Saw a mention of a blog with the following in it:
Remember what today might be a funny and smart post, it can be tomorrow’s reason for an employer to not consider your application […]
I avoid blogging about certain things, but that is my decision. Regarding not blogging because of possibly someone at one certain point getting a wrong impression, I agree with xkcd:
Note that I’m not going into any of the rest of that blog. Just this one reason. If that reason was stated as ‘It shows that you’ (etc), I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Regarding that someone should act different because of possible future jobs: don’t pretend you are someone else.
Note that I specifically avoided the rest of that blog. That was on purpose.
Which purpose? 🙂
Better fitting the post you are referring to would be Reasons not to bitch about other Free Software projects when you do not have a clue and your post is nothing more than inflammatory FUD.
I’d forgotten that xkcd. Was a very good point. Why would I want to work for a company that didn’t allow me to be myself? Why would I want a girlfriend who only liked me when I’m someone else? Makes no sense.
I hate to disagree with xkcd, but “future employer” is just a proxy for “the universe of people who don’t know you but might see your blog”.
I mean, feel free to “shake things up” by posting political rants or extremely personal stuff for everyone to see, but then when people read that and, being human, form opinions and make judgments, you’re gonna have to brush that off. If you don’t feel up to that, maybe you need to shake things up in some other way. Jump out of a plane or something.
Of course it depends on the case. If you want to call something “evil” in your blog, but you hesitate because you might someday want to work for evil people… well…
Sebastian: Stating things like ‘not have a clue’ and ‘inflammatory FUD’ will only cause more flames. I suggest not to do that. I didn’t include your blog on purpose. My post was specifically about the ‘think of future employer’.
Jason: It is not about “shake things up”. If I blog about something, I try to ensure everyone understands what I mean. However, I am not going to avoid a blogging about something because of some future employer / anyone will see it. I don’t blog about certain things, but that is at my discretion.
“don’t pretend you are someone else.”. Good advice for relationships, too 🙂