Bob Walsh: "Becoming a IT Linchpin"

Who: Bob Walsh, 47 Hats

When: April 27, 2010

The bad news is being a commodity IT person means your job or skills are ever closer to being outsourced or automated. The good news is social media and the web as it's own economy, society and culture have reached the point where you can define, focus and build your web-wide reputation as an indispensable IT person beyond any single service, beyond your current job or next contract gig.

In this talk, I'll be focusing on beyond why you should be on Twitter or Facebook, beyond the ten best tips on blogging, etc., to look at the road ahead for online professionals of all stripes. What online/social media core strategies work to make you indispensable? How do you build levels of interaction with your social network to be a valued part of that network and still get work done?

Whether you've been a sysadmin for the same company for a decade or in the midst of launching your own startup, becoming indispensable, being a linchpin, is a key component to developing an option-rich future for yourself.

About the speaker

Bob Walsh is the author of  The Web Startup Success Guide, co-hosts the Startup Success Podcast and founded http://startuptodo.com (a training/productivity community for startups and microISVs).

Over the years Bob has written 4 other books for microISVs and startups including Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality, presented at both European Software Conference and the Software Industry Conference, and a moderator at both Answers.Onstartups.com and Joel On Software Business of Software forum.

His blog, 47hats, covers topics interesting to microISVs and startups. Bob provides consulting services to startups and microISVs including web site copywriting, market positioning, social media and product strategies.