[Cialug] Volunteerism and stepping up a career

[Scott Prader]

On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 9:50 AM, Matthew Nuzum <newz at bearfruit.org> wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 2:46 AM, Scott Prader <sprader at iastate.edu> wrote:
>>
> I'm starting to formulate a new idea here. Basically, don't do work for
> free. (and by "starting", this has been in my head for at least a few
> months)
> I can think back to the projects I've done for free and I can tell you that
> consistently, they were:
>  1. Poorly specified
>  2. Under appreciated
>  3. The highest cost projects to support
>  4. Generally a pain in the rear

You aren't the only one who has learned this lesson the hard way.  The
idea is to accomplish something so that you can say "yeah, I did that
and it worked" so you can basically market yourself to a prospective
employer who is looking for someone that has some experience in
following through on a project, not just someone that has a plate of
skills.  After all, what good are skills if they haven't been tested
in the field?

-- 
Scott Prader
Undergraduate Electrical Engineer
CARC, SSCL
sprader at iastate.edu