More evidence that blogging can help you get a job. Here is how it went, a little long winded perhaps, but then most life stories are.
Two years ago, my friend Melissa and I started a food blog, because all we like to do (and by we, I mean me) when left to our own devices is cook and watch the Food Network. Things progressed, life got in the way of Melissa’s blogging but I persevered.
A few months later I met Corie at the launch of Nature Network Boston at the Science Museum. Corie was recruiting bloggers for the brand new site. I met with her a few days later to discuss blogging, told her about my existing blog and my thorough devotion to the art and business of blogging, and Lab Life was born. I blogged and I blogged and apparently, some people took the time to read the verbal products of my twisted world view.
A few more months passed, a few more NNB posts came into being. Last summer, I was flabbergasted and honored by an invitation to attend SciFoo at the Googleplex. Obviously, I accepted, and flew out to San Jose for a whirlwind weekend. I met more luminaries and progressive thinkers than I could count. Among them were Moshe Pritsker and Nikita Bernstein, founders of the Journal of Visualized Experiments, a start-up in Cambridge, MA. [Remember JoVE, it comes up later].
I got back to Boston all kinds of invigorated and inspired and devoted a fair bit of my time to helping organize a conference on open access publishing here at Harvard. We invited Moshe to sit on one of the panels and offer his view on the direction of science publishing and potential roadblocks in its growth and evolution.
Needless to say, a hefty drinking session followed the conference. I am proud to say that even Bora couldn’t keep up with a bunch of Russians (that would be Moshe, Nikita, and myself. Ok, Nikita doesn’t drink, but still…). Somehow, a joke was made about me looking for a job, haha. I did not laugh at this joke.
The very next day I had a two hour-long meeting at the JoVE office with part of the JoVE crew in attendance and walked out with a part-time job blogging for JoVE! Yep, I am now getting paid to blog, among other things. Please hold your applause until the end of the performance.
The idea was to start a blogging platform or community site on the JoVE webpage to increase traffic and foster conversation around the videos posted on JoVE, life in science and science publishing, and of course, stuff that happens in the outside world (or as I like to refer to it, the real world). Knowing that I am a blogger and have some connections in the online scientific community (yep, I know people who know people) Moshe et al asked me to be their blogger extraordinaire. I recently started a JoVE blog that will soon migrate to the JoVE page, once their platform is up and running (thanks, Nikita!). I will have some input in the design of the blogging platform, which is any blogger’s dream come true, kind of like drawing the plans for your own virtual home.
I will be working for JoVE while I am finishing up my dissertation. Should I ever actually graduate, we will re-evaluate our working relationship to see if they need or want me to come on full time. Right now I am just enjoying being a (very) small part of something new and exciting, and something I really believe in – an open access, online journal that is promoting a novel way of communicating science, a way that not only makes it easier for scientists to learn from each other but also makes it easier for the general public to learn from scientists. Everyone wins. But most of all, I win, because my blogging – much maligned by my friends and relatives for taking too much time away from my lab work – got me a job. Never underestimate the power of the internet. I bow down in awe.
Congratulations! I’ve played on the JoVE website a little bit and I think it’s just incredibly cool.
I included my blog in my CV when I applied for my current job. There’s a large writing component in the job description, and what better way to demonstrate a genuine interest and committment to science communication than to prove that you’re geeky enough to do it as a hobby?!
Of course, since I started the new job I’ve been so busy reading and writing about science at work that the scientific content on the blog has plummeted… for now at least!
Most interesting and enlightening posting Anna.
JoVE aside (muchos great that it is and I fully support initiatives like JoVE), on the food level, me thinks an OA Internet based Visualized Cooking Show may be on the cardies for later this year. I’m up for that….
—
Competition time.
Winners will get great prizes.
Who can come up with the most funky acronym.
I’ll start the $0.1 (‘ebay’ or now ‘wikia’) bidding with “OLIVE”.
Online Live Innovative (of) Visualized (Cookery) Experiments.
Live Cookery Sketches? Cool (bad choice of wig I know)
Popeye ;-)
Congrats Anna! So nice to hear that we at Nature Network could help you in your career. I often give talks to budding science writers (or grad students thinking about science writing as a career) about how to get into this line of work, so I’m going to mention you (and you too, Catherine!) as an example of how blogging, if done well, can be good for your career.
Just to clarify for everyone, you’re going to continue blogging on Nature Network, right?
Catherine – I put this blog on my CV as well! I was too chicken to enter it as work experience, so I listed it under Extracurricular Activities. I am thinking it has earned a more prominent spot. Where did you mention it? You have my dream job, I think. I like thinking and writing about science, but boy do I hate doing it.
Graham – Brilliant idea with the video cooking blog. I think something like that already exists, but I can’t seem to find the address at the moment. That is my not so clever way of conceding that I don’t have a funny acronym. Sorry. Will have to think about it some more.
Corie – Good point. For the record, I wouldn’t dream of leaving Nature Network. I will continue blogging here for as long as you will have me. I think it has been made amply clear that I would not be anywhere without Nature Network and all the lovely people that run it.
Anna, I had a whole section called “science communication experience” in which I included the blog, marketing materials / websites I’d worked on at my old job, a high school outreach programme I’d been involved in, newsletter contributions, grant and fellowship applications, plus a mention of the peer reviewed research papers and conference presentations that were listed separately. It was what you might call a targeted CV!
Corie, I’m flattered that you’d mention me in one of your talks! I’d love to attend one some time, do you do anything in Canada at all? If not, would you be able to send me a copy of a PowerPoint presentation or anything similar? My email address is on my blog profile.
I’m trying to get a part-time freelance science writing career off the ground and have almost completed my first large project, but this was through some existing contacts and I’d love some advice on how to establish a bigger network etc. Ironically enough, the project has been taking up so much time that I haven’t yet had a chance to read any of the books I bought on the subject!
Thanks in advance!
Anna
Congratulations and welcome to the world of video :). I wouldn’t forget networking either. In a sense, apart from demonstrating your capabilities and knowledge, blogging is a great way of expanding your network as well.
Catherine – Thank you for telling me about your CV! I am stuck between writing a CV and a resume, and generally have no idea where non-conventional experiences such as blogs fit in. I have successfully copied your idea and added a “Science Communication Experience” section. Thanks!
Deepak – Thank you for the congratulations! Blogging has been a completely unexpected and enjoyable boost to my career. The fact that I can even call it a career is testament enough! See you in NC next week?
Fellow food blogger and scientist here. I do not blog on scientific topics in a science specific blog. I write as a scientist on food and do yummy home-taught food photography (all this at http://nikas-culinaria.com ) and do lots of food writing (some of it on food science, some on molecular gastronomy, some on sustainable ag and related organic stuff). Note – I am not a food scientist I have a PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology. I also blog about our organic sustainable gardening ( at http://humblegarden.com ) where I use a scientific rigor and voice. People really seem to respond to my blogging on the way we garden and my thoughts on it, who could have EVER guessed.
Being a scientist and knowing how to write well? That is so darn rare that it is worth developing and sharing in any sort of blog.
I am pretty sure I would not get a job predicated on my blog .. tho I have licensed food photography quite successfully from it and have also made some fantastic connections – none in the “scientific” world.
The best blogging experience is likely to come when you do it because you love it not because you expect to get a job from it or make money directly from ad sales on the blog. This way you enjoy the journey and dont ask “Are we there yet” every 5 minutes :-).