How does a pinko developer market themselves?

[Mike Pence]

As the remnants of Ernesto rustles the palm trees and litters the pool
with leaves, I find myself in a similarly unsettled state. My primary
client, who had been so demanding of my time of late that I turned
away other work, is in the red. I am none the better for all of those
endless days behind the keyboard.

So how does a pinko-sympathetic web 2.0 developer market themselves? I
dread the task, and want to look last where I used to look first, at
places like CareerBuilder.com and its ilk. I suppose by reaching out
into the communities that I frequent, would be the pat answer.

Resumes. I hate them. Most of all, my own. Not because I have 16 years
of expereience developing for prominent clients with names that would
be widely recognized, nor because I have mastered 8 or 9 programming
languages, always keeping a finger to the winds of change. (No, not
that finger.)

So I am looking to find someone who has a very cool vision for a
highly interactive web application. With Ruby on Rails and even
Laszlo, I can make it dance and sing. I just don't want to do the
freeway shuffle, dodging death simply to huddle in a mind-numbing gray
cube, sufffocating in corporate mediocrity. I am so past that.

Mike Pence

[Eric Skiff]

Hi Mike -
I've found increasingly hard to write my resume and especially cover-letters as I grow more and more pinko-influenced. There's always been a falseness to these documents, a sense that they barely tell half the story, but you have to do them.

Luckily, it seems that your first instinct is correct  - working in the community, doing good things and connecting with people is still the fastest way to get yourself employed. I find that there's a sort of time-benefit curve when I talk with people. It works the opposite way you might think though: in the first 20 minutes or so, we basically cover the "why is it worth my time to be talking to you" stuff, and establish some of the methods and reasoning behind what we (as forward thinking, community minded developers and marketers) do. Basically, I yammer on for a while, as we

From there, the discussion often turns to application of those ideas, and how similar ideas have worked for others. Inevitably, I say flickr somewhere during this bit :)

As time goes on, we get more excited and more focused. An idea that we want to try has surfaced. Fundamental ideas about how to proceed have been laid as groundwork.
It doesn't always materialize into a job, but the best advice I can give is to not be afraid to have these sorts of talks. Inevitably, making those connections and doing good things will come back to you, and in our tight-knit little " 2.0" world, it often happens much faster than you think!

-Eric
--
Eric Skiff
Nonprofit web/comms/intranet worker, Podcaster, Pinko Marketer
Blog: http://glitchnyc.com
Podcast: http://AlternativeMusicShow.com - The Alternative Music Show
Silly Puppet Videos: http://feltuptv.com - Puppet Sketch Comedy!

[Scott Brooks]

if your looking to strike it out on your own ...which i think is great ....build something you need ...that you can get passionate about ....

i reccommend reading 37 signals book ..... they have a great path

dont do a job you dread ....life is too short

cheers
scott

[mrs deedop]

Mike's question about marketing oneself Pinko style and Eric's response
about community just nudged my brain a little and reminded me that tomorrow
(or today, depending on your time zone) -- BlogDay 2006 (www.blogday.org)
-- is a great opportunity for Pinko types with blogs to spread the word a
little and introduce themselves and others with cool, pinkoesque (pinkoish?
pinkonian?) ideas to their blogroll. Hell, it may even lead someone
toward a job or two. :-)

BlogDay instructions are here: http://www.blogday.org/?page_id=23

--Robin
www.belly-timber.com

[Mike Pence]

Thanks for the feedback. I am re-writing my resume to be an
anti-resume, or simply a personal history. Something that combines the
ideas of a cover letter and resume to present what I have done in a
more narrative style. The story of me. Why not, since, like the guys
at 37signals, my first love is writing.

From a practicial point of view, we all know that a resume needs to
tell a story, so why not embrace it and make it a good one. I would
love to post it here and get your further feedback, if there are no
objections.

Best,
Mike Pence

[Citizen Rogue]

Hey Mike,

Scott and Eric are both right on. Make Laszlo and Ruby on Rails sing loud and proud - get involved deeply in the developer communities. Look into webkit and other Mac app builders. Join message boards. Blog. Digg. Discuss. Go to BarCamps. Check out some of the new fangled work boards that don't treat you like a piece of meat:

http://programmermeetdesigner.com/

or even the 37 Signals work board (may be some contract work there).

Team up with others.

http://preview.buildv1.com/

Get involved with movements like Microformats, OpenID, Creative Commons, etc. that promote community...

I can almost guarantee you that you will meet great people and start to see referrals soon after.

Tara

--
tara 'miss rogue' hunt
agent provocateur
Citizen Agency (www.citizenagency.com)
blog: www.horsepigcow.com
phone: 415-694-1951

[Citizen Rogue]

Thanks for the reminder, Robin!

Submit your blogs to the list!

T.

www.citizenagency.com)
blog: www.horsepigcow.com
phone: 415-694-1951

[Mike Pence]

Turns out I had competing offers within the first 48 hours of sending
out a mere handful of resumes. One found out about my looking from my
blog, another through a community-focused job board.

So I got a sweet, sweet deal and I could not be happier. Thanks for
all the moral support and guidance! I don't need to tell you that
Pinko marketing is being embraced by a lot of very talened software
companies.

Mike Pence