Re: Finding credibility by the industry

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> Interesting! Has anyone here besides Tim found credibility within The
> Business (for whatever FAQ/newsgroup they handle) BECAUSE you do the
> FAQ? This does not count people who were already recognized as a
> specialist in the field before they started maintaining a FAQ.

Yes. I started the Copyright FAQ as a law student. When I was laid off
my job as an engineer in my final semester of law school (which also
meant losing my work-supplied Internet access) I posted a goodbye note on
the CNI-Copyright mailing list, explaining the layoff, and mentioning
that I was in the market for a first-year attorney's position. I
received a number of responses from people who knew my work on the
CopyrightFAQ and from my postings on the list.

I also received an email from an attorney requesting information on
obtaining the FAQ, which he had heard of, but had not seen. I wrote back
supplying the information, and asked if his firm was hiring. He thanked
me for the information on the FAQ, but said that they were not hiring at
the present time. A few days later, he wrote back, complimented me on
the FAQ, and requested that I send him a resume.

In the last version of the FAQ that I put out before leaving, I mentioned
I was looking for a job, and received a few requests for resumes from
that, as well.

Finally, I listed the FAQ on my resume as a publication, and it's also on
my biography that my firm sends to clients and potential clients (online
at http://www.cooley.com/bios/carrolltj.html). It gives our technical
clients a warm fuzzy feeling that the attorney on the case actually
understands the technology we're dealing with. (I still love the reaction
from one, he mentioned that there was a standard for header information
and he'd get me a copy, and when I said, "Is that RFC 822?", he was
flabbergasted that an attorney would 1) know what an RFC was, and 2) know
the number of the applicable one off the top of his head.)

--
Terry Carroll       | "A computer programming language is not the English
Santa Clara, CA     | language, despite the fact that English words may be
carrollt@netcom.com | used in that language."
carroll@aimnet.com  | - U.S. Patent & Trademark Office proposed Examination 
                    | Guidelines for Computer-Implemented Inventions

• Next message: Jim Burk: "Re: How did *you* get into this business?"
• Previous message: Dominic Macika: "Re: How did *you* get into this business?"
• In reply to: Lani Teshima-Miller: "Finding credibility by the industry, was: How did *you* get into"
• Next in thread: J.D. Falk: "Re: Finding credibility by the industry, was: How did *you* get , into this business?"

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