LIJ is part of Brazen Careerist

Posted on 15 October 2008
Tags: Work Stuff

Just a small announcement to say my blog was asked to join Gen-Y career blog network Brazen Careerist. I was very surprised and honoured to be invited to be part of this community.

A year ago, I stumbled upon Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist blog and have been following her posts since. I find her advice and personal stories inspiring and she’s always offering alternative perspectives on any given issue. Through her blog, I came across Employee Evolution, which has a huge range of insightful Gen-Y career-related articles written by Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh (who is one of the co-founders of Brazen Careerist). I guess when I flew solo, I needed some guidance and these are a couple of the many blogs I follow to help me carve my own path on the Internet.

As part of my daily link-building strategy, I almost always leave a comment if I’ve read through a post — this habit has paid off in terms of traffic numbers and building a network online. I’ve had other bloggers come by my websites and several people have actually sent me personal notes to say how much they like what I am doing.

So I was extremely flattered when I was approached by these guys and I feel encouraged by the fact that I’m slowly getting my voice heard by more than just a few random people around the planet.

The next question is, what makes me part of Generation Y? I probably sit in the older age bracket or am even considered a very young Gen-Xer. Well I think no one can fit exactly into these boxes, which are dictated by the ebb and flow of the American economy. But, I do relate to certain characteristics of Gen-Y:

*Hop from job to job quickly and pursue stimulating work environments.
*Are more tech-savvy than previous generations.
*Grew up in households where both parents worked, so we are more peer-oriented.
*Have more open ideas about relationships and sex than previous generations.

Since Gen-Y peeps are high achievers, they burn out very quickly, so another commonly heard term would be the quarter-life crisis, where at age 25, you are mentally exhausted and wonder where you are going. This generation is also seen as selfish and spoiled but there is on-going debate that Gen-Yers are actually more socially conscious that previous generations.

I was never really sure what Gen-X was either, but according to Wikipedia, the term was made popular by a book by Douglas Coupland called Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. From there, what I gleaned was it seems that Gen-Xers are cynical and balk against the cookie-cutter attitudes of their parents, the Baby Boomers. They also grew up in uncertain economic times where drugs and AIDS became rife. Therefore, Gen-Yers are quite the opposite as they are more optimistic since they grew up in relative wealth and comfort.

Anyway, I think this should be enough to give you an idea of what Gen-Y is about.

One thing I do find similar to both Gen X and Y is that there is a much longer gap between adolescence and adulthood. These days, you may have reached 21 but no one ever really thinks that is “old” or “mature” — more like a babe in the woods! I guess the definition of adulthood would include having bigger financial responsibilities like investments and mortgages, marriage, and children, so I think a lot of people are choosing to remain in the “journey” years where they are taking longer to explore and find their niche or stability. This is something that definitely resonates with me and I even question whether I can accept the traditional concept of adulthood.

Well, to round up this post, I would like to say my blog won’t take a sharp corner and become a Gen-Y career blog to suit Brazen Careerist (they don’t insist that I do anyway). I will still talk about my life in Japan primarily but that would include updates on work as always.

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