Web Persona and Your Career

In the past few months I have seen a handful of blog entries centered around what I call your ‘Web Persona’. The other day I read a blog post from Brad McGehee that listed some helpful tips, not all of which I could agree with. Later on I saw this reaction from Jason Massie and I knew I was not alone. I wanted to say something, but decided to wait before reacting. I wanted to make certain I understood what it was that was causing something to trigger inside of me.

Recently I wrote about how successful teams share many of the same traits. If I could add one thing to those thoughts and keep in mind everything that Brad listed out so well, it would be this:

Be yourself.

One of the reasons I launched a blog as SQLBatman was because I wanted some anonymity. I did not want to use my name as my web address because (1) i think that is lame, (2) too many others do the same thing, and (3) you lose a lot of your privacy when you do so. However, I do want to get credit for my work. So, how do you balance getting credit for your work AND try to retain some privacy? Well, you don’t, that’s how. But, if I am going to expose myself to the public through the intertubz, then I am going to do so on my terms, in a way I desire, and not in a way spelled out for me by others.

Brad made two comments that, in my opinion, seem to be at odds with one another to some degree. They are:

“If you want to maximize your future career opportunities, you want to project your best possible image.”

-and-

“Don’t use a “cute, clever, or funny” alias (user name) to refer to yourself professionally. “SQLSanta,” or similar aliases, no matter how amusing, do not make a good impression.”

The reason I believe they are at odds, to some degree, is that somehow by NOT using an alias you will therefore be able to maximize your future career opportunities. But, what if using an alias is the way you have decided to project the best possible image of yourself? Hmmmm….

Now, think back to what I was saying about being part of a team. You want future opportunities to come to you, no question. And the ones that do come to you should be ones that you want. Make sense? Would you go to an interview and pretend to be someone you are not? I know I wouldn’t. So why would you pretend to be someone else, ever? Sure, there is a line to be drawn, and Brad does do a good job of drawing the lines for people to follow. His comments about inappropriate posts is spot on, I just think he should clarify one little thing, that it is more important to be yourself than anything else.

I want people to know that I have a sense of humor. I want people to know that sarcasm is a service I provide. I want people to know that I can sometimes be creative. I want them to know that sometimes I can be frustrated. I put details such as these into this blog, and I want them to be there, in plain sight, for everyone to examine, for all time. But that is me, you need to decide what works best for you.

And maybe my web persona cost me roughly twenty votes in the PASS election last month. Perhaps I shouldn’t have held up that sticker during my thirty second video spot. Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten that tramp stamp after I learned I had lost the election, and allowed those photos to be posted by several different witnesses. Are you kidding?

Oscar Wilde once wrote: “There is only one thing worse than being talked about and that is NOT being talked about.” If someone reviews your web persona and decides to not even bring you in for a face-to-face interview, then you do not want to be working there. It will not be a good fit. If you want to play it safe, never expose yourself to the public, never take chances, do you think that you will still get that face-to-face interview over others that are promoting themselves?

Get in the game. Be yourself. And trust that good fortune will find you, no matter what.