Judi Sohn, Vice President of Operations, C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition

There's been a lot of interesting conversation around rebranding and defining the nonprofit "accidental" techie lately. Have you noticed some reluctance actually to move forward with change? Let's face it: is there another employment sector that thrives as ours does with so many of us doing an excellent job at something we never thought we'd ever do?

I am an accidental techie from birth. It's in my genes. My father never had a minute of formal technology training and his job description had nothing to do with technology. He's been gone for 12 years and when I think of him, I still clearly remember that sparkle of pure joy in his eyes when he got his first home computer in the mid 80s -- way before anyone else -- and he taught himself how to use it. He used to read gadget manuals instead of novels, knew when his tech magazines were due each month and rushed to the mailbox to collect them and read them cover to cover. Big box electronics stores started opening in my small hometown shortly after he died. He would have considered a visit to CompUSA or Best Buy nothing short of heaven. He would have packed a lunch and made a day of it. My mother would roll her eyes. She didn't get it. I did.

So to me, it makes perfect sense that my degree in graphic design led me to a career managing technology for the Colorectal Cancer Coalition, an organization I helped start in my father's memory.

It's true that more often than not, we nonprofit accidental techies are also the technology leaders in our organizations. Not all technology leaders are self-described accidental techies, but I think it's safe to say that there's certain values and characteristics of a nonprofit organization's so-called accidental techie that make a great leader.

The accidental techie may not like the label, but we love the role. At my first job in 1991, I was called to try and troubleshoot the coffee maker. Why? "Because it plugs in and lights up so we thought you'd know what to do." We may act like being the one called upon to fix every printer or email burp is a burden. Don't let us fool you. We do it because this is our idea of fun. And hopefully, we're finally living in a world where we don't have to pretend otherwise.

So yes, maybe we have to give it a different name. "Accidental" only describes how we got here. It says nothing about who we are or what we actually do. You never see "3+ years experience as an accidental techie" in a job description posting, yet any organization is darn lucky when they have one. We have to figure out how to steer our own careers beyond the path we stumbled on, whether it be through certification or other formal training. (That's a problem for the accidental marketing professionals and the accidental career coaches.) For now, let's celebrate some of what makes us -- the nonprofit organization's accidental techie -- so special, valued, and beloved.

The Accidental Techie is a community builder

It's no coincidence that many NTENers are self-identified accidental techies and that this is such a vibrant and sharing professional community. Look at most online and offline forums in our space, even outside of NTEN, and you'll find it's the accidental techie who offers helpful down-to-earth counsel. When we have a question ourselves, we tend to ask it in a constructive way. We're also good at translating tech-geek into language that the average program-focused person can understand, even if we can't write a line of code ourselves. No metaphor or analogy is off-limits when you're trying to explain to your colleagues what that javascript is really doing. You show them how to drive the car so they're comfortable in most common situations they'll face on the road, not how to rebuild the engine. See what I mean?

The Accidental Techie is adventurous

But not reckless. We know when "I wonder what this preference setting does?" is a safe question to explore and it's not when we're logged into our production website's Plesk control panel. We're willing to experiment and test new technologies and ideas. We don't necessarily have to use the technology in the same way as everyone else. The trick is to know the right point to share and teach others in the organization -- early enough so they get maximum benefit, but not too early that they are frustrated by incomplete documentation or buggy startups.

The Accidental Techie is a problem solver

While we're early adopters of new technology, we're not distracted by shiny objects. We're not bogged down by a complete PHP reference manual in our head. A program or strategy meeting attendee only has to say "I wonder if we could..." and the accidental techie is on it for the challenge. The accidental techie knows exactly what to tell a search engine. We're already connected on all the best support and community forums. In fact, we're most attracted to technologies that have thriving user ecosystems. We don't give complex solutions to simple questions. Even if we can't personally solve the problem ourselves, we know just what to ask potential consultants. We make solid recommendations.

The Accidental Techie is joyous

That sparkle my Dad had when he got he mastered his first DOS-based computer? I see it all the time in my accidental techie friends. It's hard to beat that rush you get when you MacGyver together some code from 3 different sources and it works! When it happens, we want to share -- with everyone we ever met. We want to stand on the bow of the ship and scream, "I AM KING OF THE WORLD!" Instead, we post a blog with our home-grown solution. Or we Tweet. We share our joy with others. We remember why this is so much fun.

Let's never forget how blessed we are that we stumbled into a career we love, making a difference against things we hate.

Judi Sohn is Vice President of Operations for C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition, an organization she helped found in 2005 after losing her father to colon cancer in 1999. Judi brings her nearly 10 years of experience as a technology consultant and blogger into focus around tools that bring a widely distributed team together.