Whether we agree with it or not, blogging and maintaining your job has become somewhat of a balancing act. Seriously, let’s face it. Even when it is the last thing on a person’s mind, more often than not they can ‘accidentally’ let something slip that happened to them at work. Sure, this may seem innocent enough to most, I suppose. However, your employer might very well have different ideas about the matter.

Just over this past year, a number of people have inadvertently found themselves in the middle of a heated debate with their supervisor as they attempt to justify a blog entry which apparently did not go over so well. Hey, it can happen to anyone - especially of us in the IT field.

One such unlucky individual that fits this description would be Mark Jen, formally of Google. Even though he at no time was told to cease his blogging activities, his employer opted for his termination anyway once his blogging habits were called into question.

Now, I understand that this is Google’s right. And I suppose trying to nail down any moral implications would be hit and miss at best. But one thing that I believe to be fairly inescapable is the fact that these types of happenings are changing the face of the modern workplace.

What I found most striking about Jen was the fact that his termination did not seem to get him down. Instead of giving up, he decided to take a serious look into this whole blogging/getting fired sort of situation. And thus, out of the ashes of Jen’s termination - Simply Fired was born. The meat and potatoes of his site appears to revolve around stories of himself and others being fired for because of their blogs. Perhaps therapeutic, definitely entertaining. To me, his site offers a great opportunity for those who are concerned about their own blogging habits. After all, one way to stay in check is to see what got the other guy fired, right?

On the ‘getting your life back on track’ side of the fence, Jen also offers Simply Hired, a job search engine. There you can do employments searches once you are finished laughing and crying from the stories at Simply Fired. Definitely a great site for the IT professional needing to lighten up his/her day, I totally recommend it. Besides, the lesson learned here might just be the one that saves your own job!