by Maya Spikes

Created on: August 12, 2008

In the interest of full disclosure, I have spent most of my life as a nerd. I did make the girls' tennis team in high school. But I had to give up tennis because it interfered with marching band practice.

It seems that nerds have greater career success rates than jocks. The kid who spends more time studying math science, and/or English is often better prepared for a longer and more successful career than the kid who's more interested in sports.

Geeks love to brag about the extraordinary successes of fellow nerds like Bill Gates, whose fascination with computers and software led him to help create the Microsoft empire and become one of the richest people in the world. And geeks are becoming more prominent in the entertainment industry with the success of Tina Fey (from "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock") and the growing popularity of geek flicks, including "Napoleon Dynamite", "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Superbad".

However, having a successful career depends on a couple of different aspects.

First, a person must be at least reasonably intelligent. This includes being able to learn and remember new information, as well as other basic skills such as reading and being able to share ideas with others.

Second, everyone has at least one natural skill, ability or talent. For example, some people have a gift for writing or public speaking. Others have a natural ability to move gracefully or rapidly. And some people have an instinct for understanding mathematical problems or scientific concepts.

Common "geeky "skills in math, science and English are not only highly valued in most careers, but these skills are also needed at different levels within any given industry. For example, a geeky person can be very successful in the medical field by being a nurse, lab technician or a doctor among many other opportunities. And the average person has about 30 to 40 years to become successful in these fields.

Compare that to jocks with athletic abilities, which are sometimes combined with good looks. These attributes can lead to success in a limited span of careers that include sports, the entertainment industry, and the military. Many careers in these industries are cut short by injuries and even death. The average person who does avoid serious injuries can expect to work for only 10 to maybe 20 years in these career fields.

It's also important to note that the jocks' status is rapidly changing in the military industry, since wars including U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, are now more dependent on technology, rather than just muscle.

Most jocks are not "stupid" or "dumb". The main reasons for geeks' higher rate of career success are that geeks have not only more years to develop a great career, but they have more opportunities to find their niche.

Whether you're a natural jock or a geek, the tricky part to achieving career success is being smart (or just lucky) enough to find the right line of work that allows you to make the most of your natural abilities. And many people in both camps discover that finding the job that works best for them is a lifelong process.

It's also a process that requires a group of people to help one person succeed.

If career success was an individual sport, career counselors would not bother suggesting that employees find one or more mentors to nurture growth within a certain company or industry. And networking would be pointless.

So maybe the type of people with the highest career success rates is those who best know how combine their own intelligence with the talents and support of others by using teamwork.

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