
“I have no idea what you do, but I want to hire you!”
“The street findsits own uses for things.”
(William Gibson)
“The intention of users has more impact than the intention of the
designers.”
(Clay Shirky)
The accordion doesn’t scale
Blogging is Accordion 2.0
Blogging is Accordion 2.0
Bloggingis
Accordion 2.0
A Blogger is Born
“The word blogshould be an acronym forBest Listing On Google.“
(Will Pate)
“Tools don’t get socially interestinguntil they get technologically boring.”
(Clay Shirky)
Friends
B-Harmony
“Internet datingis a web of
lies and obesity.“
Blogging Saves Lives
Work
Heather “Dooce” Armstrong
77% of recruiters surveyed say thatthey use search engines
to check out job candidates.
1 in 4 hiring managers say thatthey use search engines
to research potential employees.
There may be have been up to50 million proper-name searches
in 2006.
“Over time, the lack of a Web presence
— particularly for IT professionals —may well turn from a neutral to a
negative.”
”If someone came looking fora senior-level job and had left no mark
on the Internet, I’d see that as a big negative.“
Tucows(July 2003 – November 2007)
“The fact that he had a blog was absolutely a factor.
His weblog really gave us insightinto how he was a great communicator,
how he has a gift for the gab,his understanding of technology and
his writing talent.
It enabled me to drill deeperand get a better look at the kind of person he
is.”
[Well-funded, badly run startup](November 2007 – March 2008)
b5media(March 2008 – September 2008)
Microsoft(October 2008 – ???)
Writing
10,000 hours
Self
Exposure
Money
$132,994.97? Really?
Accordion Guy, April 2008 – April 20092.7 million hits, 2.1 million uniques
Global Nerdy, April 2008 – April 20091.4 million hits, 1.1 million uniques
How Much?
4 jobs
6 years of employmentat a decent to greatprogrammer’s salary
From laid off toSith Lord
in 3 weeksduring the econopocalypse
A call froma New York
Book publisher
Where do youfind the time?
Consumer: A gullet that lives at the end of the distribution system’s
conveyor belt,who gulps down products
and craps out cash.(Jerry Michalski)
“When you don’t create things,
you become defined byyour tastes rather than
ability.Your tastes only narrow andexclude people. So create.”
(why the lucky stiff)
Thank You
The Adventures ofAccordion Guy
in the 21st Centuryjoeydevilla.com
Global Nerdyglobalnerdy.com
Canadian Developer Connectionblogs.msdn.com/cdndevs
Contact [email protected] /
