Blogging can get you hired, not fired
Big media meme of the moment is the people-fired-for-blogging story. Except that it's a non-story. Millions of people are blogging but neither millions nor thousands nor hundreds are getting fired for doing it. Some very bright sparks have blogs now, Tim Bray, for example. The Extensible Markup Language guru joined Sun Microsystems' software group last year to work on XML-based syndication and advanced search. In his position as technical director in the software group, he's looking at how content syndication based on the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) format can be integrated into Sun's software. If you're in the job market, Bray says blog. Why? Well...
You have to get noticed to get promoted.You have to get noticed to get hired.
No matter how great you are, your career depends on communicating. The way to get better at anything, including communication, is by practicing. Blogging is good practice.
Bloggers are better-informed than non-bloggers. Knowing more is a career advantage.
Knowing more also means you're more likely to hear about interesting jobs coming open.
Tim Bray knows enough about the real world to realize that "not blogging won't protect you from career-limiting moves," but his Ten Reasons Why Blogging Is Good For Your Career makes sense in a world where the ability to find information and articulate the results has become a survival skill.
