Steven Savage's Blog, page 85

Civic Diary 4/24/2016

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

OK I got off a bit on posting on my Civic Diary by a few days. Pretty crazy week.

So if you’re new to this, this is my experiment in being a better citizen. I’m posting once a week. My current major efforts are to be more aware via joining organizations and following them, writing my representatives, and in general contemplating and analyzing what to do next.

So what did I learn

First it’s easy to think our representatives do...

Job Skills For The Future: Vendor Management

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

In a recent meeting, a manager much higher than I said something that blew me away: Vendor Management is a job skill of the future.

First, because I realized she was right and I hadn’t thought of it.

Secondly because I realized that’s an issue I’ve not covered here, and if I’m going to be the geek job guru I need to cover skills we progeeks need for the future. So welcome to my latest series – Job Skills For The Future.

I can’t...

No Man’s Sky – Release The Coding

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

Last time I speculated on what would come next for No Man’s Sky. My take is that though it may have a good life (5-10 years) it’s going to end eventually. The comparative lack of interactivity is probably the killer.

My friend Serdar noted something that jumped the gun a bit in my analysis of the future – namely, that the studio should consider releasing the code. I was going that direction and wanted...

My Kraken-Con Promotional Sale!

Hello everyone, I’ll be speaking at Kraken-con on April 23rd – I’ll be doing a geek networking event,and speaking on the Sailor Moon book!

To celebrate I’m puttingthree of my career e-books on sale! From Friday morning before the con to the evening of the Monday after, these books will be on sale for99 cents:

Epic Resume Go! Quest For Employment Resume Plus

So if you’ve wanted to get your hands on my career books and money was tight, or if you’re curious, or if you enjoyed seeing me – you g...

Civic Diary 4/15/2016

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

My latest voyages into being more civicly engaged continue. So as noted my latest venture in being a civic geek were following important organizations, trying to write my congressbeings regularly, and looking for opportunities to be more engaged. I also had focused on the importance of any organizing to promote civic behavior.

SO what’s my findings this week?

First, writing to my reps – specifically over the Panama Papers c...

Career Idea: Training, Certification, And Retention

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

In a recent discussion with some people on retaining and training workers, I noted a simple solution to getting people trained and getting them to stay.

“Why not support them in getting certifications?”

My logic is simple

You need to train people. Training isn’t always fun. Certifications are seen as valuable to one’s career. Certifications often require training – and that’s probably more interesting than just some class. So...

No Man’s Sky – What’s Next?

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)

As noted due to my interest with No Man’s Sky I’m blogging about it as it fits my interests in computers, media, and of course procedural generation!

I’m looking forward to No Man’s Sky. I expect it to be a hit. I expect it to be huge. I’ve also wondered that after that “huge hitness” what’s next for i?

This is worth asking because if NMS is a hit, what happens afterwards may be a model for other, simi...

Civic Diary 4/9/2016 – Community

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

So my latest Civic Diary is on community.

As I document my experiments in being a better citizen (which I haven’t exactly defined, but we’ll learn along), I wanted to share my latest finding on community.

My local writer’s group needed me to take over a writing event as the person running it at the time had a change of schedule and wouldn’t be doing so for quite some time. I took over out of a desire to help out – it’s a good g...

Civic Diary 4/7/2016

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

So remember my post on Citizenship? Where I’d post monthly or so on my experiments in being more civicly engaged? Taking it in a slightly different direction.

Welcome to the Civic Diary.

I figure as opposed to a monthly roundup, I’d share my experiments sort of whenever. That way I can get feedback and ideas and it may inspire others to do likewise on their attempts to be more engaged citizens.

(I also figure it adds structure...

Sailor Moon Book Update 4-5-2016!

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.comand Steve’s Tumblr)

So where are we with the Sailor Moon Book?

Editing the hell out of it.

So right now, Bonnie and I are in the final editing run before it goes to editor. I just finished mine, and it’s her turn now. We’re doing these as separate runs as it’s a lot easier.

Our big issue is actually chapter structure, and we found that there’s really two kinds of chapters in this book (and one or two that are fusions). Some are narratives, others...