mway’s blog

In most professional circles (mind you, I use the term lightly), a person’s resume is their life blood when it comes to being considered for a position.  As is true with many things, it’s all about first impressions; ideally, if you look good on paper, there’s a good chance you may turn out to be an asset for whichever company is reading that paper – it’s the proverbial foot in the door.  Once you’re in the door, it’s all about proving yourself – using your skills in a real environment – but until that point, perception is key.

I saw something this morning that made me laugh at first, then turned into one giant sadtrombone.com – I read a blog post by an industry professional, and in the opening of that entry, where his accreditations were being listed, was what I first thought was a glaring mistake: [name] is a power user on [internet forum].

Let’s stop to think about that for a second: I just used the words accreditation and forum in the same sentence.  What?

There are many things that could be seen as accomplishments in today’s world, but somehow it seems like a fairly large stretch to say that being a user on a forum is anything noteworthy.  Anyone can be a user on a forum.  Almost anyone can post enough to become a power user on said forum.  “Are you a power user on any forums, mway?”  No.  No, I am not.  Why?  Because I spend all of my time, you know, working.  And honestly, I don’t mean to say that forums aren’t important (they are massively so), or that being involved in forums isn’t important (it is), but that’s a lot like saying, “Yeah, well, I tweet a lot about tech stuff.”  Woo hoo.

It’s sad to me that we make so many concessions about mainstream technology that suddenly using a forum is a valid credential.  It’s good that we keep evolving, but for christ’s sake, evolve in the right direction before Darwin has a field day with you.