While many people tend to think a blog or web site tend to benefit only those with careers (or aspiring careers) in journalism or graphic design I (now) disagree.

I am a telecom network engineer by trade. I have spent my career designing cutting edge networks. The networks I set up helped disaster relief efforts, created the GPS constellation of satellites, and made my civilian employers a lot of money. I never actually got to be a user on these networks but I did accumulate an impressive list of acronyms for my career portfolio: ATM, IP, DWDM, SONET, and MPLS among others.

After spending all day at work in front of a computer creating system drawings, equipment diagrams, and technical specifications the last thing I wanted to do at home was sit in front of a computer. (If you want to know what I do like to do on my own time take a look at my fitness posts). Therefore, I never actually got to experience as a user the technologies I was deploying.

That changed when my engineering group took an especially large hit in what had become an annual tradition since 2001. I was fortunate enough to receive a decent voluntary separation package so I looked at crossing into a new industry – several years of layoffs was quite enough. I decided to to get deeper into IT and become an IT network engineer.

Having been out of the job search game for a decade I was more than a little rusty on current trends in job search. As I read more and more career advice one theme emerged: an online presence is essential. The first (and perhaps quickest) way was to establish a profile on LinkedIn, Twitter, Naymz, Ziggs, and Visualcv which of course I did. The next thing I heard repeatedly was start a blog which I also did (as evidenced by the page you are staring at now:) ).

At first I looked at the blog as strictly a promotional tool….an online billboard more or less. I started a hosted blog on WordPress.com but for somebody like me who likes to see HOW things work it was a little boring. However, for those who want to put together a nice blog for free it is excellent. I also noticed many of the network engineer positions I wanted included the terms PHP and SQL which I also saw in books I was reading to learn more on blogging. Suddenly my “billboard” could become a job training tool.

After trying several free web site hosting options I decided to buy my own domain. In order to dig further into the code and have more control I moved my blog over to my new corner of the web. Being able to remotely manipulate servers (or at least my space on one) and dig further into the code has been fun AND educational.

As a result, I have been compelled to write more often which I hope will reverse the years of damage to my grammar caused by communicating via e-mails and IMs. Yet another added bonus!

I am now learning how to put together a website to serve as a career portfolio. Another opportunity to dig into HTML and learn while at the same time gain more exposure to employers.

Even though I have no intention of becoming a professional writer or “social media expert” starting a blog has already had several career benefits. Regardless of what industry you are in the next time somebody tells you to start a blog or career portfolio web site listen to them. Take it from a former skeptic who used to believe social media and blogs accomplished nothing more than killing time.