self-taught

Stop acting polished

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UJO0jYLtRte4qpyA37Xu_9X6A7388 (1) Your workspace isn’t that clean,

You don’t dress like that all the time.

You can’t possibly drink Starbucks everyday.

Sound familiar? Well anyone who takes the daily scroll through social media might know what I’m talking about. People who act like their lives are put together and stunning. Instagram is a prime example. Nearly all of a person’s photos are clean and polished with good contrast, lighting, posture, and overall picture quality.

Really? Is that how your life is?

I thought I was crazy for being the only one thinking this until one of my friends brought it up as well. She was scrolling through Instagram and made a scrunchy face as she saw some particular users post the same type of photos over and over. It may involve the same background, object, selfie, and so forth.

Is it wrong or bad they’re doing this? No. The problem is that it doesn’t let them be as authentic to their users as they could be. The point of this post is not to bully and point a finger at people, the point is to be authentic, be yourself.

Just because other bloggers, entrepreneurs, working professionals, etc. post coffee pictures doesn’t mean you have to. Just because they post about pictures of their boots and how ready for the fall season doesn’t mean you have to.

Be yourself, share what’s going on in your life, not what you think you should be posting.

If you have a hobby, share it. If there is some quirky anecdote you want to share, share it.

Post and share on social media that showcases you, not content and/or an image you think you should have because of others.

 Polished image away

 your authentic self shines now

show you, show true, always

#thehaikuproject

Me (2nd from left) coding this past year on my first site!
Me (2nd from left) coding this past year on my first site!

Photo by: Joshua Earle

Weekend Reading List: Dec. 18

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photo-1416862291207-4ca732144d83 (1)

There is a lot that goes on in the week. Christmas shopping is reaching the final countdown and the new Annie movie is coming out on Friday (anyone seeing it?).

In the weekend immediately following my college graduation, I read several articles online. I’ve rounded them up and provide some commentary on why they’re great. Behold the weekend reading list:

  1. 5 ways to motivate yourself to do anything (The Daily Muse): I really like reading The Muse’s career advice articles. Many people have a grand idea or goal they want to accomplish but have trouble actually completing it. The article’s first way to get more motivated (get clear on the end goal) is my favorite. When you get stuck and/or feeling down on your pursuit, you can always look towards the end goal you have set for yourself.
  2. 4 habits of people who follow their dreams (Fast Company): This article mentions the crucial soft skill of being able to not take rejection/criticism personally and having the ability to judge your work. It has a handful of anecdotal examples of people who faked it till they made it, created their own opportunities in response to rejection, and used naysayers as mindset rocket fuel.
  3. Six secrets to effective job hunting (Primer Magazine): Go directly to company websites, something so obvious but often so overlooked.
  4. How to choose a direction when you have a million ideas (XO Sarah):  This is for all the bloggers/creative consultants/designers/self-published authors/entrepreneurs/insert job title here’s everywhere.
  5.  Resume Speak (Resume Speak): This is a humorous one. Funny read considering the countless times I’ve been told as a soon (and now recent) college graduate being advised on “fitting my resume with buzzwords”.

Photo by: Bec Brown (Unsplash)

MOOC’s: Open Learning

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Open Learning

“You blew 150k on an education you could have gotten in $1.50 in late fees from the library.”

-from Good Will Hunting (1997)

Photo Courtesy of Colin AshbyScribbles in a library study room

I’m a believer in self-taught education. I like being around people who are considered autodidacts (people who self-teach themselves). There is something great about watching a person demonstrate or talk about something they care about. They talk with so much passion and knowledge yet they never went the traditional classroom route to learn it. I’m sure most people have come across at least a few people like this (have you seen the vast amount of 12-year-olds teaching things on YouTube?)

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) have given people, regardless of location or experience, the opportunity to learn. Moocs have been covered a lot lately in the news. Embracing the thought of people wanting to learn outside the traditional classroom, I put compiled a list of some great sources to find free courses available to people (offered even from high-end universities).

UCLA

UCLA offers many open and free extension courses on writing. Some of the topics include: Working on a Personal Brand, Screenwriting, Writing a 1-Hour Drama Pilot. There is basically a course for almost anything a person can think of. You may notice there are courses that cost money, but plenty that are available for free.

Stanford

Stanford University has a program called S.E.E. (Stanford Engineering Everywhere) that offers ten open courses for anyone to take. The courses use the same lecture videos and assignments that regular Stanford students use (and the courses are free!). Some of the courses they have include Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Computer Science.

Carnegie Mellon

Carnegie Mellon University has a program called the Open Learning Initiative. The program is just that, open learning available to anyone. They have courses on biology, math, psychology, and more. There motto is “No instructors, no credit, no charge.”

iTunesU Store

iTunes offers the free app that can let a person took for and take free courses with no additional materials like textbooks needed.

Udemy

Udemy is the ultimate in free online learning. Their goal is to “democratize education by enabling anyone to learn from the worlds experts.” The website allows anyone to take or teach courses.

The point of this post is that students often feel restricted by many things. They feel trapped by their major, unable to take interesting free electives. They think that their degree may limit them, and so on. This does not have to be the case. Working towards your college degree is worth it. In my experience, through taking some free open online courses, I was able to build upon what I was learning in the classroom. I was able to explore more into my major than ever before.  Through the exercises and assignments, I was able to refine my thinking about how to use my degree to my best advantage.

So next time that winter/spring/summer break rolls around, consider using the resources above to take some free courses.

Your Career Starts Now

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The time spent in college is the training wheels towards building a career. I say this because mass communication week ended last week at Texas State. The five day-long event brought media professionals to Texas State to talk about the changing world of digital media and how to prepare for a career in it. One encompassing theme was clear from all of the speakers: start doing our career now, don’t wait till you graduate.

During my fundamentals of digital and online media class (the class that required me to make this blog) my professor mentioned a reason behind why he requires the class to keep a blog:

“There are different ways to provide content, to get you out there doing what you want to do. Start doing now what you want to do for your career, don’t wait” –J.Z. (The FDOM professor that gave this blog assignment)

Want a career in advertising? Start making advertising campaigns. Want to work for a creative media agency? Start creating your own content. Create. That is the point. Do the things that your dream career requires, right now, don’t wait until after college.

Editing my Austin Film Society Internship Application Video
Editing my Austin Film Society Internship Application Video

“I don’t need to tell you what I know. At this stage, it’s important for you to tell me what you know.” –Newling (My Statistics Professor)

The way the theme of this blog (Why a College Degree is Worth It) ties into this is that college provides an experimental group for a person to build a career. There is a plethora of resources around a student in college that can help them build the career they want. Resources that will probably never be within arm’s reach ever again once they are in the real world. So go out now and start doing the career you want to do. Start experimenting to see how digital tools like Pinterest, Storify, WordPress, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and so forth can help develop your personal brand.

Become your own creator, make your own content, and become who you want to be.

“The great thing about education is that everything you have experienced in life will feel different once you have an education. Whether you get a job or you are on the street, you perceive things differently” -Roger Priebe (My Computer Science Professor)

This blog post was inspired by the speakers I learned about at mass comm week at Texas State.