And now, a word from the “Brazen Careerist”

OK, so I’m wriiting an IT career development and enhancement blog. I hope that means it makes sense for me to turn to other career blogs from time to time, for information, advice, and even a good laugh. Those of you who’ve been reading this blog since it kicked off in mid-August 08, already know that I’m prone to tell people to pursue work that interests them, or that they enjoy, because it remains necessary to get up in the morning, go to work, and get things done, long after the excitement of a promotion or raise has been dulled to background noise by the sheer passage of time.

Little did I know that my chioce of words was both prophetic and well-advised. For an excellent and funny explanation as to why this is true, please check out Penelope Trunk’s great blog called “Brazen Careerist” (which sounds like a piece of socialist realist doggerel if ever I heard one, or perhaps a line from 1984) for December 18, 2007. There, she argues eloquently and with great humor why doing what you love doesn’t necessarily pay the bills, or even make very good career sense (her discussion of how work and life intersect in the world’s favorite leisure time activity is a howl, and I don’t want to spoil it by saying another word on that subject).

That said, doing what you like most from a carefully pared-down set of alternatives makes pretty good sense, especially if your paring-down criteria include (a) what pays well, (b) what you like or enjoy–or at least can stand on a long-term basis, and (c) is within the realm of what’s both possible and attainable for you, given your education, work experience, certifications, and yada yada yada. Trunk goes on to give some pretty darn good advice in this blog (and in her other writing to her great credit). She also refers to a terrific book entitled “Do What You Are: Discover the perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type…” by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger (Little, Brown & Co, 2001, ISBN-13: 978-0316990657) to remind people that “Do What You Are” is not just good career advice, but a terrific exercise of common sense.

If you like this blog, here are some her others that you will probably also want to read:

• Make your own luck
• The end of work as we know it
• The organization man of the new millennium

I can only hope you enjoy this information and advice as much as I do, and that it does somebody some actual good. That’s the best any of us bloggers can hope for, however seldom it may actually occur.