Professional Organizations

for what you were looking to do in your original post I have found most of what I need here in TR. I have posted a few questions on how to do something and get answers from all over the world. I browse through the discussions and the Tech Q&A and have learned a whole lot from these folks here in TR. Some have helped a specific issue I might have had but a lot of it has been stored in what memory space I have left upstairs for future use.

I'm sure some of the professional organizations are very helpful but, for me, I like this organization. :)

that you chicks got a club that you can all get together like that! :D

[i]
~no, he never learns.......

:x

I would not recommend IEEE's Computer Society. I was nothing but disappointed with their publications. I want real world solutions, not Ph.D or Master's thesis' which seemed to be the bulk of the articles in their publications.

As an example, I saw one article that mentioned calculating cost of goods sold. I have a BS in accounting so I am familiar with calculating it. The formula they gave would make my calculus instructor happy, but can be done much more simply if you follow any introductory accounting textbook.

I had my membership for a year and got nothing of value out of it. Maybe if I had been able to attend a meeting I might have a different opinion. I was under the impression Computer Society would be IT Professionals. It seemed to be more computer engineering or software engineering oriented. I greatly respect engineers, but I am not one.

I belong to a Windows Users Group which meets once a month. I am not as active as I'd like, because the meetings are usually held when I'm on call.

That is my $0.02

Navy Moose

I saw your initial post and thought, "I should answer that. What do I find valuable about my professional associations?" And then life stepped in. I hate it when that happens...

It may also help to know that Dawg is in Germany. I sometimes have to read him a couple of times before I get it- like having a conversation with someone with a heavy accent- you have to tune your "ear".

I think this is a great discussion as it helps to open an understanding of which organisations are helpful and which are not. And to discuss what we get from them.

Believe it or not, one of the most helpful orgs I ever belonged to was the Christian Airline Workers. I still have many friends who are active and it remains a favourite. I hope to find work in that industry again as I no longer qualify for membership and would like to. I think that what set them apart was that they tried really hard to be the supportive org that they set out to be.

I think that any woman should at least look at NAFE. These are the thought leaders in business and have a great deal that they want to make available to EVERY woman in business.

Funny, back when I started my career I had no idea that their were "Prof Orgs" or "Inner Circles". Then again, I was one of those na?ve, free loving, IT radicals where the world should share all their data..
Professional Organizations ?online? or ?real time? are great resources but are hard to break in to. Especially in IT where your skills and knowledge are scrutinized until you ?earn? your place. Most of the Professional Groups I belong to now I joined out of necessity.
For instance, I paid my dues($$) to become a member of IEEE, which got me the magazine and an account for the web site. It also entitled me to a bunch of email based evaluations. It wasn?t until a started participating in discussion groups that I met people online and in person and started making what I call my group of experts. People I can rely on for strong, well educated, ideas and suggestions about technology. These same people and groups became the sounding boards for questions and suggestions when searching for new positions in IT.

Another example I can give is my experiences with my first serve side coding job. Back in the old AOL days, yes the real old days, I used to play the Never Winter Nights Gold Box Edition, online game at AOL. I was a solid 4 hour a day player, GM, blah blah blah. Five years later I?m working a dull job in a World Wide delivery company and I get a call from my head hunter. it seems a small local gaming company needs a programmer. So I get an interview and sit down with the owner, it ends up he was a GM in the same game. He remember me and I remember him and that landed me the job as server programmer for the MMORPG they had going in development.

The best advice I can give is find a group that you can associate with well, you can contribute to, and is just worth the effort to stay active with.

But choose wisely, the last thing you want to do is start in to an Org that seems to be the perfect place to discuss ideas and projects. To then find out six months or a year down the road that you?ve been collaborating with a bunch of high school kids who experiment in their local computer lab.

You can really never know if the people you are talking to are kids, Tech Gurus, or CEO?s so I would join a few and just monitor for awhile. The jerks and ego hunters will show themselves right quick and you'll get a better idea of what the group is like.

Blah blah blah.. I talk to much..

When I was working in Focus, I belonged to the Focus Users Group.

When I was supporting a ROLM PBX, I belonged to their Users Group.

I went to their meetings and got all sorts of tips on how to do things and met people I could call with a question. Some of the stuff you need just isn't in the manual, you know?

Mindy