The Craziest Careers For An Urban Geek

Life as a geek can be pretty hard. This is perhaps most prevalent at high school, during which time the smart kids or the kids who simply have different interests to everyone else are likely to be picked on. It’s hard to be weird at a young age, but, whether those days are in the past or you’re still living them, it does get better. Being weird isn’t quite as “weird” as you might think, and it’s certainly not a bad thing. In fact, when it comes to your future, you’ll certainly be very glad that you’re a little different to the crowd when you find out what sort of insane opportunities are lying out there for you.

Perhaps you’re planning on using your smarts for a very stable, straightforward, but ultimately uninspiring career. Most people opt for this option, but then most people don’t realize their potential. Everybody has a talent or a niche interest, and, if you’d label yourself a “geek”, your interests a perhaps a little bizarre compared to most.

That’s a good thing, however. Having a very specific interest puts you in a position far above many of your competing jobseekers, as your skillset will truly shine through. You might be wondering how your geeky sensibilities could possibly be relevant to a career, but there are more opportunities related to your interests than you might think. Here are just a few of the career options waiting out there for you.

A legal hacker

This is the dream for so many kids who have what some might call an “unhealthy” obsession with computers and action films. Hacking a system is illegal, obviously, but doing so with the permission of a company who wants their system to be hacked in order to test for weaknesses is perfectly legal and a perfectly brilliant career in which you could find yourself if you’ve always loved coding. In fact, some social networks such as Facebook reward people who point out flaws in their site. If you have the knowledge, then use it. It could become your career.

Entering competitions

There’s no doubt that the black community plays video games more than ever, but perhaps your passion extends deeper than that. Perhaps this is more than a hobby to you; perhaps your talent truly lies in mastering video games, and you’ve no skill which quite tops your artful ways with a gaming controller. Well, you could look into a performance gaming PC if you want to improve with a serious piece of tech because you’re serious about the sport.

Yes, that’s right, I called it a sport. Essentially, that’s what it has become for gamers who are more than dedicated to the goal of becoming the best of the best in their specific genres. When you become good enough, there’s no reason you couldn’t be entering competitions and making ridiculous amounts of money. It could easily, depending on how good you are, become your career.

Graphic designer

Perhaps you’re scoffing, but those cool images you design on Photoshop for fun at the weekends could be your gateway into a fully-fledged career as a graphic designer. You might be thinking that you need some sort of qualification, but your experience and expertise with the right software is all the qualification many employers will need. Sometimes you have to prove things to an employer in order to get where you need to be.

Photo Credit: #WOCinTech Chat

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