Still Speaking in Silicon

I'm going down to Santa Clara this morning to speak at an SD Forum event about the Python programming language. I'll moderate a panel with two experts who've had commercial success with Python. Not looking forward to the long drive, but it will be nice to see some familiar faces and pick up some insight on the more creative aspects of software (previous post notwithstanding). I've polished my resume (taken two classes and met with the consultant on how to do so) and will bring a few extra copies in case anyone asks...

My last career counseling session (on Monday) went really well. Basically, he said mine was the best resume he'd seen in 15 years in terms of how clean and well written it was, and that I had another job in this field in my back pocket given my experience and the way I presented myself. So why not pursue music while keeping my feet wet in this field? At the end of our nearly two hour conversation, he bought my CD! I was really pumped when I left. Then my producer called and said "I could have told you that. Did you pay for this advice?" "Of course not!"

One thought I had after that meeting was that my resume has "trade magazine editor" written all over it: business results rather than journalistic insights. That's partially because, yes, good journalism/production does make money for a magazine, but also because I was so brainwashed into believing financial results were the only arbiter of success (when of course we had plenty of other indicators as well, such as our very high request/renewal rate, the ease with which we maintained our large circulation, letters to the editor, awards, etc.). Of course, I mention some of these things in my resume, but I think I can add a few more of their ilk. If at some future juncture I want to make the leap to general interest or consumer media, I think I'd need to emphasize skills a Conde Nast or Hearst would find appealing.