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Here are a few that are career related from 2spare.com, one of the most random stops on-line…

• Early Jobs of Famous People - What they write about you after you’re famous?
• Top 87 Bad Predictions of the Future - What “stupid” ideas have you passed over?
  
  • Bill Gates’ infamous “more RAM than you’ll ever need” line didn’t make the cut
• Top 10 Science Stuff you got Wrong in School - What other lies are being propagated?
• How to Insult Foreign People - (warning: explicit) When I’m learning a new language, it seems like all the bad words are the ones I learn first…
• 25 Most Bizarre Jobs -Is tech really for you?
• Celebrity Quotes and Bushism - Read when you think you might not be qualified for a job.

Via Digg.

While this is done from a freelancing web-designer point of view, many of these can be applied to any job search or interview.  Some of the more applicable, to just about any situation involving you and someone else who may be a potential employer, are below.

11- Poor communication skills

You want to effectively get your message across and be as clear as possible. If your potential client has to process/decode everything you say, that means you may need to work a little on your communication skills. You want your client to understand exactly what you’re trying to say. It is normal to be nervous or anxious, try not to make it obvious, stay calm, professional. See it as a conversation, not as an interview. You got the meeting, you’re half-way there.

14- Not enough experience

If you’re starting out, go ahead and send applications, network with people in your field, don’t be afraid, you have to start somewhere. But don’t be disappointed if you don’t get a gig because of lack of experience, some people will want to hire someone who’s been doing it for years. You’ll get there, don’t worry, it’s not personal.

23- Asking if you got the job

Keep in mind you may not be the only one on the list. At the end of the meeting or interview, asking if you got the job may not be a good idea, unless you know for sure you got it. Be subtle. A nicer way would be something like “I know you are probably meeting with other designers, and want to pick the best candidate, but can I ask you when I should expect to hear from you?” (or something similar, something you’re comfortable with)

One thing, especially in the Valley, that is important is understanding what people are looking for in their jobs.

GenY = tech savvy, but don’t necessarily want to work in tech.  It’s an interesting push / pull in terms of technology vs. the people that are required to improve that technology.

The sense of entitlement, the hedonistic view of the job (ie. what can this job do for me and my career) are all things that are very obvious in the majority of this age group.  As with any broad categorization, it’s a broad stroke; there are always “old school” people in their 20s.
If there was ever any doubt as to why foreign workers are great for Silicon Valley, this is one of them.  The GenY group is a great user of technology, but not necessarily passionate about technology (read: geeky).   The new workers keep the hunger and innovation alive in California.

Reading the local newspapers always gives some interesting insights.  However, it should be noted that syndication has really made a big blur between what can really be useful locally and what is more generic “internetty” information.  Especially now that most Sunday job sections are partnered with Hotjobs or Monster, this line is getting hazier and hazier.

If I go to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Job Section, I see Hotjobs.com in HUGE letters on the front.  And all articles from the Sunday section (which is supposed to be the BIG day for jobs) are also posted on-line now.   For example, today’s two articles are posted so that you can view them without having to actually buy the paper.  So now my wife and I usually just buy them for the ads (which are also now on-line).

The real problem is how are you supposed to get any kind of inside track as to what is really happening in the area?  If you were moving from say Chicago to San Jose, do you real get a better local flavor by looking at the local paper?

I was reading a magazine that is published by my fraternity.  The Editor’s (Bruce A. Wilson) letter is entitles “The Secret of Success?  Dare to Fail”.  It caught my eye for a few reasons, the least of which being, it sounded very much like a good way to summarize a lot of little things about one’s worklife.

So let us begin by defining what success is, and what it is not.  The media bombards us with the notion that success is all about money and prestige…  (references athletes and musicians) .. New York Times columnist Anna Quinden points out that fatal flaw with that approach: “If success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world, but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.” …

Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize winning philosopher and explorer, said, “Success is not the key to happiness.  Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”  Pulitzer Prize willing historian, David McCullough, author of an excellent biography of my hero, John Adams, agrees.  He said, “Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.”  …

It’s the second part - pursuing your passion with all your heart - that brings us to failure.  How you deal with failure will determine whether you will succeed.  Will fear of failure prevent you from confronting life’s challenges or will it drive you to try harder?  Robert Kennedy once observed that”Only those who dare to fail greatly will ever achieve greatly”.  When you do fail - and you will fail- will you be discouraged and quit or will you try harder? …

Overall, it’s a great piece.  The key points:

• If you love what you do, you are successful.
• Failure is at least as important as success

When I was in the eighth grade, I got into a philosophical argument with my History teacher.  At the end of the year, she said “I was voted Most Likely to Succeed.”  To which I quipped, “and yet you’re a teacher.”  (Which is pretty crappy to say, since my mother is a junior high school teacher.)  Her instant reply was “Being successful is about more than money.  I love my job.  I love teaching punks like you the value of an education.”

Okay, so I’m fibbing a bit on the last sentence, but point taken.  I’ve been fortunate enough to be in a job that I both enjoy and get fairly well paid for.  My wife has actually quit a very good paying job to take one that made her happier.  There’s no real chicken-and-egg problem here.  Happiness breeds success.  If your true desire is for happiness, you’ll also put up with some failure along the way.

A variety of topics:

• How to get your boss’ job
• Silicon Valley’s start as a part of the radio industry
• Slashdot: Why Is US Grad School Mainly Non-US Students?
• 10 Businesses In Danger of Extinction

I ran across an interesting article in EETimes.  Basically, it’s about a professor who is trying to create a better tool to stimulate their understanding of electrical engineering.

Why have American students been losing interest in electrical engineering? One theory is that dramatic technological advances in electronics have had the unintended consequence of making electronics less accessible to curious young minds.

The first line of the article definitely does its job for me.  Having interviewed a lot of new college grads, I find myself being very disappointed a lot of the time.

Incoming college freshmen lack “the background intuition that kids used to get from just playing with stuff, tinkering with stuff,” said Don Millard, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI, Troy, N.Y.). Today’s students may have cracked open a videogame console to solder a mod chip onto the motherboard that lets them play games for free. But more often, Millard said, inquisitive minds find components that are so small they can’t be tinkered with or gadgets that are so tightly packed they can’t be pulled apart.

Thus, Millard and others believe, students who might once have been attracted to electrical engineering because of the ability to observe cause-and-effect relationships in circuits and components are instead gravitating toward other fields.

I really appreciate this context.  Hopefully, there will be more options for students to be more interested in EE going into programs around the country, rather than just thinking that it’s a good way to make a buck.

From lifehacker: “The way to ’solve’ the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you.”

Original article is here.

As we talked about previously, going to school for the wrong reasons is never a good thing.  I ran across an article talking about the pros and cons about going to a game programming school.  The constant comparison is with art schools.  Even then they specifically note that a general undergrad education is better and that a game programming school is almost a graduate degree to get your foot into a specific industry.  This is almost the same message as getting a grad degree.

Bottom line: if you don’t know what you’re going to do, get your 4-year degree and get a job!

Here’s a bunch of fun links from Lifehacker.

• 10 Ways Your Resume Irks Hiring Managers
  • These are pretty straightforward.  If you haven’t checked your resume for these things, good luck on your job search!
• 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People
  • It’s always good to know what not to do.  Some of these may be surprising.
• 3 Steps for Success
  • Simple things, but sometimes it’s the simple things that make it worthwhile.