In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

One of the better experiences of my service as missionary was the opportunity to serve in the Church Employment Resource Center in Colorado Springs. While there, I worked with the director to get my resume together for my entering the real world again (I had only a few weeks left before going home.)

As I was putting my resume together, both the director and I decided that placing “missionary” on my resume probably wasn’t the best route to go, but since I had prior experience before the mission I should find a way to fill the gap of time. We came up with “Teacher and Service Worker”. Lame, but it served it’s purpose.

The other day, I was in a meeting with the director of athletics for Virginia Wesleyan College discussing a partnership between athletic teams and the students at my elementary school, and she asked me what I did before what I’m doing now. I answered that I was a missionary out in Colorado and Kansas. I got the same kind of look I usually get when I say that, but I knew it was futile to try to explain the whole situation.

So, as I was reworking my resume last night, I knew I needed a change. I realized that what I did as a missionary was little more than marketing for the church, very similar to what I did for a local contractor prior to serving as a missionary. So, my resume officially says, “Field Marketing Representative: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

…now when I’m asked what I did prior to what I’m doing now, I can say I was into marketing for a multi-national non-profit…or something like that.

Anyone run into the resume/employment record dilemma? How did you handle it?  Thoughts otherwise?

I doubt many have heard about the innovative option for searching for information from your cell phone, ChaCha Search. I read about this service in the newspaper, and I immediately tried it out. Here’s the skinny on using ChaCha.

1. It’s free.
2. You can call in your question verbally, no need to try to text out your question.
3. ChaCha sends an SMS text message confirming your question.
4. A few minutes later, another SMS text message is sent to your phone with an answer.

That’s basically it! The amazing thing about ChaCha is that there are real people answering your questions, no an automated computer system. While this may cause some issues with reliability of information being sent to you, it also adds some flexibility.

I was pretty impressed by the service and have been showing it off for the last few days. I noted that the article mentioned that ChaCha employs people with flexible schedules, like retirees and students, to work as the “guides” who search for the answers to the questions sent in. So I thought, “how can I get into this?”

The process to become a guide was easy. Essentially you fill out a short application, letting ChaCha know you are interested, what you level of education and interests are, and why you want to be a guide. A day after submitting this information, I received an e-mail letting me know I had been accepted to undergo the testing to be a guide.

Those wanting to be a guide are tested for their typing skills, knowledge of ChaCha (you watch an introductory video before being tested), and basic question answering skills. After the testing is complete, you wait for an e-mail letting you know if you have been accepted for the training stage of the process.

The training for guides is composed of logging into the guide console and answering 15 questions that come through just like real questions being submitted to ChaCha. Once you complete the training questions, your answers are reviewed and you receive another e-mail letting you know if you’ve been accepted as a full fledged guide.

Guides are paid $0.20 per as an independent contractors (you submit a W9) to answer questions submitted by ChaCha. I was somewhat skeptical of the number of questions that would actually be sent my way, thinking that it wasn’t likely I would make any real money from being a guide. Boy, was I wrong! In the last four days, I have answered $41.00 worth of questions. If I keep up this pace, I will make over $300.00 being a ChaCha guide this month. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

There are two options to receive payment from ChaCha. One is through a debit card set up through them, and other other is to have payment deposited directly into your bank account, with the minimum that can be deposit at $100.00. I chose this latter option.

Overall, I say that ChaCha isn’t a bad deal for people searching for information, or for those seeking a flexible way to make a little bit of money on the side. The service is still in beta, which means that there can always be adjustments to the service in the near future. I’m thinking the big picture is to somehow advertise to those submitting questions. For the moment, there isn’t any advertising in place.

Next time you need an answer to a question, and don’t have Internet access, give ChaCha a call! You never know, I might be the one finding your answer.

Professor Randy Pausch, in his famous last lecture, said that, “The brick walls in our life are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.”

My participation in Senator Obama’s presidential campaign has really opened my eyes to how being involved in the politics that will shape our nations future is as easy as walking out one’s front door. It’s really not all that difficult. The hardest thing is to make the decision to be involved. After that, doors open and experience is gained.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been speaking to people and working out a few of the specifics associated with becoming a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO. I’ve talked to local campaign organizers, as well as those in other states, and I’ve exchanged e-mails with those who included “Joel for Delegate!” in their message. I would certainly like to make it there.

As time moves forward, I am aware of obstacles beyond getting elected as a national delegate. The convention falls in one of the worst possible weeks for me professionally, and a family wedding is taking place in Pennsylvania the weekend prior to the convention, which is going to make my schedule that weekend a bit crunched due to travel.

Still, I want to go. I want to experience as much as I can in whatever capacity. Now I have to consider how to overcome the brick walls that I see now, and those which may materialize down the road.

I finally received word concerning the position with the VBCPS Dept. of Technology that I applied for. They filled the position with someone who has been in the system for a long time. I somewhat expected that this would happen, but I still held on to the tiny hope that I would get a call to schedule and interview. Now, I don’t have to wait for that call.

So one door has closed. The experience of letting my school’s principal know my intentions and then applying for the position has, even if I wasn’t considered as a serious candidate, has caused me to seriously look out the window in an attempt to define a path I want to take within the school system.

Sadly, there is no path of promotion for Data Support Specialists. Because of this, the process of stepping a little higher within the system requires a major change. From what I can tell, the most likely position within the department of technology that would be considered for is a Network Technician. This position has various definitions, from help desk support to field support. To successfully become a Network Technician, I would need to be MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) certified in Windows XP. I’m pretty confident that, with good study materials, I can master the exam content. I passed the uCertify diagnostic.

I’m feeling that a change within the next year is needed. I need some new challenges, and seeking a financial boost would be wise. While I enjoy Luxford, and the people I work with, becoming complacent is not an option at this time in my life. I must move beyond the window.

Since 1998, I’ve been designing websites. Before MySpace, Facebook, or any now popular sites which allow anyone to post yourself online without any technical knowledge, I was sitting behind a computer hacking away at mark-up to create my pages. I was online before being online was popular.Most of my projects were volunteered services. Only once did I get paid for a site I put together. $50 for a five page, MySpace like, site for a high school friend. I don’t think the site was ever actually uploaded, but I did do the design work on it. Beyond that, I designed a multitude of sites, mostly for the religious groups I was involved with. While the thought of designing for additional income has crossed my mind, on more than a few occasions, nothing has ever come of it.

Until now.

Earlier this week, I was approached by a co-worker who’s husband has been tasked with managing a complete overhaul of their church website. A few days later, I met with him, hashed out the scope of the site and my fees, and signed on as their designer. So now, for the first time, I’m going to make some real money for designing a site. I’m really looking forward to progressing with it. I’ve already created a concept sketch, included with this post, and am excited about pulling it all together.

I wouldn’t mind doing more design work in the future. Perhaps this will be the catalyst that will move me to finally start coding web 2.0 type sites and start building the business I’ve been thinking about for quite a while to provide technology solutions for small businesses, including web design.