There was a student doing his final year in the university. In the previous few years all he cares about was to get through to the next year. But now it's different. Soon he would graduate and need to start looking for a job. He realized it takes more than good grade to get him that. He realized he didn't even know how it looks like to work in the real world.
A young professional had been dreaming to work overseas. He didn't know how to get there but that was his target in life. He did his best to make a good resume and kept sending it to many recruiting agencies around the world without many responses so far. He wished someone was willing to give him hints and share the experience so he can just follow it.
He's been working as professional in several different countries for many years. He remembered how it was not easy to get into his current position. He could still recall all the interviews he had to go through every time he switched job. How he learned to build connection and reputation at work. Now he feels like it's time to pay back. He's planning to share his experience to others.
Do you think the three stories above are real? Any of them?
I was a student and even after I graduated I didn't know how to find a job. I always wanted to work overseas, but I didn't know how to do it or whether I had the expertise to be able to compete in International market. Good thing I passed my CCIE lab. And it was still not easy because obviously certification is not enough. Even with expertise and experience I still spent many years trying to get a job in Cisco. I had to go through many projects, had to build connection and reputation, before finally Cisco gave me a chance for the interview.
So for me the stories are real. And they are the reasons why I founded Project Avatar.
I want to build a community for professionals and students so they can help each other to achieve their target to compete globally. Experienced professional can help by sharing his knowledge to younger professional. And by doing that at the same time he demonstrates his leadership and coaching skill to the world. Professional can share his experience to the students so at least they get some clue how the working environment looks like. And by doing that the professional will become a better professional. Every time you share your knowledge you gain more. Every time you give free gift to some people they will do the same to some other people. So then we build the culture of giving gift. Students someday will become professional too and they will continue this chain of knowledge-sharing culture.
That's the value that I believe we are doing with Project Avatar.
And that's also the reason why in the beginning I self-funded this project. That's the same reason why I spend time outside my 40-hour a week for Cisco to keep the website alive. And why during the weekend night I spent my time to write this blog :)
And I believe in that value. I believe in my reasons.
What do you believe?
Friday, June 03, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Two Laws - Rewrite
Several years ago I invented something that I called 2-Law of Desperate Workers:
Law 1: To get a better job, you need to have good experience and build good working experience profile
Law 2: In order to get good experience and build good working experience profile, you need to work in a better job
So you are not happy with your current workplace because it doesn't offer good experience. You want to move to a better company, but they are looking for someone with good experience. And to get that good experience, you need to work in a better company.
You can use professional certification like CCIE to remedy the 2 Law issue. Taking CCIE lab won’t give you large scale deployment experience, but at least it’s close enough to teach you about some design aspect, setup and troubleshoot complex technology in much smaller scale. And it can show your willingness to learn, your self-discipline during the study, and your ability to tackle such difficult challenge. Obviously once you are able to move to a better job with your CCIE, you need to start getting the real good experience.
The other way is by making connection and helping others in the community like Project Avatar. Not only it can give you more experience in leadership, coaching skill, and teaming up with others, it will also make people recognize you and it would be easier for them to give you reference (remember, it's 'who knows you' that matter).
It's not easy to write to share your knowledge. It takes effort to answer other questions or to conduct live presentation over web conference. But if you are willing to do so, you will build a stronger profile and get additional experience that you may not be able to get at your current workplace. And all the experience and reference you make now may help you in the future.
So help others to help yourself. Let's start it on Project Avatar.
Law 1: To get a better job, you need to have good experience and build good working experience profile
Law 2: In order to get good experience and build good working experience profile, you need to work in a better job
So you are not happy with your current workplace because it doesn't offer good experience. You want to move to a better company, but they are looking for someone with good experience. And to get that good experience, you need to work in a better company.
You can use professional certification like CCIE to remedy the 2 Law issue. Taking CCIE lab won’t give you large scale deployment experience, but at least it’s close enough to teach you about some design aspect, setup and troubleshoot complex technology in much smaller scale. And it can show your willingness to learn, your self-discipline during the study, and your ability to tackle such difficult challenge. Obviously once you are able to move to a better job with your CCIE, you need to start getting the real good experience.
The other way is by making connection and helping others in the community like Project Avatar. Not only it can give you more experience in leadership, coaching skill, and teaming up with others, it will also make people recognize you and it would be easier for them to give you reference (remember, it's 'who knows you' that matter).
It's not easy to write to share your knowledge. It takes effort to answer other questions or to conduct live presentation over web conference. But if you are willing to do so, you will build a stronger profile and get additional experience that you may not be able to get at your current workplace. And all the experience and reference you make now may help you in the future.
So help others to help yourself. Let's start it on Project Avatar.
Friday, May 20, 2011
CCIE's Diary
Many requested me to write down step-by-step how to become CCIE. So today I made 'CCIE's Diary' group in Project Avatar. In this group, I'm sharing step-by-step how to become CCIE, by writing down what you should do each day during the journey in the group's discussion. Some of you may take longer to complete one task in a day, and for some others may take faster or can even skip the tips for few days depending on your current progress. I will start Day 1 with assumption you have just started the journey or you are currently still thinking about going for CCIE. I hope this is useful.
And when you are ready, you are more than welcome to share your own Diary in Project Avatar. Let's start.
And when you are ready, you are more than welcome to share your own Diary in Project Avatar. Let's start.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Project Avatar FAQ
What is Project Avatar?
Project Avatar is an open professional community with one goal: to help its members to learn, get the experience, connect to each other, and pitch and market their profile to the world. Project Avatar uses modified social networking platform to serve this purpose.
Why is it called 'Project Avatar'?
Avatar = a visible manifestation or embodiment of an abstract concept. Avatar is your profile as others perceive you. This community is about your project to build your avatar, in order for you to be successful as a professional in international market.
Who should join?
Anyone who wants to be a better professional can join Project Avatar. Students can join to learn about the real world working environment from the professionals. Lectures or executives can join too to share their thoughts and experiences.
Is it only for IT Professionals?
Even right now most of the members are professionals from IT and Telecommunication, the community is actually open for anyone. You can form a group with those who have the same profession like you using this platform.
Why can't we use the existing social network?
The other social network is either too personal, you can't mix the professional environment with virtual farming or poker game, or lack more features to allow professional to do more than only making connections.
How can it be different with other professional network site?
Other professional network can provide connections. But that's all. Project Avatar provides mentoring concept where anyone who wants to become a mentor can use the facilities not only to form group, upload video, write blog, and chat, but as well as to answer the questions, make poling, share document, and conduct web seminar or have discussion on virtual whiteboard. And mentor will get point by doing those.
How to sustain the mentoring model in this community?
Senior professionals can mentor younger professionals. Professionals can mentor the students. Students someday will become professionals and can mentor the other professionals or students.
What does it mean: Learn, Experience, Connect, Pitch?
Project Avatar is connecting the dots between the four aspects required to become successful in professional world: skill, experience, connection, and ability to sell and market thyself (pitch).
How can the member learn from this community?
Member can read other professionals' thoughts and experiences from blog, get answer from the forum or Q&A tool, form study group, attend the web conference and whiteboard conducted by other professionals.
What kind of experience do you offer?
Having connection to other professionals around the world can give experience in communication and ability to work as a team. We put Points System as well to simulate the reward from real world that you can get if you actively involve in discussion, share your thoughts, conduct conference and so on. And we are planning to release Project Avatar's Challenge in the near future.
How about connection?
In Project Avatar, not only you can make connections to other professionals around the world, you can also show your coaching skill and leadership by mentoring others. You can use the feature available like virtual whiteboard and desktop sharing to collaborate with other professionals and build stronger connections.
How can the member pitch the profile?
All your activities in this platform is one way to pitch your profile. Recruiter or anyone who wants to know your background can just look at your blog, your recorded web conference, what you have done to help others, how many points you have, have you been as feature member and so on. More experienced professionals can help you to be better during job's interview and to improve your CV in discussion group or forum. And we are planning to release more video tools to make you able to pitch your profile in a better way.
Do I have to pay to join?
No, it's free and it will always be free to join Project Avatar.
Will you use my information to spam me?
No, your information will not be used without your permission.
Can I still follow the community's activities without signing up?
Yes, you can. However you won't be able to participate actively in the community like provide comments, answer questions, discuss in forum, get points and so on.
Project Avatar is an open professional community with one goal: to help its members to learn, get the experience, connect to each other, and pitch and market their profile to the world. Project Avatar uses modified social networking platform to serve this purpose.
Why is it called 'Project Avatar'?
Avatar = a visible manifestation or embodiment of an abstract concept. Avatar is your profile as others perceive you. This community is about your project to build your avatar, in order for you to be successful as a professional in international market.
Who should join?
Anyone who wants to be a better professional can join Project Avatar. Students can join to learn about the real world working environment from the professionals. Lectures or executives can join too to share their thoughts and experiences.
Is it only for IT Professionals?
Even right now most of the members are professionals from IT and Telecommunication, the community is actually open for anyone. You can form a group with those who have the same profession like you using this platform.
Why can't we use the existing social network?
The other social network is either too personal, you can't mix the professional environment with virtual farming or poker game, or lack more features to allow professional to do more than only making connections.
How can it be different with other professional network site?
Other professional network can provide connections. But that's all. Project Avatar provides mentoring concept where anyone who wants to become a mentor can use the facilities not only to form group, upload video, write blog, and chat, but as well as to answer the questions, make poling, share document, and conduct web seminar or have discussion on virtual whiteboard. And mentor will get point by doing those.
How to sustain the mentoring model in this community?
Senior professionals can mentor younger professionals. Professionals can mentor the students. Students someday will become professionals and can mentor the other professionals or students.
What does it mean: Learn, Experience, Connect, Pitch?
Project Avatar is connecting the dots between the four aspects required to become successful in professional world: skill, experience, connection, and ability to sell and market thyself (pitch).
How can the member learn from this community?
Member can read other professionals' thoughts and experiences from blog, get answer from the forum or Q&A tool, form study group, attend the web conference and whiteboard conducted by other professionals.
What kind of experience do you offer?
Having connection to other professionals around the world can give experience in communication and ability to work as a team. We put Points System as well to simulate the reward from real world that you can get if you actively involve in discussion, share your thoughts, conduct conference and so on. And we are planning to release Project Avatar's Challenge in the near future.
How about connection?
In Project Avatar, not only you can make connections to other professionals around the world, you can also show your coaching skill and leadership by mentoring others. You can use the feature available like virtual whiteboard and desktop sharing to collaborate with other professionals and build stronger connections.
How can the member pitch the profile?
All your activities in this platform is one way to pitch your profile. Recruiter or anyone who wants to know your background can just look at your blog, your recorded web conference, what you have done to help others, how many points you have, have you been as feature member and so on. More experienced professionals can help you to be better during job's interview and to improve your CV in discussion group or forum. And we are planning to release more video tools to make you able to pitch your profile in a better way.
Do I have to pay to join?
No, it's free and it will always be free to join Project Avatar.
Will you use my information to spam me?
No, your information will not be used without your permission.
Can I still follow the community's activities without signing up?
Yes, you can. However you won't be able to participate actively in the community like provide comments, answer questions, discuss in forum, get points and so on.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Who Knows You?
A friend of mine told me once: it's not what you know, it's who you know. I disagree. I think the right statement is: it's who knows you. The complete sentence is: it's who knows you, then what you know and what you have done count in later stage.
A strong connection may be able to give you a job directly (I have seen this, it's common practice in development country like in my home country). But a good connection may only land you to job interview. Hence what you know and what you have done in the past are required to pass the interview and get the job.
How to make people know you? One way is by sharing your knowledge. If you know something write it in the blog, answer people's questions, conduct presentation through web conference, and so on. Even if you think the knowledge has less value for others, because others may think otherwise! And by doing this, you make people know you.
Project Avatar provides the facilities for the community member to share the knowledge, ideas or lesson learned from past experience. Spread the knowledge even if you think it's not the greatest idea or the most complicated in the world. Something you know might be valuable information for others.
Convey, even it's only a single word.
A strong connection may be able to give you a job directly (I have seen this, it's common practice in development country like in my home country). But a good connection may only land you to job interview. Hence what you know and what you have done in the past are required to pass the interview and get the job.
How to make people know you? One way is by sharing your knowledge. If you know something write it in the blog, answer people's questions, conduct presentation through web conference, and so on. Even if you think the knowledge has less value for others, because others may think otherwise! And by doing this, you make people know you.
Project Avatar provides the facilities for the community member to share the knowledge, ideas or lesson learned from past experience. Spread the knowledge even if you think it's not the greatest idea or the most complicated in the world. Something you know might be valuable information for others.
Convey, even it's only a single word.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
Friday, May 06, 2011
Project Avatar
I had a dream. A dream to build community for professionals and students so they can be better and able to compete in International markets. After 6 months thinking about the concept and discussing it with some close friends, few days ago I launched Project Avatar.
Project Avatar is an open community with one purpose: to help its members to learn, get the experience, connect to each other, and pitch and market their profile to the world. Project Avatar is connecting the dots between four aspects required to become successful in professional world: skill, experience, connection, and ability to sell and market thyself. Anyone who wants to be a better professional can join Project Avatar.
The key behind Project Avatar is the social networking platform that allows the members to form study group, to upload video, write blog, ask and answer question, participate in the poll, share the document, attend virtual session just as my recent CCIE on WebEx. Hopefully the member can act not only as mentee in the community, but as well as the mentor to help the others.
Project Avatar is still considered Beta, but you can join now to start using the platform. I put Feedback feature so you can give direct comments about anything within the community, and I will treat each comment seriously.
The recording of my previous "CCIE R&S, The Unofficial Update" WebEx session has been split into several smaller sections and available for the members of Project Avatar.
Convey, even if it’s only a single word.
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