[ This is post one in a series of three called “Getting the Job: Tips from a Hiring Manager.” ] Have you ever noticed how a job search is like a marketing campaign? It’s a perfect case-study in marketing. You have a product (yourself), you’re figuring out who your buyer is (a potential employer), then getting them to buy (by hiring you). A few years … Read more

I’m a strange guy when it comes to multitasking. Some tasks, such as web page development (writing PHP and HTML) are kind of mindless tasks for me so I can work with a lot of things going on at the same time, while others require my full, focused attention. I’m really kind of a schizophrenic web designer. Sometimes, I’ll be checking email, scanning twitter, posting … Read more

Every once in a while I’ll hear somebody make comments about how the essence of marketing is to “throw stuff out there and see what sticks.” Normally I don’t say much in response to this, but sometimes I just want to tell people “Um, that’s not correct.” This is very, very bad advice, and it’s not what marketing is. Marketing is, in fact, very methodical and … Read more

If you’ve accidentally moved a window off screen on you mac, don’t panic. It’s happened to me before as well. This usually happens when you’ve recently been working on a laptop (such as a MacBook or MacBook Pro) and had it plugged into an external display—typically 23″ or 24″ inches. (Those seem to be the most problematic for me anyway.) Oftentimes once you disconnect the external … Read more

Something I’ve noticed over the years is that being creative isn’t necessarily difficult for me, but starting a creative project is. It’s the hardest part. There’s nothing more intimidating while creating than viewing a blank page or canvas. (My experience has mainly been with pixels and not paint, so my exposure to “blank canvas syndrome” has been on a computer). Whether writing the first draft … Read more

A few years ago, when I was in the construction industry, at one point, the company I worked for had over twenty field employees. We were constantly hiring, trying to keep up with attrition and the manpower needed on larger and larger jobs we took on. Because of this, I got to know hundreds of workers who quickly went from prospective hire, to employee, and … Read more

Here’s a true story about a little company that had one of the most brilliant campaigns I’ve ever personally responded to. Background: I used to work in the building industry. We were a small company that was capable of some amazing work, but we were not very sophisticated as a company. When I first started there, I helped assist in the payroll duties (i.e. collecting … Read more

I called my ISP the other day (Qwest) to ask for an upgrade on the speed of my DSL line at home. When I did, I learned something  very interesting: Qwest employees don’t know the difference between a megabit and a megabyte. Cut them some slack, you may say… it’s an easy mistake to make. Right? Wrong—this is a glaring error. There’s a massive chasm between the … Read more

One of the hottest topics in search quality discussions so far in 2011 has been “Content Farms,” and I think it’s none too soon. I despise them. They give almost no value to consumers at all, and whatever value they do give is overshadowed by obnoxious advertising. Defining them can be a little difficult sometimes, so for the record, here’s my simple definition. Content Farm: … Read more