Take the librarian within and tell it to stop collecting

I was talking on email recently with an information professional who has their MLS + MBA, an eagerness to learn and a charismatic demeanor. None of this makes it any easier to set priorities around attacking the post meltdown job market.

The exchange prompted a few issues to bubble up from below the bubble implosion that's to ring inside our collective ears long after the banks start loaning again to one another.

1) Do I get licensed as a techie?

Unless you're working with a tool everyday and testing it in context the training is hard to retain. If you've got a database worth building then getting DBA skills makes a lot more sense. I did stumble on this SharePoint resource that looks intriguing because it's actually being marketed to end-users (what an overdue concept!)

2) Do I reinvent myself as the social media butterfly?

Web 2.0 gets tired quickly if it's all about taking up a collection of interminable, never-ending web 2.0 resources. Take the librarian within and tell it to stop collecting! The real challenge and value is making the important pieces fit:

* tags,
* feeds
* posts
* networks
* customized search
* add-ons for email
* versioning of in-process materials (a.k.a. document collaboration)

That's where it not only becomes interesting but critical to would-be clients and employers.

3) Do I future-proof my career and just concede that we're all going to work in health care one day?

Here's an idea: why not build a project workspace through Google that pieces some of these elements together? Use it to prototype a go-to-market team that's much more aware of its own offerings than the market it's trying to infiltrate. There's nothing a hiring manager likes more than the budget covers 'cuz you know what?

You don't need one.