I just returned from a DAM Conference and DAM Tweetup where I was able to meet with many more like-minded people in the field of Digital Asset Management (DAM).
More and more people are aspiring to get into the field of Digital Asset Management, like any other domain, but the issue is how:
Despite current economic times, Digital Asset Management (DAM) jobs are listed on a regular basis throughout the United States and the world. While many positions are clustered around major cities, there are often 100+ jobs listed at any one time. So the question is if you have relevant job experience (according to the individual job description) in the field of DAM, where do you look?
Here are several online job sites which display DAM jobs regularly:
As many DAM professionals know, metadata is important. Specifically, keywords.
Keywords which work well when searching within relevant job sites are:
“Digital Asset Management”
“metadata”
Keywords which do not work as well are:
“DAM” (unless you really are looking for jobs related to hydroelectricity or any other word with the letters “dam” in it)
“Asset Management” (often yields financial or real estate positions)
What if you do not have relevant job experience? If you are a college student, consider a DAM internship.
If you are a working DAM professional or between DAM jobs, consider seeking the skills of a talent scout or head hunter with experience in placing individuals with those technical skills. And experience.
It is not a secret that Digital Asset Management is a technical field, but the DAM users are not necessarily technical people. DAM professionals need to be able to ‘translate’ the complex blah blah blah into terms non-technical people do understand. As a Digital Asset Manager, I am a bridge between creative and technical groups. There is a lot of hands-on activity and training which involves plenty of hard work and, of course, metadata. Like many positions, this job is not for everyone. If you are job hunting, do yourself as well as the hiring managers a favor: Don’t apply if you are not qualified according to the job description.
Nowadays, many employers only accept digital copies of your resume and cover letter when applying. Human eyes may not even see your completed application unless it first passes filtering technologies. As with most resumes, Human Resources may read them in less than 30 seconds. Depending on a variety of factors, there may not be a line forming outside the door for DAM job applicants.
Before I mention DAM jobs descriptions themselves, many of these positions require experience, but what are the levels of experience in Digital Asset Management? How do you qualify the experience or even rank experience with DAM?
There are several levels of DAM experience from basic (1) to increasing in complexity (7). These levels include:
Simple DAM user (this is often the majority of DAM users)
Understanding the relationship of DAM system options, implications of the decisions made and configuring those system options to best suit business/workflow needs
Testing configurations to make sure they work the way they are intended to
Identify and understand what is missing from the system which your organization may need
Explaining what is missing from the system with written documentation
Explaining the value of adding the customization since it will cost extra (time and/or money)
Drafting the vision of what the customization may look like and how it could work with a written end result.
Possibly coding the solution
Thorough testing of solution
Ultimately, the best would be to have experience in all of these hands-on experience at one point or another. If this is not an option, try to experience the most number of levels available. This way, you have experienced what it is like to do this work, know what is involved and ultimately train others in the future on how to do this work more efficiently and effectively. As a Digital Asset Manager, I have experienced all listed above at some point or another over the years. This helps me when I need to write documentation for a specific role (audience) or when I give training so I know what is involved in whatthat user needs to do with the DAM. I try to not over complicate any explanation to any particular person unless they really need more detail, so I try to keep information at a high enough level to minimize confusion.
Now, if you want to discern between individuals who have similar experience in these roles, then start by asking:
How many different DAM solutions have they worked with?
How many different organizations using DAM solutions have they worked on?
How long did they use the DAM and how often?
How many DAM solutions were successfully implemented and are still in use today?
How many users does the DAM solution serve?
How many assets are managed?
How do they measure ROI using DAM?
You could use these questions in a DAM job interview as well. What levels of experience do you have with DAM?
Most of us did not go to college nor university knowing we would be working on Digital Asset Management (DAM) today. Many might even say ‘DAM picked me. I did not pick to work on DAM.’ Those of us who are working on DAM come from diverse career backgrounds, which may include:
Archives and records management
Business Management
Design
Education
Engineering
Film
History
Journalism
Library Science
Marketing
Photography
Project Management
Sales
Video
And many other career paths
Is a career in DAM really planned at all? It may be fair to say that at the time of this blog post and according to a recent poll, most people did not plan on a career in DAM, but rather volunteered for it or were volunteered for it. Either way, that is okay. Allow me to explain why…
Growth in DAM means growth in careers which manage information (Has your organization stopped accumulating digital assets? This is not likely to happen anytime soon)
Part of running a DAM can lead to better record keeping and Rights Management which reduces liability within the organization (aka not getting sued for unauthorized use)
There are more and more DAMjobs waiting to be filled
There are not enough DAM professionals available with the needed experience, some even say there is a shortage of qualified individuals
More education about DAM is coming soon to help reduce this shortage and further the knowledge of people who find themselves newly involved in DAM
DAM internships and mentorship programare now available in order to share the knowledge and hands-on experience needed
It takes a certain type of individual to work on DAM and not everyone can do this type of work. You may be that person and not realize it. Do not expect overnight change, but rather baby steps of progress
Some organizations are still scratching their heads wondering why there is a low adoption of their systems, while their own people don’t understand how to use them and there is no one to help them internally. As soon as it dawns on them, they will begin seeing the value of a DAM professional who can assist them within their organization whether it is an internal resource who knows their processes (is that you?) and/or an external resource (such as a consultant) if you are not sure where to start or how to move forward in a phased approach. Yes, I will be blogging about the phases of DAM too.
There are courses available in DAM from:
CMSWatch (also offered by AIIM) offer an online certificate education course on the Fundamentals of Digital Asset Management Technologies
King’s College London to offer a Master of Arts in Digital Asset Management (MADAM) in late 2010. This is being offered not because we needed more acronyms in this field, but because we need more education about DAM.
Of course, DAM vendors offer documentation and support for their specific DAM systems, but it is not enough. Who will drive the adoption, implementation, operations, support and workflow of the DAM within your organization? Enter the DAM Professional.
Anyone can supplement their DAM education and experience with:
Books (take note of their publish dates though because technology changes rapidly)
Another DAM Blog 