Not Me.

I joined a travel information technology company late last year with the intention of learning more about that part of the industry and bringing my relationships and communication skills along for the ride. My perceptions of that particular industry were formed over years of dealing with the travel agency community, suppliers and their views of the technology distribution companies as very technical and when generalising in a more social way, "geeky".

I have often used this term to describe where I work and it always gets a smile as people nod in that way of understanding, knowing technology can be all consuming and people needing to be single minded to have technology and e commerce success. Today it is almost a term of endearment as technology pervades every crevice in our society and who wouldn't want to be "geeky" and on top of all of those changes and in charge of their lives through technology? Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are now aspirational "geeks" and leaders of the next generation of technology giants.

Recently, having thrown in my "geeky" card as I like to call it in a meeting, one of my colleagues pointed out that I may come from outside the IT environment but I was the only one attached to my iPad, scribbling furiously with my recording livescribe pen, reading my subscriptions to Fast Company, Wired and ZDnet, all the while listening on my iPod while communicating on my Blackberry. Not to mention organising my leisure time online via Quickflix DVDs, Skyping with overseas friends on the weekends and never being able to walk past a Dick Smith or JB HiFi just to breath in the technology fumes.

Oh my God, it's me, isn't it? I'm the geek. Everyone else chose to work at the technology company for more reasons than just "geeky" DNA, with most of them revolving around specific skill sets for technology understanding, the ability to solve intricate software solutions and wanting to benefit future travellers and suppliers with their vision of the future.

Perceptions and judgements are drawn from many areas of your life, from people of influence, from experiences, from people you've worked with and your own thinking of how the world should be, according to you. That last point is a strong influencer and often your view is through glasses tinted with 3rd, 4th and 5th hand experiences, which leads to surprises like the above flash of the obvious.

When I think back to my first technology buys that I could afford for myself, underwater cameras and high end stereo equipment and how I spent hours setting them up just so, was it any wonder I'd end up here? Perceptions need to change over time and it is up to us to be open enough, that old perceptions don't turn into prejudices and taint our thinking about people or companies because you never know where you might end up next.

So now when I use the "geeky" card, I'm talking about myself and I think about how lucky it was I finally ended up at an IT company.