Connections

A while ago, at the urging of my boss, I joined the not-specifically-Social Networking site, LinkedIn. It's kind of wierd, in that it suggests that it's a Professional Networking site, and yet it allows you to link to your blog, your Twitter feed, etc.

Now, consider the kind of things people put in their blogs, or throw up (no apologies for that turn of phrase) onto Twitter.

Why, in God's name, would someone want to link their personal blog, their personal Twitterings, to a site that puts professionals in contact with each other? Why run the risk that someone who might be interested in employing you would read some less-than-complimentary posts about your current co-workers, your boss, your musings on the subtle change on flavour on Wotsits, or some misguided outpouring of semi-intellectualised 'emotion', etc?

Going by the stupidity we've had in our office - people sacked because they've taken time off work claiming a bereavement, only to be caught out posting holiday snaps on Facebook, or those (rather generously, in my opinion) let off with a warning for telling the world that they only tolerate their menial job and their intellectually stunted colleagues because of the free holidays they get as a perk - why would a Professional Networking site offer this in the first place?

I'm beginning to wonder if the nightmare scenario of being 'Interviewed by Facebook' is actually coming to pass... or if it already has: "Yes, I read your resumé... you're certainly qualified... but I'm a little disturbed by your fixation on that girl you see on the way to work, and the unresolved issues with your dead pet ferret, so I'm afraid we won't be giving you the job... Plus, we do feel it's a little tacky to tell your best friend that you're going on a business trip when you're actually going camping with his girlfriend."

I've never really been one for networking. While it's true to say that every company I've left has gone belly-up sometime afterward, there's no real connection between the two events. I've never had a reference and I tend to rely on serendipity for job offers. It's a remarkably silly tactic, but one which has actually served me well - assuming I'm happy to carry on in my current field, that is.

I guess, in my own way, I'm coasting. Taking the path of least resistance, as I normally do. I don't know what I really want to do with my life so, to paraphrase Hoban Washburn, I float like a leaf in the wind. Bizarrely, this behaviour is completely at odds to my norm: when travelling, for example, I have to have each step planned fairly meticulously - notes are often tapped into my cellphone - before I take the first step.

So, with something as - technically - important as my career, why am I so lackadaisical?

I guess part of it is the broad separation I keep betwixt 'Work' and 'Real Life', even though the former surely has an impact on the quality of the latter, in both directions. I feel no connection between what I do in the office and what I do at home, on holiday, etc... Perhaps more pertinently, I feel no connection between who I am in the office and who I am outside.

I suspect this is a flaw... There must be some connection, because it is me in the office, doing my job, and it is me outside, living something approaching a life. I accept that much of the separation is deliberate, and by design. I do not wish to allow colleagues to become friends, by and large... Most are not worth the effort. But I am beginning to feel a little concerned that this has become the default state.

And, really, how much 'effort' is there to being friendly? It's not as if being a dick is easier...