I’ve read some blogging tips over the break and once again it seems that personal blogging is doomed. Apparently one must blog about a specific niche topic and offer readers material that’s important to them. One can’t use a blog like a journal anymore. While it’s not necessary for non-professional bloggers to follow a rule book, sticking to one theme makes sense.

This year I plan to write more about my professional interests and development. It might not attract many readers but creates a log of my career at different stages.

As for New Year resolutions, I’d be content with moving into a business analysis role by the end of the year. I’m going to invest in my knowledge and skills and look forward to reporting on my progress soon.

Now on the serious side. Ok you’ve finished uni and have gained employment in an office job in your career path or at least something interesting. What to do next?

Whether you are in your desired role or not, the process of developing yourself has not finished, in fact you are probably less than half-way there despite your recent three years at university.

I recommend finding a professional organisation for your industry if one exists. Becoming a member of a professional society can do a number of things for your career. First of all, you can get recognised in your profession and commence your path to become a certified professional. It allows you to come into contact with peers in your industry. Thirdly, you are then more aware of continuous education opportunities.

While it’s great to have a degree, so do most people in professional employment. Getting certified, taking on further studies and creating networks will help you excel much faster than your average graduate.

Once I graduated, I joined the Australian Computer Society (ACS). Due to the degree I studied, I was able to get recognition straight away. I became a certified technologist and ICT practitioner. As long as I continue to invest 20 hours each year in my personal development, I will eventually be granted the title of ‘professional’. In this time, I’ve become aware of what types of work exist in my industry and have attending interesting lectures.

A professional isn’t automatically a professional just because he/she was able to pass all the units in that course and receive a degree. Having an external body recognise your industry qualifications compliments those letters that appear on your business card after your name.

I finally finished attaching all the photos that were lost in the maintenance. All posts that once had photos, once again have them attached.

This news maybe didn’t warrant a blog post but the +2 hours of work that it took me does!

Now to clean up the post categories to something simpler…

I know that there hasn’t been enough context given in recent posts.

Back in September, this site was hacked and defaced. I’m not going to go into details for security reasons but I knew I had to change things to protect myself.

While trying to keep all the content I removed everything I had and started from scratch with a fresh wordpress installation. This was very necessary although I wasn’t sure I could keep all the content.

I was finally able to move over without any hassles. The only tasks left to do are to re-attach all the images to posts that had them and also, attempt to simplify the number of blog categories I have. I hope to have this done within a week so that I can focus on my content and of course, traversing through life.

I apologise for the self-focussed nature of recent posts. I’m really pleased with the outcome, so much so that I can’t contain it.

Well, I resisted getting a smartphone on contract until the end of 2010. What the hell took me so long?

Within weeks of purchasing my Blackberry Bold I was well and truly hooked. More hooked than when I got into playing Civilization III back in 2007.

Without sounding too materialistic,I felt as though for the first time I had a tool that I was thought was inaccessible to me. Back in 2008 when I first became aware of Blackberry, I thought that you had to be a lawyer or at least work for a large accounting firm to own a Blackberry smartphone. I heard that they used a separate network and that you’d have to create an account with the company before you could even use the device. Then in 2010, it was as easy as filling out a form, declaring your income and “hey presto!”, you could start using it out of the box.

I figured out how to use it’s features very early on and it changed the way I worked and fulfilled my commitments outside of work.

I use it’s functions on a daily basis and because of the plan that I’m on, I never pay more than what my monthly fee is. My phone came in handy today when I offered to help a friend move house. I had forgotten to take down the address so with a quick navigation of the white pages on the phone’s web browser and a google maps search, I was able to find the place in minutes!

I never forget appointments thanks to my phone’s calendar reminding me hours in advance of any commitments – not that I don’t check my diary a day in advance! It syncs with my email calendar so any appointments that I enter either on my phone or through my email, get displayed on both services.

One smartphone feature that my phone doesn’t have – thanks Skype – is functional on my wife’s Iphone. Thanks to the Skype app she video calls home every Sunday morning in real-time!

The best feature of all though is email and group texting. Coming from a traditional phone, it feels like a first class communication device.

Summary

I would have loved to own a smartphone back when I was at university. It would have made managing my time a lot easier. I wish I had started using one much earlier than when I did but I acknowledge that perhaps it wouldn’t have been affordable. You don’t need an iphone or a blackberry, you can buy touchscreen smartphones for as little as $140 and it will have the same functions that I’ve described above. Thanks to the ever-advancing technology and the lively competition, most people can afford to have what I consider a communication luxury. Again, hesistant to sound overly materialistic but the smartphone has impacted upon my life for the better.