So you want to be a rock (and comedy and politics) star?

Long time no blog kids!

As I am sure most of you know, I have exited the freelance world to take on a section editor’s job at Computer Weekly. I am having a grand ol’ time with Bryan and the team over here and I am really pleased to have made the move back into the office, both for my career and that lovely thing known as security 🙂

However, it seems awfully silly to waste such a wonderful URL…

As such, over the next few days I will be making changes to the site and using it to blog and review the things I enjoy to write about, going back to what I always loved before the world of technology made me his mistress.

The main thrust will be music and comedy reviews. Expect the full weekend Bloodstock 2012 review by the end of the week, along with the dissection of the shows I saw at my weekend in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival.

But, my political rantings shall also take up another section, perhaps more infrequently, but still hopefully getting me into trouble.

Yes, to turn this page into my rantings and reviewings is incredibly self-centred and egotistical but, well, I am a journalist right?

Hope you come back and see me soon.

It’s been a while…

So, I am now almost one month old in my freelancing career and, thanks to an awful lot of support from you guys, it is going rather well.

I have added a number of new titles to my portfolio, which I have always wanted to write for and about subjects I find great to get my teeth into.

It all started with a commission from TimeOut, writing about my favourite thing – North London! From there I moved into security, writing for SC Magazine, and got to flex my interviewing muscles with some online advertising companies not so willing to share.

Then I unleashed my inner geek and wrote for Custom PC to give a detailed look into cloud gaming, conducting a riveting interview with OnLive’s managing director.

And that is not all, from researching backup solutions to writing about servers in Las Vegas, the freelance life is what I dreamed of – busy, varied and satisfying!

And there is much more to go in the coming weeks. Following my trip to Mobile World Congress for IT Pro and Cloud Pro – yes, I am all booked up for meetings – I have features to write on file virtualisation and the evolving roles of CISOs, along with news stories in the storage and cloud spheres.

Please get in touch if you have any relevant releases, interviews or events.

Also, I have my birthday and I am joining the 27 club… I mean, I will be 27! Funny to write that on Kurt Cobain’s birthday…

Anyway, thanks again for all your support and good wishes. Onwards and upwards!

Here I go again…

If you know me at all, you will have got the Whitesnake reference…

Yes, today is my last day at Dennis Publishing, and I am ready to go out into the wide world on my own as a freelancer.

However, before I depart, I wanted to look back on my three years at the company and mention a few highlights.

Maggie Holland (@Magacious) hired me back in 2009, despite the fact my job beforehand had been at Tunnels and Tunnelling magazine. I will never forget the interview I had with her and Nicole Kobie (@NJKobie). I still remember the black long-sleeved dress and purple tights I was wearing, my excitement at the reception desk being a fishtank and the feeling of dread I had when I left, realising I had spent the entire interview talking about World of Warcraft!

Nevertheless, I joined IT Pro and embarked on what has so far been an incredibly enjoyable career in tech journalism.

In my two and a half years at an amazing business tech publication, I worked with my fellow three witches of IT Pro, as well as Benny Hareven (@Bhareven), Asavin Wattanajantra (@asavin), Rich Goodwin (@richardg00dwin –  now ruling the roost as features editor of Know Your Mobile), Alan ‘panda’ Lu (@alanitpanda) and, the first person I was allowed to manage, Tom ‘T-Brew’ Brewster (@IBlameTom).

It introduced me to the industry I now call home and gave me amazing experiences, building a huge profile of contacts and leading to an awful lot of boozing at our local King and Queen.

In the summer of 2011, I moved from IT Pro a whole one desk over to join a fellow cricket fan on Dennis’ new launch, Cloud Pro. Max Cooter (@MaxCotter) and I worked very hard to establish the title and make people know, not only was cloud the biggest thing in technology, but Cloud Pro was the place to read it.

Now, after three years, I am bidding them goodbye.

It is not just the titles I worked for I am thankful of though. There are too many people to mention who have become some of my firmest friends at Dennis, including numerous characters from Computer Shopper, Micro Mart, Custom PC and Know your Mobile – as well as some fine publishers I will never forget.

Thanks to my opportunities at Dennis, I also made many friends outside of the industry at so-called ‘rival titles’ including ZDnet, eWeek, CBR, SC Magazine, TechWorld, Computing and Trusted Reviews.

Also, as many of you know, one of the biggest things I have to thank Dennis for is finding the love of my life and one of the biggest supports for me going freelance, Tom Morgan (@TomMorgan3).

But now it is time to go. I have packed up the last of my wine supplies, taken down the wall of tacky posters – including Sebastian Bach and Brian Cox, as well as much photo-shopping from my dearest friend Andrew (@wwwdotandrew) – and I leave Dennis with a heavy heart, amazing experiences, great friends and a bursting contacts book.

Sorry for the Oscars style speech but, guys, it has been emotional. Expect me to appear pitching in your inboxes soon…

JSco x

Jennifer Scott goes freelance

“And so the world shuddered and gasped in fear as they realised she would no longer be confined to one space, but be allowed out into the real world…”

Yes, it is terrifying, but I have made the move from in-house journalist to out and out freelancer.

With five years experience of newspaper, magazine and online reporting, I have decided to offer my services to a wider audience and see if I can do this writing lark on my own.

Having covered everything from server launches and heavy metal festivals through to cloud computing and pet of the week, I am here for hire for a wide range of subjects.

With a particular passion for news, but with vast experiences of features, reviews, comment pieces and blogging, just let me know what style you are looking for.

The site is a work in progress right now, but feel free to contact me in the meantime at nifsfreelance[at]gmail[dot]com.