The (unintentional) power of blogging

I kid, I kid!!!

I kid about a lot of stuff, but one thing that you should not kid about: your job…especially not on the internet. Let this be an important lesson to be learned by anyone who decides to write a blog, such as this, in connection with a job, such as mine.

Recently, this very blog was brought to the attention of one of my superiors here at “IndiaIT.” AHA! Many of you out there may be thinking that the “leading Indian IT services company” that Nate works for has decided to change its name. While this is not true, my company will from now on be known as “IndiaIT” in the context of my blog to protect all involved parties, but most importantly myself and my fellow co-workers.

In any case, how might one of my superiors find my blog? Maybe they specifically searched for “Nate Linkon” and “IndiaIT?” No. Maybe someone looked over your shoulder while you were updating the blog? No. Maybe your blog, being so well written in style and content and thus superior to all other blogs in the universe, has gained such notoriety within the online community that it can not possibly be ignored? Certainly (and obviously) not! The only people to whom I circulated the URL were close friends and family, definitely nobody who would be making IT decisions for a Fortune 500 business. While I cannot expect for any of my postings, clearly made on a public forum, to be kept private, I also never expected it to be brought to the attention of my boss in the way it was: through one of my fellow American co-workers (who will remain anonymous)!!!

While I realize that this was not done with the intention to hurt my career, this encounter should be noted by those such as me who wish to document their unique professional experiences in an online forum such as this. BEWARE!!!!

On a separate, and also more interesting and less discouraging, it turns out that my readership has become anything but private. My coworker, we will call him/her “The Wetness,” stumbled across this page because someone else, who I have never met, has placed a link from his blog to mine, citing my experience as an example of an enlightening professional experience. While this is flattering, the author also warns that I may be using less-than-moderate language that could get me in trouble.

Rest assure, I’m not in trouble. I have received no warning. I have received no demerit, no spanking. Simply put, a blog can blur the barrier a professional would prefer to maintain between his personal thoughts/life and professional thoughts/life. This is my only point.

Failure to heed this warning could result in you being “dooced.”