Patrick at Creative review shared his thoughts on how the last decade has affected our professional life, and most of it i deeply relate to, specially on how the Internet has changed the life of people that work in design, and to a broader extent, the whole society (at least in developed countries).

Photo by Eole, under a Creative Commons License

Ten years ago i was leaving university, thinking on how i would get along with Business Management, but having fun with Flash 4 on my spare time, while hanging around in IRC and building personal webpages on HotDog HTML editor. At that time, i didn’t even knew there was a job for a digital marketeer much less in advertising.

A few career changes later and past the dot com bubble, i find myself in a place i wouldn’t have dreamed of 10 years ago. The last 5 years have been a reward for always keeping my faith on the enormous potential of the web. New organizational models, the rise of social media, the fall of traditional media, the birth and rise of Google, it’s been a hell of a ride.

What about you, how was your last decade? How has it changed your career? Do you find yourself at the place you envisioned ?

“the last shall be first and the geek shall inherit the earth“

The above quote from one of the latest NYTimes editorials, reminds me of how digital natives have progressed. After the dot-com crash, we shifted the focus of the Internet from business to communities, and a new Millennial generation has arised.

Internet Attention Deficit Disorder has become a reality to the horde of nerds, geeks or MMORP fans, with the usual pundits horrified by the alienation of digital natives.
The fact is that “we” (if you read this blog, i’m soooo calling you a geek) created a different kind of individuals: connected, multi-taskers, highly skeptical and with a new sense of democracy built on top of online communities.

Image Credits: Geek And Poke

Geeks are no longer a weird tribe, but started to shape soiety with new behaviors. From education to environment, geek influence is undeniable. Take for example Nerdcore, a new musical genre but also a documentary about nerds, geeks, dorks and the way they interpret Hip Hop:

Not only geek-culture is becoming mainstream, but it also creates their own sub-cultures, with idiosyncrasies and references that spawn from Star Wars paraphernalia to Python riddles. The Internet has further amplified our cult of the ego, capitalized by social networks. On a neo-”Brand Named You” paradigm, one of the most searched keywords is our own name, so beautifully stated on the film “Google Me“.

Our identity is thus increasingly shaped by digital mediums, with many joining the geek horde. Today’s relationships are built over the keyboard, and when we finally meet the person IRL (In Real Life), she’s no longer a stranger as the emotional barriers have been demolished by a long series of emoticons.

Image Credits: Geek And Poke

A few years ago, someone told me i was spending too much time online, that i should get a real life. I promptly replied: “Online is also my real life. I have friends, a culture, a digital identity with many of the community bonds more truthful than in your-so-called-real life”. Thankfully i can now be proud of being a digital native. It’s not just the money pouring in the tech world, it’s also the sense that i became part of a community that allowed me the access new realms of information and cultures.

I’m proud of being a geek.