BLog: On Careers and Other Things

John Scalzi has an interesting blog post on "How to have a Writing Career like Mine." The first sentence in that blog is "you can’t." Then he goes on to detail just how he became the big writer he is, giving you all the hints you need to clone a John Scalzi career. But even if you follow his "guide to become a great Scalzi writer," you still can’t win. Because you have different life experiences, opinions, and things to say than he does.

The great thing about his blog is that it doesn’t just apply to writing careers. As a theatre person, I’ve seen lots of wanna-be actors emulating their favorite star in an effort to replicate those meteoric careers. And I’ve seen lots of database administrators trying to emulate SQL Server greats such as Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, Brian Knight, and Andy Warren (just to name a few). Even on this blog, when I wrote about women in technology, some of the comments indicated that some people are still stuck in the "I need to be something else" rut.

The thing is, you don’t need to be someone or something else. You need to be you. No matter what career you choose, you can’t get anywhere by being a copycat. Unless, of course, your chosen career is to be a copycat (Drag Queen Dolly Parton impersonator, anyone?). You need to focus on what you want out of your career, and find out what makes you unique. Use that uniqueness to leverage your way into your career, to enhance what you are, not detract from it. And if you can’t get where you want to be with your current employer (or agent), then switch tactics. Find another path. Take a leap and trust that your abilities will land you safely on the other side.

But above all, be true to what you are and not to what you are expected to be. You can’t have a good, healthy career unless you’re willing to embrace yourself, foibles and all.