Comments on: Blog Apprenticeships

By: Ambot ah! » Padawan Blogger

Ambot ah! » Padawan Blogger — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 14:59:54 +0000

[...] Darren of ProBlogger was discussing about Blog Apprenticeships three weeks ago and enumerated some of the benefits it generates for both the apprentice and the teacher. [...]

By: Yaro

Yaro — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:06:13 +0000

I like the idea of a blogger internship – a paid training job sort of thing.

A blogger intern could do a lot of tasks for a pro blogger, perhaps even creating his/her own posts for the pro blogger’s blogs, which would be approved before going live of course, but would certainly provide some practical lessons in SEO and writing.

At the moment I’m negotiating with a first year business student at a local university that is interested in working for me in exchange for experience and education and some commission for results. I was quite surprised when he contacted me and guess what – he became interested after reading my blog!

Blogs are powerful…

By: maruthi

maruthi — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 05:58:59 +0000

Hi,

I’ve been a reader of this excellent blog for about 2 months now. This is my first comment here and i just launched my first blog 10 days ago (completely inspired by darren and the readers of this blog). I guess i am the “baby” here.

Apprenticeship is a very interesting idea. I’m sure it will definitely work for both the apprentice and the ‘boss’. There are some challenges though:

1. As Jay says, it’ll definitely work without much hurdles for news style blogs, where the emphasis is more on “facts” than on personal ideas and opinions. What about opinion and idea based blogs? I guess in this case the content could be written by one person, but the other tasks like design, promotion etc can be shared by two or more persons.

2. What about distance? If the apprentice and the blog manager stay in different countries, it could be a challenge getting things across. Add to it the time-zone difference, it becomes even more difficult.

3. What would the style of teaching be? will it be a one-on-one or will there be a set of apprentices (lets say 3 to 6 people) working with one blog manager? Probably the second style would work better, as group learning is more fun and more effective. Also if at the end of the coaching period, even if one student realizes that blogging is not for him/her and drops out, the blog manager will still have others who will “graduate” and continue their journey to become good bloggers. That way the blog manager would not have wasted his precious time.

May be these challenges are easy to address. The results of such an arrangement far out weighs the challenges, so i think it would be a great idea to try it. If the idea succeeds, Darren and other experienced and successful bloggers can even start a blogging school. May be this is a little far away, but i think it could definitely happen.

I hope i made some sense here, this being my first comment.

maruthi.

By: Vix

Vix — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 01:14:12 +0000

That is a great idea. What better way to learn more about blogging than at the hands of the master :)

By: PG

PG — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 22:31:09 +0000

I would gladly serve as an apprentice to you and I do not want any remuneration. The world of professional blogging is of great interest to me and I would happily devote time to help and learn from you. If you are interested please let me know.

By: depressionisms ★ neurogenesis » Web Training and Apprenticeships

depressionisms ★ neurogenesis » Web Training and Apprenticeships — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:28:32 +0000

[...] Darren over at Problogger.net has a good post about Blog Apprenticeships that had me thinking about my own situation. [...]

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:50:16 +0000

Darren, you already have apprentices. Us! your readers. Thanks for all the continued tips and insights.

By: Dave Starr

Dave Starr — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:47:12 +0000

Very good idea, Darren, worth further mulling/planning. Anthony (comment #33) really jumped in early with my main message .. the benefactor of knowledge in a master/apprentice relationship is not always the apprentice. Many of us know things internally and practice them in a “good enough” fashion .. but when we have to teach/supervise/manage we somehow learn them much better, often in a very short time.

I’d be open to some kind of short-term apprenticeship type arrangement myself.

By: Alexander Barbara

Alexander Barbara — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:41:31 +0000

If you’re still looking.. I will be your apprentice, Darren!

By: Kashif

Kashif — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:46:09 +0000

Interesting idea, but would it be easy to find good padawans .. errr.. apprentices?

By: Terminator

Terminator — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 09:10:44 +0000

I want to be your apprentice…please….

or maybe work with you as customer care service- to do work such as read your inbox, reply emails, write articles, source for information etc…

please give me a chance…pls…..heheheehhe :-)

not joking though. Who agree with my idea pls show their hands…

By: Phillip Molly Malone

Phillip Molly Malone — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 07:36:01 +0000

Hi Darren,
Interesting topic. Is it just a theory piece or are you really looking to put it into practice?

Watch this space I guess
Molly
Http://mollyzine.blogspot.com

By: Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 06:48:12 +0000

i guess the how it would go beyond telling people what to read is that the apprentice would be working on blogs and getting constant feedback from their ‘boss’ – teaching them how to do things better etc rather than just learning the theory….

there are definitely issues that would need to be talked about though….hmmmm

By: Devin Reams

Devin Reams — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 06:39:08 +0000

Wow, interesting idea. I wonder how long something like this could last? Would they ever have to physically meet? Would there be enough for the apprentice to learn? Enough for them to do? etc…

But then again, couldn’t the apprentice just read, say, X Blog and Y Blog and Z’s Article, and gain everything they ever needed?

…interesting, but definitely brings up some additional questions.

By: JErm

JErm — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 06:24:47 +0000

It’s a great idea Darren, and I believe this will help a lot of people if they start working on the idea. If you’re looking for an apprentice please consider me even though I’m not worthy.

By: Jay Allen

Jay Allen — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 06:17:32 +0000

We do something like an apprenticeship system already at WIN when a new blogger comes on. It takes time for new hires to get accustomed to the tools, the WIN culture, and the blog-specific style guidelines. Not to mention all the tips and tricks about SEO, linking to past content, using keywords, etc.

Whether this will become more widespread in blogdom depends on the type of blog, I guess, and how closely the blogger’s personality is wedded to it. I can see it working for “news”-style blogs like wonkette, the WIN blogs, etc. which are a combination of re-reporting, pointers to additional sources,and an injection of wit.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 05:24:19 +0000

I say go for it. I’ve always had this theory that you learn more about something when you have to teach it someone else. It forces you to understand the subject mattter at a deeper level. At uni and after uni I always found when explaining marketing concepts to someone else I would be smarter for it.

By: Abe Olandres

Abe Olandres — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 05:06:51 +0000

I think it’s more like a Jedi Knight and Padawan learner relationship. =) A very nice idea, Darren. And considering you have over a dozen blogs to attend to, an extra hand would really benefit both you and your padawan.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 05:01:21 +0000

Is this going to be a bit like the sorcerer’s apprentice? :)