Apparently Scoble has left Microsoft. This isn’t about that news, I am sure if you are interested there are plenty of places you can find out more (most of it rumour and speculation). No, this post is about my initial reaction to the news; has he given up the best job in the world?
For a geek like me Roberts Microsoft gig was like giving a kid a trolley dash round the candy store. The boxes were all ticked, freedom, gadgets, conferences, travel, profile. He got to talk to cool people, play with fun tech stuff and then write whatever he wanted about it, within NDA restrictions obviously. Who wouldn’t want that job?
The more I thought about it though the more I realised that his role at Microsoft wasn’t perhaps my dream blogging gig. I have a pretty plum role right now as a matter of fact. Scoble rightly or wrongly is a lightning rod for a pretty high profile big company. It can’t be easy being flamed on a daily basis for stuff that is not your fault. I think it is way more fun to write about whatever you want to without corporate overlords looking over your shoulder and only getting heat for stuff you had a hand in.
The main litmus test for if something is your dream job I guess is “would you still do it if you didn’t have to?”. That is, if you dropped a big lottery windfall would you continue doing what you are doing? I would. I have no doubt if I won the lottery I would still blog. It might morph into a blog about my lottery win but I would still do it. Would you still blog if financial incentives were no longer an issue?
There is a flip-side to this test also; would you still enjoy it if you had to do it. This is the opposite to the lottery win, if you had to do something for money would you still get joy out of it? When you go from doing something whenever the mood takes you to having to do something every day whether you feel like it or not how does that change your perception? I used to really love programming but working for companies with working environment, structure, projects and management that, uh, were not ideal kind of killed off any joy I got out of it. Only escaping that environment got me back into loving it again. Having to do something can stop it being fun sometimes. Could you still enjoy blogging if it became your job rather than your pastime?
I’m glad to say knowing I had to post this morning did not fill me with dread, I enjoyed writing it and I look forward to posting for the rest of the week. On top of this Nick and I are working on an exciting Performancing project which is starting to show progress. Life is good, I don’t think I will be making any calls to replace Scoble at Microsoft!
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8 thoughts on “Is Blogging Your Dream Job?”
Scoble would have been crazy to stay at Microsoft. He just joined a startup (I’m sure with an equity interest) AND just brought his new company a boatload of free publicity.
Pretty smart…
If I won the lottery, I think I’d blog more, and wouldn’t bother with the day job. I’d then try and make this thing as good as it possibly could be, as well as give my friend Ben a good wodge for his help
The blog is fun, and I’d love to have more time to develop it, but right now it’s just not earning me enough to warrant that, though it is getting regular readers and comments… which for me is enough!
Scoble is truly a blog evangelist. I had the pleasure to meet and have drinks with Robert in San Francisco and he truly appreciates the blog medium. Now If I could just have his job I would be set.
Despite the fact that I don’t agree with a lot of what Scoble says, I still get the impression that he’d be a really nice guy to meet. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of person that cares overly about money. But yes, I think his opportunities just opened up with his move.
Me, I’d write whether I was getting paid or not. I’ve been writing regularly since 1991. And I’ve had a self-imposed daily writing quota since at least 1996 that became serious in 2001 and has transformed into my current blogging.
I must write – in which case, why not try to earn something for it? Although I’m also a programmer, I’d rather blog first, then code.
Blogging is my dream job.
I’ve never had a passtime that didn’t turn into a job. (Case(s) in point, I’m now under pressure to finish a novel about breakdancing, and I’m also participating in this pro blogging thing.)
I think if you’re at all entrepreneurial, or if you live for your creative projects, it’s inevitable that everything will blur at some point.
He does deserve to be well paid but I hope it wasn’t all about compensation. Whatever though it will be interesting to see what he achieves over the coming months and I for one wish him well.
Scoble’s income seemed limited with his Microsoft gig, despite getting travel comps he wasn’t making over six figures a year by his own admission. Who knows what limitless income opportunities await him once he’s released from the cube? Perhaps he makes more and looks back on the experience and says: why didn’t I move sooner?
Whatever the case, it seems like a good stepping stone for his career.
Corporate blogging always has bad influences. That’s why you should be paid good money for loosing your freedom. This is especially true if the corporate culture is something like ‘oh this guy is only blogging about us’. You will always have to argue about the return of investment.
Self employed blogging for money creates a lot of stress if you are knowing how much money has to come in. The good thing about self employed blogging is that you can put the bills aside and blog instead 🙂
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