What inspires you to make?

dougw  wrote:

 

I am not sure about whether blogging helps one's career - I guess it depends on the job requirements.

Promoting your (off-time) project works.

My experience is that when you show self-made projects when applying, they are a great asset.

Blogging on E14, RS Components and on the Ti community, and using that as an asset -  in my career - was a negative power that I had to defend in interviews.

One of the reasons is that almost all of my blogs on element14  have 3 out of 5 stars,

I showed an electronic load I built here and the hiring partner said that it was not relevant because 3 stars and "good effort'" comment on element14.

While I was in the e14 top member community I flagged this,.

My balance after being here for many years is that it hampered my career.

When I negotiate without mentioning my online persona, these things don't play a role.

It is all about inspiration and perspiration.

DAB

That is interesting.

I have taken or been forced to take many on-the-job courses, which helped a bit, but not enough to get a promotion. (Most were not technical courses)

I tend to test things at home that I am interested in from work, (when there is no appetite at work to spend time investigating) so this often has a direct benefit at work and has even led to patents, which look good on a resume. I don't blog about work-related research I do.

I am not sure about whether blogging helps one's career - I guess it depends on the job requirements.

Blogging would not have helped me at work either although I did blog about the interesting locations where I was stationed at times. Upon retirement I became interested in electronics but was reluctant to blog about that because while electronics were critical in the work I did most of the technicalities were not my direct responsibility or background. Fortunately people who are more knowledgeable than me tolerate this and as an enthusiast I have benefited tremendously from the feedback my blogs sometimes get. I have also benefited from reading posts from you and others who do these things professionally. Please continue. :-)

I'm a prolific blogger and learner, doing formal training.

After doing many of these things in parallel for a decade now , I learned that:

• doing formal trainings
• volunteering in the company,
• taking professional risks
• changing company
• getting out of the comfort zone and
• getting certified

has helped in every step of my career.

Up till now, publishing and blogging did not do anything to progress my career. It has been a blocker at times because being a public person is a risk.

I think making has helped my career in many ways, including helping to land jobs.

A by-product of making is writing proposals on element14, which enable making.

This is a very useful business skill to have and element14 proposals help hone that skill.

I voted for "I think the making experience will help my career"

It may not. But almost every post I submit is written with the premise that it will be relevant to industrial practice.

The deadlines help me too, otherwise I am prone to overthinking the problem and not getting anything done.

It would be more accurate for me to say I am able to do more of what I want :-)

The deadline aspect is definitely a motivator for me as well.

I also make to stay up to date on technology and design.

There may also be a bit of making because it is more fun than doing chores, like using it as an excuse not to do other chores.