Looking busy at work is a fine art form that has been honed over decades and centuries of workers and companies. Regardless of how much your thinking actually impacts your productivity, if you don't "look busy" management is sure to come calling. The result of all this effort is something I call "work theater." It has all the outward appearance of work, but very few benefits to you or your company. Unfortunately, it seems that every job today requires some work theater, just to stay employed. [Continue Reading]

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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Did you know that the computers at my local bank, and the entire Federal Reserve, were “crashed” by a virus a few weeks ago? Neither did I, until I was told just that by the teller at my local bank. Of course, the teller was wrong, but imagine the response a less tech-savvy patron might have upon hearing such news. It probably wouldn’t cause a “run” on the bank, but in this era of fear, uncertainty and doubt, such broad pronouncements about technology can cause big problems for your company and you. [Continue Reading]

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Meet me at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo!
Career Opportunities LIVE! - Fri, Sept. 29, 2006 - 1pm
In the LA Podcasters booth on the show floor

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life points to Indeed.com, a great resource fro salary comparisons based on your job title and description. It can also give you information on how the cost-of-living might effect your salary in various locations.

This site, Indeed.com, dovetails nicely with an upcoming article (See Knowing all you can on October 16, 2006), where I talk about learning more about your salary and other company information. Be sure to watch for that column in a few weeks.

Check your Salary - Is it at least fair?...I think the best exercise for everyone to complete is to see how you currently stack up in compensation. If you were to slightly alter your specialty, would you make more? How about if you packed your bags and went to work for a small company instead of a huge one? Let's start with positions. Here is an IT and then a Nursing pay comparison. These were already completed on a site named Indeed.com. (Continues)

(Via Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life.)

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, technology, computers, high-tech

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If you want to anger, frighten or infuriate someone, often the only thing you need to do is remain silent. Failure to respond to questions, support requests or complaints allows the client/customer to think the worst about you, your skills and your services. Yet, this is exactly how some companies, and their workers, function from day-to-day. For the sake of your own career, you need to avoid the silence or you may just find yourself out of a job. [Continue Reading]

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Meet me at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo!
Career Opportunities LIVE! - Fri, Sept. 29, 2006 - 1pm
In the LA Podcasters booth on the show floor

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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Look at any 10 small companies today, regardless of the industry they are in, and you will find 5 or more that have no full-time technology staff. Instead you will find someone who is probably regretting they ever told anyone that they knew something about computers. Too often these de facto technology workers want nothing more than to get back to doing the job they really love and leave the technology issues to someone else. As you might imagine, this can be a marvelous opportunity to jumpstart your career. [Continue Reading]

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Meet me at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo!
Career Opportunities LIVE! - Fri, Sept. 29, 2006 - 1pm
In the LA Podcasters booth on the show floor

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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Well, it finally occurred. I guess I didn't end up on the cutting room floor, as can sometimes happen.

Today's episode of Your LA (http://myspace.com/yourlatv) included a 2-3 minute segment of yours truly discussing podcasting.

In case you missed it (What, you didn't set the TiVO for this once-in-a-lifetime event? (SMILE)) I have linked the video here. Click on the picture to view:

Link: Douglas on KNBC's Your LA (Video)

Technorati Tags: california, podcast, podcasting, losangeles, technology

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Math and the Mona Lisa | The Geek Gap

Math and the Mona Lisa was passed along by my sister a few weeks ago. I have read several books on Leonardo da Vinci and, like most, find him fascinating. This book has a bit more higher level math than other books I might choose to read, but you can still easily follow the ideas, even if you don't quite understand the math. It explores how mathematics and geometry are involved in art, even if the artist has no conscious understanding of the math involved. It seems we are all pre-disposed to find certain ratios and arrangement pleasing to the eye.

The Geek Gap explores the fractious nature of communication that exists between "the suits" and 'the geeks" in any company. I know this issue exists, from first hand experience, and I am quite interested in reading the authors thoughts on how it might be managed.

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, creativity, technology, sketch, art, drawing, toread, read, book

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I tend to include lots of tips for the freelancer in Career Opportunities, but here is a great collection that focus more on the business side of the equation. When you work for yourself, you have to do everything and this means becoming more knowledgeable about everything, especially those business-related issues we would much rather ignore.

I take small issue with their item on not burning bridges, It has been my experience that those folks that cause you the most trouble up-front, will only cause more trouble down the road. Don't be overly picky about your clientele, but certainly be very careful in selecting your clients...hopefully as careful as they have been in selecting you.

Great freelancing tips

Web designer Cameron Moll shares some great lessons learned and tips for freelancing. The first thing he mentions isn't really a tip, but something ever freelancer should know about. Learning from failure.

(Via Lifehacker.)

Technorati Tags: howto, how-to, career, job, jobs, work, workplace

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How long are you willing to wait for your company to get its collective "act" together? How long will you suffer through hiring freezes and a moratorium on raises? How long will you suffer a company whose planning, and treatment of their workers, is abysmal at best? How long will you wait before you look for a better job and a better company? You might be surprised at the answer. [Continue Reading]

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Meet me at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo!
Career Opportunities LIVE! - Fri, Sept. 29, 2006 - 1pm
In the LA Podcasters booth on the show floor

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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This recall notice, due to a software flaw, just seemed too coincidental to let pass without a comment. Yet another reminder that even the smallest flaws can have dramatic effects on both customers and the manufacturer.

Although yesterday's podcast was based on a column written 6 years ago, I guess the message still needs to be heard.

Segways Tossing Riders Due To Software Glitch

As if Segway hasn't been having enough problems lately, it turns out that the scooter that was originally pitched as "impossible" to fall off has a bit of a software glitch that can throw people off. It's a pretty bad glitch, since it will cause the device's wheels to suddenly change direction -- which makes it pretty difficult to stay on board. Perhaps they should look into that anti-rollover technology that is being required for automobiles soon. In the meantime, the company has recalled all of its vehicles, which can't be a cheap proposition for a company that's had some trouble making money. If only they could recall all the hype that came with the company, because that seems to have been thrown off the vehicle too.

(Via TechDirt)

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

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If you haven't checked out the combined Friends in Tech Forums, give them a try today.

All the FiT Members have dedicated forums for their shows and we all chime in on questions and comments and a wide variety of technical issues in the Mac, Windows, Linux and Network Forums.

Recently, I launched the Jobs Offered Forum and I am starting to populate it with high-tech positions. Right now we have a few from the Los Angeles Area (my neighborhood), but we hope to branch out to listings all across the country and even the world.

In fact, if you have a job position you are trying to fill, or are looking for a new job yourself, check out the forum. You can send new job listings to welchwrite+fitjobs@gmail.com.

Share the wealth with your fellow "Friends of FiT!"

Technorati Tags: california, career, job, jobs, work, workplace, losangeles, technology, computers, high-tech, friendsintech

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Everything, it seems, will soon be computerized in some fashion. Everyday appliances like your refrigerator and oven already contain microprocessors and I recently saw a pair of shoes that contained a small computer to allow kids to see how fast they run and how high they jump. Soon, these embedded systems will become a deeper part of our lives than ever before. Not only that, they will begin talking to each other. All this computerization begs the question, "Are we, as computer professionals, capable of writing software and building hardware that is good enough to become part of people's lives in ever more intimate ways? [Continue Reading]

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Meet me at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo!
Career Opportunities LIVE! - Fri, Sept. 29, 2006 - 1pm
In the LA Podcasters booth on the show floor

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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Back at the beginning...2 years ago on iPodder.org from The Wayback Machine.



This is a partial screen grab from The Wayback Machine, a unique service provided by The Internet Archive, which allows you to view web pages as they existed in the past.

Here is the full list of shows on September 24, 2004, the date of my first Career Opportunities podcast.

• The Daily Source Code
  
• iPodder Default Test Channel
  
• Trade Secrets
  
• Static Radio
  
• North West Noise
  
• Web Talk
  
• The Linux Link Tech Show
  
• Podcasting from SoftwareLand
  
• Curry & van Inkel Radio Archives
  
• Leo Laporte's Tech Guy on KFI
  
• Whole Wheat Radio
  
• QOTD
  
• From the Fermosa Tea House
  
• Morning Coffee Notes
  
• Career Opportunities
  
• Evil Genius Chronicles
  
• Escape from the world
  
• IT Conversations
  
• RasterWeb
  
• Blogdigger Audio
  
• FreeFlow
  
• Blogosphereradio
  
• Ghost in the machine
  

* Bold = Still in production (as far as I was able to tell)

Technorati Tags: california, podcast, podcasting, losangeles, technology

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The podcast download problems we have been having lately (see below) point out a major issue with how I communicate with you. If you only subscribe to the podcast with iTunes or other podcatching client, you are cut-off from the information flow if anything goes wrong with the the podcast delivery.

I will be releasing a short audio podcast, and a PDF download for those who I can't reach directly via the blog, but I wanted to talk to those who do read the blog, too.

As a way of keeping you all "in the know" I would like to suggest that you subscribe to the Career-Op Email Mailing list, subscribe to the Career-Op feed using a text-based RSS reader, such as Google Reader, or use this new service from FeedBurner which allows you to subscribe to the Career-Op feed and have it delivered directly to your email inbox.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

As always, if you have any questions or comments about Career Opportunities, the column, the podcast, the blog or any aspect of the WelchWrite web site, I would love to hear from you.

Send you emails to career@welchwrite.com, call our listener line at 206-338-5832, Skype Me (douglaswelch), or IM me via AIM (welchwrite)

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Hello all,

Update 815am, 9/11/2006 -- Just as I was preparing to call GoDaddy tech support, I decided to test the issue once more. This morning, though, all files seem to be downloading properly. (?!?) Please let me know if you are experiencing any continuing issues downloading podcasts from WelchWrite.com and I will follow up. -- Douglas

Update (11:00am PDT): I have re-linked the the 2 latest shows to a new server, so that people may receive the downloads.

If you would like to test the download problems for me, please try to access this file. Please let me know if it downloads correctly. Thanks -- Douglas


I am having reports that listeners cannot download the Career-Op podcasts. Despite the fact that I have presented GoDaddy support with a host of supporting documentation, they still insist their is no problem. Who knows, perhaps I am making it all up? (SMILE)

So, I would like to ask you a favor. If you experience difficulties downloading Career-Op, either via iTunes or directly from the web site, please take a moment to send me an email to career@welchwrite.com. If you can, please include a traceroute from your computer to welchwrite.com, your geographic location and the name of your ISP and include that in the email.

I will collect these up and present them in a new trouble ticket to GoDaddy support. If I don't hear from anyone, I will assume the problem no longer exists, although I am experiencing it as I write.

I figure if I present them with enough support, we might actually solve the problem. My feelings at the moment are that it is a misconfigured server as the traceroutes I have run appear to be completing properly, at this time.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your help! -- Douglas

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When we are working, we often think about what those hours will buy. Is this part of a new car, a new HDTV, a new house? We think in terms of money -- how much per hour, how much we need to cover our credit card bills, how much to pay the mortgage? I believe, however, that we are buying something much more important with our work hours -- something much more precious. We are not just making money or buying "things", we are actually purchasing little pieces of freedom. When you think about work in this way, it takes on even greater importance in our lives.. [Continue Reading]

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Meet me at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo!
Career Opportunities LIVE! - Fri, Sept. 29, 2006 - 1pm
In the LA Podcasters booth on the show floor

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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More good news this week. The highly successful music industry book, The Craft and Business of Songwriting, has just been released in its 3rd edition by my good friend, John Braheny. This edition contains a substantial amount of new content, including a podcasting sidebar written by yours truly.

I was honored when he asked me to write the podcasting sidebar for his book. As he prepared this latest edition, podcasting was just starting to enter the public psyche and, even then, I sensed its effects on songwriters and the music industry as a whole were sure to be profound. Since I was an experienced computer consultant, there at the very beginning, (and not a bad amateur guitarist) I was in excellent position to help his readers understand this new technology.

John, and his wife, Jo Ann, will be starting their national book tour today, hitting conferences and bookstores in California, Utah, Ohio, New York, New Orlean, Shreveport, Phoenix and more. You can find their itinerary, and more information on the book, at JohnBraheny.com

The Craft and Business of Songwriting is available via Amazon.com and bookstores throughout the country. Make sure you ask for the new 3rd edition with the cover you see above.

Technorati Tags: california, podcast, podcasting, losangeles, technology, books, writing, performance, music, songwriting

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I have toyed with the idea of setting up a web cam so I could use it during my Skypecasts and interviews, but now I have it up and running quite frequently.

Today, I am showing a feed of the bird bath in my garden as our temperatures push towards the 100 degree mark.

Current Web Cam Picture




Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, california, outdoors, losangeles, urban, wildlife, birds, birding, birdwatching

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Our 4th Skypecast where we discuss finding virtual employees, job changes, people and tech support and more.

Mentioned during the Skypecast:

Programmer, Meet Designer Web Site

Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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Too much of what we do in business is simply because it has always been done that way. Seth Godin has some interesting thoughts on how the interview process might be changed to make it better for everyone involved.

The end of the job interview

(Via Seth's Blog.)

Technorati Tags: howto, how-to, career, job, jobs, work, workplace

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As the world of technology becomes more complex, you as a high-tech worker or consultant will start to feel the effects of this complexity. In the past we may have prided ourselves on our ability to provide a solution to every client, but today the world is simply too complicated to allow that. Too frequently these days we find ourselves standing between two, finger-pointing corporations who insist to the end that the problem is not their fault. Despite your best effort, you will have to admit, sometimes, that you can't help the client any further. [Continue Reading]

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Comments, Questions, Reviews?

• Review this Podcast in the iTunes Podcast Directory


• Join the career discussion in the Career-Op forums


• Vote for this podcast on Podcast Alley


• Call the WelchWrite Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: career, job, jobs, work, workplace, podcast, podcasting, technology, high-tech

If you find this podcast helpful, please consider a donation towards our purchase of an Edirol R-9 digital recorder.

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This Friday , September 1, 2006 at 6 pm PDT will be our next Skypecast. We will be recording this Skypecast for possible release as a Career Opportunities podcast.

Join us for our regular open discussion audio chat which may appear as a Career Opportunities Podcast. Bring your career questions and concerns. Let's talk!

You will find full instructions, and links to the free Skype program, at https://skypecasts.skype.com/.

Please be aware that Skypecast is a public meeting place, like your local pub, and it is in beta, so technical issues and people issues may abound. When you join the Skypecast, please wear headphones ( to avoid audio feedback) and mute your microphone by default.

I will be using the "Ask for the Microphone" feature in Skypecast to call on each person who wants to speak. You will find this button at the top of the Skypecast web window that opens when you join.

Join the SkypeCast Friday, September 1, 2006 at 6 pm PDT

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