And the beat goes on…

Posted June 19th, 2008 under , , ,

I took a new job with a different company. You can check here to see the details, but the bottom line is that I realized fairly early on that the work and general approach to software development where I ended up was not inline with my overall career goals. I like…

→ agile development
→ open source/Internet development communities
→ building applications that people I know will use and find value in
→ doing something I can show my kids and they’ll get

Luckily, a local company I’ve had my eye on opened up a management position. Three people who were on my team at AOL all have jobs there and were kind enough to go recommend me to the hiring manager. In my second week, I’m already more relaxed then during my 5th month at the other place. I have no more insight into the “business” of what we do here than I did at the last place, but I’m more comfortable with the people and my abilities to contribute. I need to research and post about “rebound jobs” in the future, but I still need a bit more distance to get that objectivity back.

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North Dakota Sun

Posted March 31st, 2008 under

er… Son… well, not really.  I was born in Minnesota (stress on the SOTA), but was whisked away to the enchanted northern Dakota state at the age of 10.  I spent the next 13 or so years there learning how to be a man.  Well… ok.  Let’s just leave it at that.

Lately, I’m finding myself reminiscent of the great plains so started reading blogs from current residents there.  You’ll see a new section on my Links page dedicated - North Dakota.

A few things you probably didn’t know about North Dakota to entice you to start reading:

  • While bees are fleeing North Dakota, it leads the country in honey production.
  • The conductor for the Simpsons was born there.
  • The external scenes of the city Fargo in the MOVIE Fargo was actually filmed in Grand Forks.
  • It’s not all flat… the western side is pretty hilly with 5 or 6 more trees.

Famous North Dakotans: 

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Career Milestones

Posted December 14th, 2007 under , ,

I’m writing this on the eve of one of the most major milestones in my career. Tomorrow is my last day working for the company I’ve spent 13 years learning my trade.

Over the past year, AOL has transitioned from a subscription revenue model to an advertising driven source. Unfortunately, it hasn’t proceeded as planned. In an effort to reduce cost to compensate, approximately 2000 positions were eliminated. This included me and the majority of my team. We extended ad support into our video applications, built a stable, easily maintainable and extensible system. In a time of cost cutting, it was a logical business decision based on the state of the product and the direction of the company.

That’s my official exit statement and I’m sticking with it. (more…)

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Chimps Choose More Rationally

Posted October 10th, 2007 under ,

Chimps Choose More Rationally

Sounds like the best thing to do is bring a chimp when negotiating a salary.

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writer zone

Posted June 4th, 2007 under ,

I should check this out… seems ok, perhaps a bit basic.

http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/

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