TechStuffCanada

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The history of TechStuff - part 3

October 30, 2006 › Sandy McMurray | comment

This is part 3 of 3. Have you read part 1 and part 2?

In the summer of 2005, I was fresh from my Rogers contract, looking for work, and wondering what to do about TechStuff. Armed with the knowledge that a Web-based publication requires more than just your spare time, I hesitated to relaunch the site until I knew where I would be working.

Around this time I got a call from my friend Darryl Dash, the senior pastor at Richview, our church. Darryl asked to meet with me and Lori, to discuss Something Important.

Darryl knew I was looking for work. I knew Richview was looking for a church secretary, and I suspected this might be the topic of our conversation. (I have attended Richview since 1980, and I was the church secretary for a while in the early 90s. Yes, I'm full of surprises!)

We were therefore unprepared when Darryl asked me to consider serving as interim director of worship and small groups. I would be temporarily filling the spot recently left vacant by the former associate pastor, our mutual friend Ed DeFreitas.

I jumped at the chance. I was already very involved in both worship and small groups as a volunteer, so it was a good fit. The position would provide us with some much-needed income, and I would get to do what I love for the church while they looked for a new full-time staff member.

A job with meaning
It might surprise you that I would be interested in a ministry position, but this is something I had been thinking about for several years.

When Steve Jobs recruited John Sculley to Apple from Pepsi, Jobs famously asked, "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?" This quote has always resonated with me, but it no longer inspires me to work at Apple. As much as I admire the company and its products, changing the world means more to me than computers and iPods.

I worked full-time at Richview for nine months, until May of 2006. As director of worship, I organized the music and led worship services on Sunday mornings. As director of small groups, I provided support and resources for smaller church gatherings that took place weekly in members' homes. It was an exciting and challenging job.

When I started at Richview, I thought it might be possible to do some freelance writing on the side, but my day job kept me busy. I had little time to keep up with the tech world, and even less time for writing about it. I posted to TechStuff occasionally during that time, but it was pretty obvious to anyone visiting the site that my attention was elsewhere.

It probably would have been smart to mothball TechStuff during this time, or make some sort of announcement, but I kept putting it off, unsure of what would happen next. (Perhaps you see a pattern emerging?)

In May of 2006, as expected, Richview hired a new staff member to oversee several ministries at the church, including small groups. Then I received a lovely surprise: the church board and congregation asked me to continue leading worship ministries on a permanent, part-time basis. Once again, I jumped at the chance.

And so, In June, I began working part-time for Richview as Director of Worship. My job, as before, is to organize the Sunday services, and to lead the music and worship ministries of the church. If you want to see me at work, drop by Richview on a Sunday morning at 10:30.

Looking for more work
The church pays a fair wage, but a family of six in Toronto needs more income than you get by working 12 hours per week. Since June, I have been looking for more work to supplement our income.

Each day, I browse the the job listings in local newspapers and on job sites like Workopolis, Monster, Jeff Gaulin, and Craigslist. I search for employers that could make use of my experience as a writer, editor, speaker, trainer, Mac support specialist, radio broadcaster, retail store manager, and minister.

The modern job search is strange. Web postings make it easier to find job openings, but they also make the whole process less personal. Most job postings warn applicants not to contact the company by phone or email, but to wait and see what happens. If you don't hear anything, you're supposed to assume they're not interested. It feels like you're dropping your resume into a black hole. (After you've sent a few dozen resumes and received no response, you begin to wonder if your email account is working.) Although I've applied for dozens of jobs since June, I haven't been hired yet.

When it became apparent that I was not going to get a full-time job -- at least, not right away -- I decided to plunge back into the world of self-publishing. I launched TasteBuddy -- a new project devoted to fun food -- and I began to make plans to relaunch TechStuff Canada.

Now what?
That's the history of TechStuff. The future is less certain.

I believe there is a market for a Canadian tech publication that focuses on consumer needs and expectations. I think I know how to write it. I'm just not sure how to make it work as a business.

For now, I've decided to relaunch TechStuff with some adjusted expectations. I will try to publish on a more predictable schedule. I won't try to compete with sites like Engadget, which publish dozens of short items each day. I will avoid topics I know little about and focus on the things I know best: Mac computers, family-friendly games, and technoogy that is fun and useful.

Where do we go from here? I'm not exactly sure. But I hope you will stick around and see what happens.

Thanks for reading,
Sandy
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Sandy McMurray
editor@techstuff.ca

October 30, 2006 › Sandy McMurray | comment on this item