This is why I’m never going to work at Google
In the past year, a few people who knew I would be on the lookout for a new full-time position have asked me if I’d consider working at Google. These two articles provide some insights as to why Mark Bult + Google would probably never mix.
Doug Bowman, a highly experienced designer who I respect a lot, has left Google to join Twitter. Of his departure, he writes:
“...Without a person at (or near) the helm who thoroughly understands the principles and elements of Design, a company eventually runs out of reasons for design decisions. With every new design decision, critics cry foul. Without conviction, doubt creeps in. Instincts fail. ‘Is this the right move?’ When a company is filled with engineers, it turns to engineering to solve problems. Reduce each decision to a simple logic problem. Remove all subjectivity and just look at the data. Data in your favor? Ok, launch it. Data shows negative effects? Back to the drawing board. And that data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.”
Read the rest...
This New York Times profile on Google’s VP for search products and user experience, Marissa Mayer, gives several examples of why I’d find the company a challenging environment (and I don’t mean “challenging” in the positive sense, I mean it as a diplomatic way of saying “constant pain-in-the-ass”). Not to mention the fact that I would never get so much as an interview at Google, since I didn’t even take the SAT:
“At a recent personnel meeting, she homes in on grade-point averages and SAT scores to narrow a list of candidates, many having graduated from Ivy League schools, whom she wanted to meet as part of a program to foster in-house talent. In essence, math is used to solve a human problem: How do you predict whether an employee has the potential for success?”
Read the rest...
Don’t get me wrong, I use Google products a ton. Gmail is open all the time on my computer and Google Search is a daily routine, I use Google Maps a lot and Blogger runs this very blog you’re reading (at least as of this date). I’m a big fan of the Goog. I just don’t think I could ever work there.
Over the past few weeks of interviews and further reflection on what I want my next job to look like, I’ve become more convinced that I should concentrate on applying at smaller companies with less bureaucracy and institutional cruft. More on that later.
Labels: Google, jobs, misc. personal, web design
Updated a couple posts
I updated these two popular posts yesterday. Just thought I’d drop a reminder here in case anyone’s on the lookout for these sort of resources.
Labels: big ol' lists, email marketing, email newsletters, jobs, web design, webdev
Job boards for designers and web developers
List updated May 12, 2009I’ve been collecting this list for a while, in anticipation of having to use it one day. That day’s
fast approaching here, so I thought I’d publish the list.
Here are all the job search sites I know of that cater primarily to the creative and design communities, plus the tech / online media sector. There are a few other job-related services thrown in too, toward the bottom of the list.
As an aside: I was rather disappointed that the hiring reps at a former employer (in the tech industry), were not aware of most of these. When I was looking to hire seasoned design talent and was getting utter shite filtered to me from HR, I had to give them most of these so I’d have some decent portfolios coming in.
Coroflothttp://www.coroflot.com/37Signals Job Boardhttp://jobs.37signals.com/Authentic Jobshttp://www.authenticjobs.com/Crunchboardhttp://www.crunchboard.com/Krophttp://www.krop.com/Fresh Web Jobshttp://www.freshwebjobs.com/Just Creative Jobshttp://www.justcreativejobs.com/Metafilter Job Boardhttp://jobs.metafilter.com/Slashdot Job Boardhttp://jobs.slashdot.org/AIGA Design Jobshttp://www.aigadesignjobs.org/public/default.aspFrom the AIGA / American Institute of Graphic Arts.
Elancehttp://www.elance.com/AlleyInsider Job Boardhttp://jobs.alleyinsider.com/ArtyPapers Jobpilehttp://artypapers.com/jobpile/Boxes And Arrows Job Boardhttp://jobs.boxesandarrows.com/jobsCSS Beauty Job Boardhttp://cssbeauty.com/jobs/Hire an Illustratorhttp://hireanillustrator.com/v2/Djobberhttp://djobber.com/[thanks to commenter mick]
Web Developer Jobs UKhttp://www.webdeveloper-jobs.co.uk/[thanks to commenter matthew]
Job ThreadOffers posting your job openings to multiple sites.
http://www.jobthread.com/
JobCoinPublishers can get paid for hosting job boards.
http://www.jobcoin.com/EmurseResume hosting service.
http://www.emurse.com/JobamaticJob board implementation for online publishers.
http://www.jobamatic.com/a/jbb-static/homeJobBazaarHosting service.
http://www.jobazaar.com/OpenSourceStaffing NEWhttp://www.open-source-staffing.com/Developers and programmers: Apache, Drupal, Joomla, LAMP, Linux, MySQL, Perl, PHP, Plone, Python, Ruby on Rails, Samba, and iPhone apps, among other technologies.
TwitterJobSearch NEWhttp://www.twitterjobsearch.comStyle Apple Job Board NEWhttp://www.styleapple.com/public/jobboard.phpArs Technica Jobs NEWhttp://jobs.arstechnica.com/Sitepoint’s “Looking To Hire” Marketplace NEWhttp://marketplace.sitepoint.com/categories/looking-to-hireLooks like mostly freelance and junior- to mid-level positions. No surprising, since that seems appropriate to Sitepoint’s target audience.
Read/WriteWeb Job Board NEWhttp://jobs.readwriteweb.com/Mostly developer/programmer listings.
Ajaxian Job Board NEWhttp://jobs.ajaxian.com/SearchWebJobs NEWhttp://www.searchwebjobs.com/Freelanceswitch NEWhttp://jobs.freelanceswitch.com/Mostly freelance jobs, obviously.
Smashing Magazine Job Board NEWhttp://jobs.smashingmagazine.com/CreativeHeads.net NEWhttp://www.creativeheads.net/search.aspxCreativePool UK NEWhttp://www.creativepool.co.uk/employee/jobboard.phpFor UK jobs.
devBistro Tech Jobs NEWhttp://www.devbistro.com/jobsLots of IT and developer listings, sometimes a few design postings.
Evolt Job Board NEWhttp://evolt.org/jobsNot a very easy to use site.
indeed NEWhttp://www.indeed.com/q-web-design-jobs.htmlAggregated search results for jobs from Monster, 37Signals, Dice, and many others.
Think Vitamin Job Board NEWhttp://thinkvitamin.com/jobs/?job=69jobs.wordpress.net NEWhttp://jobs.wordpress.net/Just WordPress-related jobs.
Web Designer Wall job board NEWhttp://jobs.webdesignerwall.com/DesignM.ag job board NEWhttp://designm.ag/jobs/Wired job board NEWhttp://jobs.wired.com/Mashable job board NEWhttp://mashable.jobamatic.com/a/jbb/find-jobsProgrammer Meet Designer NEWhttp://programmermeetdesigner.com/Looks like mostly freelance gigs.
Behance Network job list NEWhttp://www.behance.net/Job_ListDesign:Related job board NEWhttp://www.designrelated.com/jobsCreative Hotlist NEWhttp://www.creativehotlist.com/FWA (Favorite Website Awards) job list NEWhttp://www.thefwa.com/?app=aboutus&id=30Unfortunately, since the site is all Flash-based, in-page keyword searching via your browser is impossible.
The Designers Network job board NEWhttp://jobs.designers-network.com/International jobs.
Web Freelancers NEWhttp://www.webfreelancers.com.au/For Australia and New Zealand.
Web Directions Jobs NEWhttp://jobs.webdirections.org/For Australia and New Zealand.
AgenciesCreative Circlehttp://creativecircle.com[thanks to Kim and Velma]
Accolohttp://www.accolo.com24sevenhttp://24seveninc.comFilter Talenthttp://www.filtertalent.comCreative Grouphttp://www.creativegroup.comAquenthttp://www.aquent.comArtisan Creative NEWhttp://www.artisancreative.comThey work mainly with creatives.
Emerging Blue NEWhttp://www.emergingblue.comThe Talent Factor NEWhttp://www.thetalentfactor.netAgency with a focus on technology companies.
Suggestions?Know of any I missed? Leave a comment and I’ll update the list.
Labels: big ol' lists, design, jobs, tech, web design, webdev
Aaron
Alexis
Anne
Anya
April & Matt
Ari
Bo
Brian
Bryan
Chris
Cousin Carol
Dave & Terri
Dave H.
Debby
Drue
Fibu
Four Waters
Fwegan (aka Ynnej)
Gary
Holly
Hilary
Internet Rockstar
James & Eric
Jason
Jen
Jesse
Jessica
Joey
Kansinee
Karl
Kelly
Laura
Leah
Marc
Martin
Matt
Mike
Morgan
OkayDave
Olya
Paco
Peter
Rick
Rocky
Ryan
Stellah
Tatum 
Trent
Velma
Veronica
Whiskey Media
Yuliya
Yu-Po