banjoplayinnerd

I do a lot of job hunting, so it's only prudent to belong to LinkedIn. I get to see what my friends are up to career-wise, I can keep track of what recruiters are looking for, and occasionally they have some decent career advice. I also belong to a couple of LinkedIn forums in areas that I'm either interested in (Perl, Science Fiction) or want to get more involved with (Green Energy).

LinkedIn has a "Skills and Expertise" section where you can post your skill set. Other users can then "endorse" you for those skills. This isn't limited to technology. You could claim skill at Thai cooking if you wanted to, or public speaking, or any of a host of other skills. (If you're on LinkedIn, you already know this. If you're not, sorry for the boring exposition.) When I first joined and set up my profile I added all of the technical skills I could think of that I had picked up in in mumbledy-three years of working with personal computers, including over a decade with Linux. In addition to my m4d c0mpVt3r sk1llz I added "Singer/Songwriter at Independent Musician" as a second, ongoing job title and plugged in a few skills related to that aspect of my life.

I'm always pleased when someone endorses me, but recently I got two endorsements that just left me tickled pink. Dara Korra'ti, who's been a friend for several years and who I've worked with at most of the last few Norwescons, endorsed me for Linux and banjo.

Then, just recently, I got an email telling me, "Alexander James has endorsed you!" That caught me by surprise. I hadn't thought of Alex Adams as the type to spend much time on LinkedIn, but it makes perfect sense when you think about it. After all, I listed my "Singer/Songwriter" information in case anyone wanted to contact me about doing a set.

So I logged in to LinkedIn, and got a double surprise.

First, Alex also endorsed me for Linux. We've talked a few times at cons and I don't remember either of us ever mentioning Linux, but hey, maybe that's an indication that he reads my posts.

Second, he endorsed me for songwriting.

Now let that sink in for a minute. Alexander James Adams, who is responsible for songs like "Fresh Hops And Hemp," "Churn Down Columbia," "Creature Of The Wood" and of course "March of Cambreadth" – and too many other songs to list – endorsed me for songwriting.

I can't tell you how incredibly jazzed that makes me. It's like Guy Fieri telling people I know how to cook a burger. It's like Bill Nye endorsing my knowledge of physics. It's . . .

It's totally awesome, that's what it is.

Somewhere in the back of my head I know I can write songs, and once in a while one escapes that's pretty darn good. But that part of the back of my head still takes a back seat to the part of my head that's excited to hang out with so many talented people who are so good at what they do, and that I get included in that circle from time to time.

It's enough to make a fellow pronoid, I tell ya.