Blogosphere Evolution
January 30, 2007
In the midst of my quiet period of blogging, working on the new book (which you can now register to get a sneak peek at the first chapter of), I’m still noticing what’s happening in the blogosphere.
There was a big change in the past few days over at the nCircle blog – they changed the focus from a blog mostly about vulnerability research to involve more of the company – TK, Tim Erlin and Andrew Storms (who is on the smartphone/wireless panel with me at RSA) all now have their own blogs. These guys have always had great things to say, and it’s great that they now have their own forum in which to say it.
What this comes down to is an ability for each of them to enhance their personal branding. I hope to see more of the cool and smart people at nCircle start to differentiate themselves from the common voice – it’s good for everyone when we know who they are. It’s why I love seeing blogs like Tyler’s – he’s out there creating a blogging identity for himself separate from the company that he works at. It will serve him well in the next step of his career.
Great job, nCircle people… go check out their blog.
The “Failure” of Networking and the Successful Job Search
January 27, 2007
Recently, Jason Alba mentioned on his blog a study that showed that “higher level positions were NOT found through networking“.
Everyone goes around talking about the importance of networking, and I’m no different – I believe that a well-developed network is one of the most important resources for building a sucessful long-term career. So I had a really hard time believing Jason’s post.
And then, Jason pointed me to the original study. And I read it, and he’s right: that’s exactly what the study says.
From the study:
“Among Executives 97% thought Target Marketing to companies was the best way to find a new job, regardless of the seniority of the job being sought…. Among Non-executives, 73% felt that Networking was the best way to find a job. ”
Oh, No!! It’s the death of networking! All the successful people use something other than networking!!
Luckily, my brain kicked in just before I clicked the “Cancel Account” button on my LinkedIn account.
Okay, enough of my being flip – there is an incredibly important point buried in here…
The executives (i.e. those who have been successful in advancing their careers) are doing more than just “networking”.
(Aside: while not all executives are successful and not all non-executives aren’t, it’s a useful distinction for simplicity within the bounds of this discussion. Thus, I’ll assume the distinction holds even though it’s not quite so clear-cut out in the real world)
The main differences here are of terminology and job-search paradigm: within the successful (i.e. executive) search, what we traditionally call “networking” is just one part of the strategy called “target marketing”. We’ll talk more about that in part 2 of the article.
The main difference between the successful job search paradigm and the paradigm of most less sucessful searchers can be summed up most easily in one sentence:
“Executives are looking for something. Non-executives are looking for anything.”
When it comes to their job search, executives (and successful non-executives) are looking for a job that fits their values, skills, and aligns with what they see as their calling (though they may not call it that). They’re not looking for “just a job” – they’re looking for a particular opportunity that fits with where they are going and where they are in their careers at that moment.
On the other hand, most non-executives are just looking for a “job”. So, they network in an unfocused way, hoping that the more people that they meet, the sooner they’ll turn up ANY opportunity. Which, no doubt, works to get jobs. However, it isn’t the way to best build a long-term, successful and (most importantly) fulfilling career.
This is why we see the difference in terminology between the executives and the non-executives in this study: what is called “target marketing” by the executive set actually includes what we traditionally think of as “networking”. But, when looking for a particular opportunity (instead of just any opportunity), the process of getting the job involves significantly more: it involves understanding your own calling, your skills, values and path, and how the company that you’re targeting aligns with each of those things. And it involves getting introduced into the organization at the right level in order to ensure that they are aware that your direction and theirs is aligned perfectly at that moment.
This is where traditional networking fails: you can’t know those things about a company, nor get the appropriate introductions without a well-developed network who you can call on when you need to. It’s not that excecutives don’t use networking – it’s that their entire job search is so much more broad that it can’t be simply called “networking”.
As I announced recently, I have a new book coming out that will detail exactly this type of “direct marketing” job search strategy. This is what “Flying the Plane” is all about – taking control of your job search and creating a strategy for getting the job directly.
Forget the Parachute, Let Me Fly the Plane
January 24, 2007
I got an email from Jason Alba recently talking about the recent layoffs at Jobster. I haven’t blogged on it because it’s a non-event to me in a lot of ways – a lot of people get laid off from a lot of companies, and while this one’s an interesting story, I’ve been a little busy. (More on that later in this post)
More importantly, Jason was talking about the lack of personal branding of those who got laid off. From the post:
“I’m amazed to not see more blogs. Actually, I was amazed that so many (past) employees of a web 2.0 company that has a very active CEO blogger haven’t done much to substantiate their personal branding online. Before I went through the 40 profiles I thought I’d have a TON of reading to do, going over each of their blogs. But I guess the reality is that too many people are spending all of their time on their job and no time on their career management.“ (Emphasis in the original)
This is an incredible point – too many of us spend a lot of time focusing on our jobs and very little time working on building a career that aligns with who we are and who we want to be.
In Jason’s email, he said: “I think there is a Part II to this story, and if it fits in your blog I’d love to see YOUR idea of what Part II would be. Could it be that no one is doing personal brand management? Could it be that this doesn’t matter? Or is there plenty of room to really make an impact?”
Jason is right – there’s a part II to the story. We’re in a changing world. The statistics show that jobs are no longer what they once were. In a 48 Days podcast, Dan Miller quoted the statistic that by 2008, less than half of us will be employeed as traditional “employees”. I happen to think that’s a little aggressive, but the jobster layoffs are just a sign of the times: he way that we have been used to working is changing.
Because of that, we have to adapt to a new model of getting and keeping jobs. It’s no longer about blasting out your resume and getting whatever job someone wants to give you – that only ensures that you get a job that doesn’t fit. It’s like sending out a million orders to clothing stores to “send you something”, and hope that they send you something that fits.
All of the new rules suggest that it’s time to stop worrying about what color your parachute is, and start thinking about how to fly the plane that is your life and your career to the destination of your choosing. That is how we make a real impact in our careers in these new times.
In early February, I’ll be releasing my first book on exactly that topic. The book is called: Forget the Parachute, Let Me Fly the Plane.
In the next few days, I’ll be announcing a way that you can get a sneak peak at the first chapter. Stay tuned here and at ForgetTheParachute.com.
My New Web 2.0 Identity Theft Scheme
January 23, 2007
So, I was reading the latest posts over at Web Worker Daily, and I came across the announcement of the new service for Backing up physical data. From the article:
“This week I’m going to hit up a new service that aims at backing up your important physical data. KeepYouSafe.com has built a secure storage network for your vital personal information like medical records, drivers license copies, passports, wills, credit card copies, financial records, insurance papers, basically everything in your wallet and personal filing folders that you deem important.
The service allows you to scan and upload documentation to your Online Safe Deposit Box through a web browser. Is it secure? KeepYouSafe says they employ military grade encryption to keep data safe. There are also multiple servers worldwide so that if anything happens; there will always be a copy available.”
I read that, and almost fell off my chair. And then I went to the site and was reduced to asking myself: “is this Adam playing a joke?”
Checking out KeepYouSafe.com, I noticed a few things that got my spidey sense tingling on a crazy level:
1. Nowhere on the site is there any identifying information – there’s no information on the company founders, no information about the background of the company, and generally, no identifying information at all. And nothing in the domain registry info, either.
2. Their terms of use abdicate all responsibility – Okay, so, surely, they’re going to take responsibility for the information, right? Much like a bank, there’s going to be some sort of insurance that if they lose my data, they’re going to pay for it, right?
Uhh… no. From their terms of use:
2. KEEPYOUSAFE.COM AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, INVESTORS, MEMBERS, PARTNERS AND LICENSORS MAKE NO WARRANTY … (vi) THAT THE DATA AND FILES YOU STORE IN YOUR ACCOUNT WILL NOT BE LOST OR DAMAGED OR EXPOSED;
Even more important to my security spidey sense was their technical white paper about their security architecture. It’s worth a read – it’s just about the perfect document that could give someone who has never done any security a complete sense of false security. (That said, I like their use of One Time Passwords, assuming that they did it right).
Seriously, I don’t know these guys from Adam – this may very well be a legitmate service. My point is that it’s impossible to know them, actually, since there’s no identifying information. And that should be terrifying to anybody who uses them.
As far as I’m concerned, my secure documents are going in two places: close to me and in a location that has a good understanding of my need to transfer risk to them. This organization isn’t actually allowing the transfer of risk – if they were, they’d be insured against any loss of personal info and they’d have the requirement to reimburse users for loss.
Of course, this would be a great idea for an identity theft scam:
“Please scan and send me all of your important data… I’ll protect them, I promise. (But my terms of service say that I don’t have to.)”
Gives me the willies.
Meeting Cool People
January 17, 2007
The best thing about conferences, as I have said, is meeting cool people. I was walking back into the Speed Geeking room after my previous post about Beansec, and I almost ran into a woman. I looked down at her name tag, and it said Anne.
Of course, from this post, I knew that Anne Zelenka from Anne 2.0 was going to be here, so I stopped her and asked. And, after that moment of awkward “not-really-a-celebrity-recognition” thing that most non-celebrities who get recognized by total strangers have, it turned out that it was Anne.
And, of course, I that uncomfortable post-introduction moment of “okay, now what do I say?” Even though I’ve become quite good at networking over the years, I still carry around some of that “high-school geek discomfort” that creeps up most often when I meet someone whose work I admire.
And I have to admit, Anne’s one of my favorite bloggers – her post about her 2007 goals is one of the best posts I have read in the past little while. I happened to read it while I was coming up with my own 2007 goals, and it inspired some different thinking – her goals have a “realness” that I find all-too-often lacking in my own… while she’s clearly trying to change the world, she’s doing it while watching her son play the Canadian national anthem on trumpet. I often find my own sounding far too much like something Tony Robbins would write, and loved the humanity in what she wrote.
That post was my first exposure to her writing, and I have since really enjoyed her writing over at Web Worker Daily.
Anne’s also covering Mashup Camp for GigaOM – check out her coverage here.
Beansec 5 is tonight
January 17, 2007
I’ve been meaning to post about my experiences at the last Beansec event. I kept not getting to it, and now I’m taking a few minutes out of Speed Geeking to post about it, since I’m running out of time before tonight’s event.
As I mentioned, I went to the December event. And I was completely surprised – it wasn’t at all what one would normally expect from a user-group type event. If you are staying away because you’re expecting yet another ISSA-type event, don’t. I haven’t had as much fun since I was sitting in a bar arguing about 0-days at Blackhat.
Actually, that’s an apt comparison. Beansec is surprisingly like sitting at a bar in Vegas during Blackhat or Defcon. Because it’s a group of incredibly smart security people, talking about the stuff that smart security people like to talk about. While drinking.
As I said in the subject, Beansec 5 is tonight in Boston (actually, one T stop from Mashup Camp… I’m quite excited not to be driving tonight so I can actually stay later than my 9PM departure last time).
If you have any interest at all in security, it’s an event not to be missed. If not tonight, then the 3rd Wednesday of February.
The Second Best Way to Learn at a Conference
January 17, 2007
One of the things I wanted to spend time learning about at Mashup Camp is to understand a little bit about the security implications of mashups. I’m not particularly savvy with mashups yet – I’m familiar with the concepts, but I’m not familiar enough.
And, while we were setting the schedule, I didn’t hear anyone talk about security at all.
So, I got up and scheduled a talk.
I have always found that the best way to learn about something is to teach about it. In this case, since I’m the most ignorant guy in the room about the topic, so it’s going to be me asking a lot of questions and trying to get discussion started.
The talk is scheduled for tomorrow’s second session at 11AM in Room B – come check it out.
Update: the notes for the talk will be here.
The Un-Conference Principles
January 17, 2007
As the speaker just said, the principles of these “un-conferences” are a great thought on living your life (or running your business, or…) For those who haven’t been at one of these conferences before, they’re incredibly informal and they run on these four rules:
1. Whoever comes are the right people.
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
3. Whenever it starts is the right time.
4. When it’s over, it’s over.
And, The Law of Two Feet:
If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing – use you two feet and move to some place more to you liking.
These are also known as the Open Space principles. According to one of the speakers here, the rules came from the idea of “making the entire conference more like the coffee breaks”.
What I find interesting about that is that I always believe that the most important learning and accomplishments at any conference I have ever been at has happened outside the conference sessions. Whether it’s RSA or Blackhat, I always get a lot more out of what happens at the parties and get-togethers in the evening than I have in the sessions.
I think that I’d even postulate it as a general rule – the connections you build at a conference is far more interesting and long-lasting than whatever you learned in the conference session.
Mashup Camp
January 17, 2007
For the next couple of days, I’m going to be hanging out in Boston at Mashup Camp. I imagine that I’ll be blogging quite a bit from here over the next 48 hours.
Since we haven’t started yet, this is going to be my “pre-conference small-talk” entry. (Because isn’t that what you do at a conference full of people who you have yet to meet at 8 in the morning?)
The morning trip in to Boston was ridiculously cold – winter has finally arrived here on the East Coast. Even now, my feet are cold as I sit here waiting for us to get started. Have to say, I’m excited – there’s much to learn here.
Okay, enough small talk: Check out the wiki if you’re interested in seeing what’s going on at Mashup, and check back here for my updates.
Oh, and check out the list of people blogging the camp at Technorati.
Where’s Mike?
January 16, 2007
So, I’ve been far quieter than usual this past couple of weeks on the blog. Over the holidays, I went on a bit of a writing spree, and I wrote the first draft of a book. The last couple of weeks have involved working to edit the drafts and get the book ready for release.
So far, the people who have read the book have had great things to say. My favorite quote from one of the people who looked at it was: “I don’t know how much you’re planning to charge for this, but it’s not enough.”
It looks like the book will be ready for publication in the first week of February. So, I imagine that my blogging will be somewhat light for the next couple of weeks as I work to get the book and associated things ready to go.