My friend Doniree wrote a post about the Cocktail Question a few weeks ago. I loved this post and it’s one I think everyone should read. The premise of her post really hit home with me this weekend. I went to Unsummit and while meeting a bunch of great people, as expected, the Cocktail question kept coming up. For those that don’t know me, I’m an insurance adjuster by day. But this doesn’t define me at all. It’s what I do for a living, I work hard while I’m at work and enjoy my job, but once I walk out those office doors, or the clock reads 4:30, I’m done.
The problem I have is defining what I do. I’m obviously a blogger, a social media nut, a photographer, and an overall web nut. I’m also occasionally a web programmer and designer, a sports fan, and a beer geek. I’m a pretty decent cook and a budding baker.
So I can tell you what I love, and what I do for a living, but when asked the question, what do you do I’m honestly not sure how to answer. I hate saying I work for an insurance company. I’m not ashamed of my job, I love that it gives me the opportunities it does, but among peers who I want to connect with it doesn’t say what I want it to say. My passions pull me in many directions, one day I’m working on building a WordPress powered site, the next I’m tinkering with some other tool. I’m a web host for myself, the family help desk, the office computer guy, and a passable Linux admin. I have 500+ followers on Twitter for reasons that continue to elude me, a blog that gets less than around 2k page views a month, and a strong opinion that social media is something you can’t do wrong unless you are a local news organization that has no idea what they are doing.
The best answer I’ve come up with for who I am is that I’m just a geek. I’m someone who knows how to get the most out of whatever tool you put in front of me. I pursue new experiences and new hobbies constantly, I get the basics down and then move on to the next experience. I love to communicate with people whatever their background. But really I’m just a geek, a guy who can have a conversation about almost anything, who loves being challenged, and tends to get animated and overly excited when talking about something I’m passionate about. (This is so bad I no longer let myself engage with passenger when I’m driving, and absolutely refuse to talk on the phone for more than a minute)
Somehow though, I think telling people I’m just a geek isn’t going to get me very far. It’s a bit broad and unfortunately carries a somewhat negative connotation in some circles. So I’m working on defining myself. I’m not sure how I’ll do this, but for now I just stick with I’m Conner McCall and keep my answer to the Cocktail question an ever changing one.
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“an ever-changing one” – hopefully that answer IS always evolving because who you are and what you do now is likely different than what it was one or five years ago and what it will be even next year.
But I do love that people are thinking about this (and not because of me, there are all kinds of inspirational writers/bloggers/people pushing people do blur the work/play balance, etc), and I love the reactions I’ve heard from people in response to this.
The people in my life (including you!)? Do some pretty awesome things. I kind of want to beer geek out with you sometime.
@sloped answers The Cocktail Question: http://bit.ly/3pLw0F
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Thanks Doniree, I had at least five occasions this weekend where someone asked me what do you do and I just didn’t know how to respond. I don’t fit in a box at all and unless I want to spend 10 minutes telling people about what I do I don’t feel like I can tell people enough.
Of course I hope I never fit in a box, life would be very boring indeed.
You’re a technology, social media, sport, and cuisine enthusiast who happens to work for an insurance agency. That’s not so hard. ;)
Haha, thanks Brianne, you pretty much nailed it.
Hi Connor,
I don’t think you’re alone. That’s why instead of asking “What do you do?” I like to ask, “What’s got you excited these days?” that way, people can tell me about the things they’re most passionate about right now. I’ve found starting out with a more interesting question tends to lead to a more interesting conversation. So…what’s got you excited these days, Conner?”
Amy
Thanks Amy, I like the question, much easier to answer, at least for me.
As far as what has me excited, well a lot of things, and they are all right here, usually. At the moment though WordPress has me going, that will change shortly I’m sure but for now I’m having a blast playing with it again.
I LOVED Amy’s alternative question. Perfect.