Nerdiness

Nowadays, people who don't have a job want advice on how to get one. People who have a job want advice on how to keep one. The Business Section in the Sunday newspaper is chock-full of articles on how to do that. Networking, resume writing, interviewing skills, Annual Performance Review tips, etc. have all been done to death.

Last Sunday's paper had new and exciting job-related advice - Be a nerd. "Nerdiness is sometimes a plus. Because nerds are not socially attractive, they don't spend much time on chit-chat. Instead, they work alone on-line or in the lab and often produce great results."

At first, I thought this was absurd. The geeky guy with the bad haircut, questionable personal hygiene and shoddy wardrobe was not the one who got ahead when I was involved in Cubicle World. It was the guy with the good golf game who just happened to go to the same school as the CEO rising to the top. Then I thought of the two Big Success Stories of the past decade - Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Nerdy? Yes. Bad haircuts? Yes Personal Hygiene? Who knows? Shoddy wardrobe? Oh yeah.

I was downsized out of Cubicle World because I was not nerdy enough! It would have taken some effort, but I probably could have had a worse haircut. I didn't really need a daily shower. In fact, it dried my skin. A clean shirt every day? I was wasting the planet's resources.

I woulda / coulda / shoulda been Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg with more nerdiness.