Are you "googleable"?

Yes, that's now a word. I looked it up, and found quite a few references;
Urban dictionary definition
A blog dedicated to it! - no recent updates though :-(
I'll let you see the rest at your leisure, there were 97,800 results.

What does it mean for my job search?

I want everything found on google when someone searches for "Rick VanGameren" to be something I'm happy for a potential employer or business partner to find. I have the good fortune, for this goal, to have a unique name. If it wasn't, I'd have to come up with a way to "uniquify" my name. Maybe something like; "Fred (I deliver overnight) Smith". Probably still need some more thought on that one.

Step one; what do you get when you google your name?

Use that as a starting point. Then decide what results you want to represent you, and - if you can, go back and brand them with the name you want people to use to find you.

Comment here if you have any questions.

RSS Feed Readers

I've been using Google Reader as my primary RSS reader. I did read a notice on LinkedIn about subscribing to network updates;

Important note about web-based feed readers

Some web-based feed readers publish your feed URLs on the web, making them available to search engines and everyone else. You should not subscribe to LinkedIn’s Personal feeds with a web-based feed reader unless it guarantees that your feeds are kept private.

So I decided to install a PC-based feed reader for these updates. I was fascinated by the difference in the steps required to install a simple application like this for Windows (XP) and Linux (Ubuntu).

Windows

I settled on FeedDemon for use with XP. Here are the installation steps;

1. Google RSS feed readers and find the desired application
2. Download the installer
3. Logout
4. Log in as a user with administrative rights, otherwise step 5. will result in the error; "You must be logged in an administrator when installing this program"
   
5. Open the installer (remembering where I stored the install file)
6. Answer the installer prompts
7. Logout
8. Log back in as a regular user
9. Launch the program

Linux
I settled on Liferea for Ubuntu. Again, here are the installation steps;

1. Google RSS feed readers and find the desired application
2. The recommendation included an apt statement for the install, so - Open a terminal session
3. Type in, or copy and paste from the web site recommending the program; sudo aptitude install liferea
4. Enter the administrative password, wait for the install to complete
   
5. Launch the program

Somehow, I had believed that Linux was harder to work with than Windows. Seems I was mistaken.

A lot to digest

There's a lot here in Sophie Lagacé's post; "More career tips and tools"

Hopefully you get some value out of it as well. Be sure to also read through the comments.

Scott Adams hit the nail on the head

Check out today's Dilbert!




I can't say that I've been in the fabric box for all 14 years, nor does that represent my boss, but I can still relate.

Multi-tasking in Ubuntu

I just shut down Notes, I'm installing software, writing this post, moving 30GB of data - all at once.

I certainly don't miss the Windows "please close all programs before installing this software" prompt. Not even one little bit.

One more place to look

www.linkup.com

What linkup does is collect job postings from company websites. Some of these jobs may be advertised and filled before ever being posted on monster, etc.

If you read anything from Nick Corcodilos, you'll be as surprised as I was that he recommends linkup.

Salary Privacy

Now here is an article about salary that I do whole-heartedly agree with. I've never been comfortable knowing how much my co-workers or supervisors make, and I don't talk about it with anyone. Why would my salary suddenly lose it's privacy just because I'm interviewing for a new job?

Most employers have a salary that they want to pay for a job position. My job is to make sure that I provide more value than that when I perform the job duties.

I'm finding that I agree with quite a bit of what Nick Corcodilos has to say.