The Life and Times of Blerds in the Workplace – Part I: What Kind of Nerd Are You?

This is the first in our three-part series The Life and Times of Blerds in the Workplace. Follow along to Part II: Customizing Your Desk and Part III: Being an Open Blerd.[divider type=”space_thin”]Most of us live in bubbles. Our Twitter feeds are finely tuned to our interests – Black Twitter, Nerd Twitter, and Sports Twitter for me – and our social circles are carefully selected. We have friends that validate our political views, beliefs, and values… yet there are 2 major exceptions. The first exception is that Facebook friend from high school – or friends, plural, if you’re severely nostalgic and masochistic – who grew up to be the evil version of you from an alternate timeline, like on Community. They’re out somewhere buying Iggy Azalea songs on iTunes or supporting Ben Carson’s presidential campaign. Whenever you watch things on the news and ask, “Who are these people?” or say “I don’t know anyone like that,” your high school friend appears on your Feed like you repeated Candyman’s name in the mirror. They appear solely to remind you of life outside your bubble. HEY IT’S ME your facebook friend from high school who never left our hometown & thinks Olive Garden is fancy. Anyway here’s a racist article — Kevin Farzad (@KevinFarzad) December 8, 2014

But this is about the second exception. The second exception to your life of exclusivity is your real concern. It’s an exception over which you have little control, yet it’s where you spend 40 or more hours of your life each…