Follow Your Passion: Exciting Tech Careers For Geeks

by iGeekOut | Apr 26, 2019 | E/N Editorial, Uncategorized

Follow Your Passion: Exciting Tech Careers For Geeks

Jennifer Dawson

As the world relies increasingly on advanced technology, careers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) field are increasingly in demand — which is great news for geeks. In the US, STEM jobs are expected to grow 13% by 2027 and 93% of all STEM positions pay over double the national average of non-STEM jobs, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates. So, whether you love video games, computers, space, or science, there’s an exciting job out there to suit your talents.

Video Game Designer

A video game designer is a great way to turn your passion for video games into a career. You’ll be involved in creating sketches, concept art, and animations to determine video game settings and characters, as well as the overall style and mechanics of a game. The average annual salary for video game designers is $73,864 with the potential to reach $86,563 after six years of experience. You’ll first need a four-year degree in computer science (preferably with specializations specific to video games), which costs about $167,968. College is investment, but you can keep debt to a minimum by looking after your finances. During college, you should also work on building a portfolio to help get your foot in the door.

Ethical Hacker

Ethical hacking is a great career match for computer nerds interested in IT security. The job involves testing a company’s IT security for vulnerabilities — it’s a complex role often using the same methods illegal hackers use to breach networks. The necessary steps are then taker to strengthen the company’s security. There are no set qualifications required to be an ethical hacker, but a bachelor’s or master’s degree in internet security, mathematics, or computer science are great springboards into the role. The average salary starts at about $72,000 and can advance to over $100,000 with experience.

NASA Scientist

If you’re fascinated by the endless mystery of space, working at NASA is the dream career. NASA scientists study all sorts of subjects including other planets, galaxies, comets, black holes, and stellar explosions — it’s your choice what you specialize in. You’ll also need to do essential research and testing in advance of any space mission. You’ll at least need a bachelor’s degree in physics, space science, astrophysics, or astronomy, but you’ll earn more with a master’s or PhD. Salaries range from $35,000 to over $100,000.

There’s no time like the present to start planning your future. With hard work and dedication, you can make your geeky passion your career.

Additional Sources:

STEM Occupations: Past, Present, and Future: https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2017/science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-occupations-past-present-and-future/pdf/science-technology-engineering-and-mathematics-stem-occupations-past-present-and-future.pdf
Encouraging Play in Your Geek Children: http://igeekout.net/encouraging-play-in-your-geek-children/
What Different Game Development Positions Make and Why: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/what-different-game-development-positions-make-and-why/
5 Personal Finance Tips for College Students: https://www.creditmarvel.com/blog/5-personal-finance-tips-for-college-students/
What Does a NASA Scientist Make Per Year? https://work.chron.com/nasa-scientist-make-per-year-21549.html

Encouraging Play in Your Geek Children

by iGeekOut | Feb 20, 2019 | Events & News, LARP

Encouraging Play in Your Geek Children

Susan Dawson

Children aged two to five spend an average of 32 hours a week watching television, which can cause parents some concern. While movies and TV programs can do wonders for lowering a child’s stress levels and stimulating their imagination, it should always be paired with other forms of play.

How Tech Play Teaches Transferable Skills

Keeping up with the latest movie and TV releases is an important part of childhood, but other technology can help to build skills and stimulate intellectual growth. For instance, play on electric toy vehicles can ultimately lead to good driving habits, while a few hours on Resident Evil 2 teaches multitasking and focus. Allow your child to follow their passions but suggest games which foster transferable skills which can be applied in education and work. Research suggests that board games improve critical thinking in a child, so why not follow up a viewing of Aquaman with a game of Arkham Horror?

Fostering Imagination

In the past, when everyone raised cattle and grew crops, imagination was not a sought-after soft skill in the employment process. However, those who did have a sharp imagination were able to invent new farming techniques and tools that drove society forward. Today, artificial intelligence and automation means that demand for non-imaginative work is declining, while the creative industry flourishes. Use hobbies such as roleplaying, comic book drawing, and filmmaking to teach your child to be creative. A round of Dungeons and Dragons will teach your child to think laterally, giving them a head start when they eventually enter the job market.

Learning the Rules of Social Interaction

Geekdom is a largely uniting force, bringing together people of all backgrounds around a common pastime. Although many hobbies are a solitary pursuit, most geeky games are best played with others. The more time your child spends across the chess board from a friend, the more chances they will have to develop their social skills. Empathy and communication skills allow a child to not just flourish in the workplace, but also to have stable and healthy relationships.

Encouraging the geek in your child will open them up to a world of opportunities. By engaging in a diverse range of hobbies, they will pick up the creative and social skills to be happy and successful later in life. So, dust off your old comic books and breakout the Warhammer figurines for the sake of your child’s intellectual and emotional development.

Additional Sources:

Television and Children – http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/tv
Seven Tabletops to Try Next Game Night – http://igeekout.net/seven-tabletops-to-try-next-game-night/
Best Power Wheels – https://bestseekers.com/best-power-wheels/
Board Games for Kids: Can They Teach Critical Thinking? – https://www.parentingscience.com/board-games-for-kids.html
Will Robots and AI Take Your Job? The Economic and Political Consequences of Automation – https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2018/04/18/will-robots-and-ai-take-your-job-the-economic-and-political-consequences-of-automation/

FanX 2018 Guest Announcement: Paul Reubens

by iGeekOut | Mar 22, 2018 | Conventions

FanX 2018 Guest Announcement: Paul Reubens

Press Release

GUEST INFO

NAME: PAUL REUBENS

APPEARING: TBA*

KNOWN FOR: Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

PANEL: TBA**

PHOTO OPS: $100 – Available closer to event

SIGN-UP: Photo Op Lottery

AUTOGRAPHS: Available to purchase at event**

RSVP: Facebook

*Guests appearances and Panels are subject to change or cancellation.

**For more information about Autographs, Memorabilia Signings, Voice recordings and other signing table opportunities visit the Celebrities Booth during the convention. Prices and options subject to change

GUEST BIO

PAUL REUBENS created the iconic character, Pee-wee Herman, while a member of the famed Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings. The Pee-wee Herman Show premiered at The Groundlings Theatre in 1981. It moved to the Roxy on Sunset Strip, and HBO’s production of the show introduced Pee-wee Herman to a national audience. Pee-wee was brought to the big screen in the hit 1985 comedy Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, which Paul Reubens co-wrote and marked Tim Burton’s directorial debut. Reubens went on to create, co-write and co-direct Pee-Wee’s Playhouse on CBS where the series earned 22 Emmy® Awards during its five-year run. Reubens has personally been nominated for 14 Emmy® Awards, winning twice.

Paul Reubens has also starred in many diverse, non-Pee-wee film and television roles. He recently appeared as Oswald Cobblepot, The Penguin’s father on Gotham. Other TV credits include: The Blacklist, Portlandia, 30 Rock, Pushing Daisies, Reno 911 and Everybody Loves Raymond. His film credits include Mystery Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Blow, Life During Wartime and Steven Soderbergh’s Mosaic.Reubens revived The Pee-wee Herman Show at Club Nokia in Los Angeles and then at the Steven Sondheim Theater on Broadway.

In 2010, three decades after his first HBO special, the network produced a dazzling new version of the Broadway show. Next, Judd Apatow teamed with Paul and Netflix to produce a new Pee-wee movie, Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday. Reubens has also lent his vocal talents to many projects including Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Star Wars Rebels, Robot Chicken, Family Guy, TRON: Uprising, Smurfs, Minecraft: Story Mode and Call of Duty: Zombies in Spaceland.

Pee-Wee Herman’s star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame is located at 6562 Hollywood Boulevard. ‘Pee-Wee Herman’s Log’ (that’s blog without the ‘b’) is at: peewee.com

FanX 2018 Guest Announcement: Karl Urban

by iGeekOut | Mar 20, 2018 | Conventions

FanX 2018 Guest Announcement: Karl Urban

Press Release

GUEST INFO

NAME: KARL URBAN

APPEARING: Friday & Saturday

KNOWN FOR: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Star Trek Trilogy, Thor: Ragnarok

PANEL: TBA*

PHOTO OPS: $65 – Available closer to event

SIGN UP: Photo Op Lottery

AUTOGRAPHS: Available to purchase at event**

RSVP: Facebook

*Guests appearances and Panels are subject to change or cancellation.

**For more information about Autographs, Memorabilia Signings, Voice recordings and other signing table opportunities visit the Celebrities Booth during the convention. Prices and options subject to change

GUEST BIO

Karl-Heinz Urban is a New Zealand actor best known for his roles as Eomer in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Bones in Star Trek, Star Trek: Beyond, and Star Trek: Into Darkness, and Skurge in Thor: Ragnarok.

He also played Julius Caesar and Cupid in Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Munder in Ghost Ship, Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy, Black Hat in Priest, John Grimm in Doom, William Cooper in Red, Gavin in Pete’s Dragon, Vincent in The Loft, Vaako in the second and third installments of the Riddick film series, and Judge Dredd in Dredd. He won acclaim for his performances in New Zealand films The Price of Milk and Out of the Blue. He also played the main character John Kennex in the short-lived television series Almost Human.

FanX 2018 Guest Announcement: Tim Curry

by iGeekOut | Mar 18, 2018 | Conventions

FanX 2018 Guest Announcement: Tim Curry

Press Release

GUEST INFO

NAME: TIM CURRY

APPEARING: TBA*

KNOWN FOR: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legend, Clue, IT, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Muppet Treasure Island, Annie, Congo, The Hunt for Red October

PANEL: TBA*

PHOTO OPS: TBA – Available closer to event

SIGN-UP: Photo Op Lottery

AUTOGRAPHS: Available to purchase at event**

RSVP: Facebook

*Guests appearances and Panels are subject to change or cancellation.

**For more information about Autographs, Memorabilia Signings, Voice recordings and other signing table opportunities visit the Celebrities Booth during the convention. Prices and options subject to change

GUEST BIO

Timothy James Curry is an English actor, voice actor, and singer. He is known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film, and television productions, often portraying villainous roles or character parts. Curry rose to prominence with his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, reprising the role he had originated in the London and Los Angeles stage productions of The Rocky Horror Show.

His other stage work includes various roles in the original West End production of Hair, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Broadway production of Amadeus, the Pirate King in the West End production of The Pirates of Penzance, Alan Swann in the Broadway production of My Favourite Year and King Arthur in Broadway and West End productions of Spamalot.

Curry received further acclaim for his film and television roles, including as Rooster Hannigan in the film adaptation of Annie, as Darkness in the fantasy film Legend, as Wadsworth in the mystery comedy film Clue, as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the horror miniseries It, and Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island.

Curry has also gained acclaim as a voice actor. His roles in animation include Hexxus in the fantasy film FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Nigel Thornberry on the Nickelodeon series The Wild Thornberrys, and Palpatine on Star Wars: The Clone Wars.