Career aspect: IP, IC, publications - Restless patience in career journeys series

Building upon the article I published in January 2022 titled Be restlessly patient & take control of your career journey, and based on the feedback and interest I received on the topic, I've initiated a series of follow-on articles to extend details on the different career aspects I've introduced in the first article. The aim is to make the career aspects as clear as possible; providing pointers and examples where applicable, in order to make them actionable, allowing you to plan and track the different activities against them easily going forward.

In this article I'll introduce the IP, IC, publications aspect. In my first article titled Be restlessly patient & take control of your career journey, I've briefly introduced this career aspect as follows:

The Intellectual Property, Intellectual Capital and publications you take part in: patents, technical publications, white papers, etc..?

To further clarify what this aspect is all about, it's basically any form of intellectual content you can take part in throughout your career. Besides the examples provided in the definition above, consider things like: research papers, assets, accelerator work products, books, articles, journals, Open Source or other specialty/communities contributions.

Moving next into how to engage in this career aspect. If you are a scholar, this probably comes more naturally to you than others. However, everyone, regardless of their seniority level or their backgrounds, with the right guidance and willingness to take the first step can venture into the IP, IC, publications activities. You can start with topics in areas you master already, then build, explore and experiment on top, or if you're adventurous, do it in reverse order - not much to lose but a lot to gain. On the other hand, one of the most convenient entry points is to consider harvesting content/assets from your current assignments or projects. It is something you would be fluent in, and have had time to produce it as part of your day to day job. That said, it's not as easy as just taking an output from an existing assignment and publishing it, rather, harvesting work products and assets is an effort of its own, such as making sure it's clean from any specific references, and is abstract enough to serve others afterwards. But the concept of getting ideas for publications from your current work is one relatable leeway. You should also consider working in groups on some of the activities, especially for things like patents, research/white paper, and other forms of extensive intellectual content, it would take less time, benefit from the diverse views, and makes it a lot more manageable.

A few more tips on the IP, IC, publications career aspects:

• Where you want to publish your intellectual content is important, seek reputable channels with wide readers base as much as possible. Submit in multiple channels where it makes sense; journals, newsletters, conferences, etc..
• Consider if your content can be published externally, or only internally within your company (as some content definitely can't be published externally). That said, consider the legalities involved as part of your employers guidelines and policies for publishing content, whether internal or external.
• Capitalize on your network (check the next section for more details).
• Keep tabs on how much your content is consumed and used by others, it's a very good metric to keep track of for future, as you promote in your career.

As to why it's important, the IP, IC, publications aspect has a bi-directional impact effect on several of the other career aspects, most notably:

• Domain of expertise: as it is an assertion of your fluency in certain domains, so it definitely underpins the Domain of expertise or technical eminence - you're recognized as an intellect, innovator and/or thought leader in the domains you publish in. The areas you publish in is fed by your Domain of expertise, and then the publications helps increase your technical eminence as you engage in more intellectual content.
• Networking & visibility, including Mentors & sponsors: as you can utilize your network to collaborate on intellectual content (working in groups), or be linked to channels you can publish your work in. Similarly, you increase your network as you engage in more intellectual content.
• Social eminence: is another way that helps promote your intellectual content especially as your connections promote in their networks. Similarly, the more you engage in IP, IC, publications, the wider your social network, and the higher your social eminence, becomes.

Additionally, the activities you do as part of IP, IC, publications aspect can serve other career aspects, such as the Give-back aspect as well as the Awards & recognition aspect.

With that, it should be clearer now what the IP, IC, publications aspect is all about, how you can engage in it, and why it's important for your career.

This concludes the fifth article in the Restless patience in career journeys series - more to come as I expand on the rest of the aspects, so stay tuned.