Posted in Uncategorized

When It Comes to Age Bias, Tech Companies Don’t Even Bother to Lie

Imagine you’re African-American and working at a 500-person technology company where everyone else is white, and one day the CEO declares in a national newspaper interview that his company’s lack of diversity isn’t an accident. In fact he prefers to hire white people because when it comes to technology white people simply make better employees. That statement would be unthinkable. But what if a tech CEO made the same comment about age?

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.linkedin.com

Craig Cardimon found this gem on LinkedIn. I think the sentence in this article that struck me the most–because it validated something I’ve said time and time again–is this one: “I suspect the truth is that tech startups prefer young workers because they will work longer hours and can be paid less.” In fact, I just had a conversation with someone yesterday about just that point. I had seen a job listing for a social media strategist for a non-profit that I knew would be great for a friend of mine who has done PR, marketing, and more recently social media her entire career. She’s unemployed, and I knew she had the experience, and it was also a cause near and dear to her heart. She said she’d probably apply for it, even though she, most likely, would not be considered because she is “old” (she’s not) and they want to pay peanuts, She’s used to not being paid as much from being in the non-profit sector for so long, but even so… This story shows a travesty that’s going on in the industry. And it’s not only ageism. There’s racism and sexism as well. So basically, as long as you are a young, white male, you’re fairly guaranteed to get an IT job in a tech company. When did inexperience outrank experience? I know I’m still new in the industry, but the only thing I have “going” in my favor based on the above-said criteria is that I’m white. And I don’t seek white privilege. Being an older woman in itself breaking into the IT world and not being some young whipper snapper is hard enough without all the other obstacles in the way of just proving yourself worthy at all. What do you think of this article? Include your comments below.

See on Scoop.itM-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

Posted in Uncategorized

Is it ‘Internet’ or ‘internet?’ The Internet can’t agree.

In the summer, the “Internet” will become the “internet,” at least according to the Associated Press’s widely-followed stylebook.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.washingtonpost.com

Now here’s an interesting dilemma with the “I” versus “i” for the use of the word “Internet”. It can be a little confusing. I’m not a big fan of the AP (long story), nor their style guide because I don’t think it’s accurate grammar. I am more of a Chicago Manual of Style gal, or even a Microsoft Style Guide (yes, it exists) gal. My thought is that if it’s referred to as “The Internet” as an entity, then it should be capitalized as a proper noun. Other situations like “internet connection” should remain lowercase as its a descriptive word. What kind of connection is it? It’s an internet connection. I can see this one being hotly contested in the writing world. What do you think? Include your comments below. –TechCommGeekMom

See on Scoop.itM-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

Posted in Uncategorized

Virtual reality is about to go mainstream, but a lack of content threatens to hold it back

Technology is surrounding us; its surface is becoming more complex, pliable and familiar to the eye. Virtual reality is no longer creeping into the..

Sourced through Scoop.it from: techcrunch.com

The sentence in this article that caught my attention the most–other than the headline–was “VR has the potential to remake storytelling, from how we watch movies to how we play games to how we pass time while waiting for a flight.” 

The biggest message I’ve heard about content marketing for the past couple of years–or much of technical communication, for that matter–is that it’s comes down to storytelling. If you tell a good story, people will buy into it, whether it’s in print, audio, video, web, or now virtual reality.  This article seems to be heralding the call–“Technical communicators! We need you now!” Who better to be the storytellers? Who better to be the ones to help others create content strategies for future virtual content. As the article says, the sky is the limit! 
Would you want to be part of creating content for virtual reality? I think I would want to do that. What about you? Let me know what you think in the comment section below. 

See on Scoop.itM-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

Posted in Uncategorized

We’re Turning Into a Freelance Nation. Here’s What That Looks Like.

Technology has facilitated a global market shift that provides more options for freelance employees.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.entrepreneur.com

Thanks to Craig Cardimon for finding this article.  I almost fit into the stereotypical freelance model as described in the article–except for my age–but I’m also looking to eventually do more freelance work in the future so that I can be more flexible with my time. I like working from home and arranging my schedule the way I want to work.  It’s still the pipe dream, at least. 

In the meantime, this article supports the idea that the rise of freelancing is not a dead idea. In my opinion, this has been said for years, but perhaps it’s had a very slow start. Time will tell whether more freelancing opportunities become available, especially to technical communicators. 
What do you think? Include your comments below. 
–techcommgeekmom

See on Scoop.itM-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications

Posted in Uncategorized

A Poem About How The English Language Makes No Sense

We park on driveways, park on driveways and drive everyone else nuts.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: digg.com

We can thank Mr. TechCommGeekMom for finding this one. Here’s another amusing video to show why English is such a difficult language to learn for those learning it as a second language. If you think about it, this video shows the reason why clear, plain English is needed for translation and localization purposes! 

Enjoy…
–techcommgeekmom 

See on Scoop.itM-learning, E-Learning, and Technical Communications