Station Master's Journal

While I am writing up my review of what I found interesting at An Event Apart I thought I’d just touch briefly on an interesting tidbit I picked up today. According to Computer World Web anonymity can sink your job search.

In today’s job market, turning up missing on the Web may not be a fatal flaw, and it’s probably better than having a search result in a photo of you in a hula skirt. But over time, the lack of a Web presence — particularly for IT professionals — may well turn from a neutral to a negative, says Tim Bray, director of Web technologies at Sun Microsystems Inc.

So having your own site can in fact be some kind of employment bonus. Giving your employers a discreet peek at your personal life, what type of individual you are, and whether you seem like a reputable individual. According to Computer World 77 of 100 recruiters said they used search engines to check out job candidates. In a CareerBuilder.com survey of 1,150 hiring managers last year, one in four said they use Internet search engines to research potential employees.

There have of course been negative articles written about people who have overexposed their identity on the Internet. Discretion here I think is the key. If you are publishing something personal about yourself to a live site, don’t post things that employers may be able to either misinterpret or perceive as negative.

With all that being said, I think everyone should have an online portfolio of their work because you just don’t know when someone will find it interesting and offer you a job - and showing some degree of web savvy is always a step in the right direction. Additionally I think it’s always worthwhile getting your own domain name (ie. somename.com). This differentiates your email address from every other Hotmail or Gmail loving candidate out there, and with a catchy domain; it may be enough to help make you stand out from the crowd. To me it just looks more professional. When people hand me their personal business cards with an @gmail.com address on it, I just have to laugh quietly to myself. Obviously they don’t value themselves enough to spend $15 a year on a proper email address.

So to summarize:

1. Get your own domain name
2. Build your own site or get your own blog
3. Only post things that will be an aide to your online identity

Well here I am sitting in Seattle airport just about to leave for Boston to attend An Event Apart 2007, which is an intensive 2–day web design and development conference. I'm awaiting the conference with some anticipation as I've been contemplating for weeks what the highlights of the conference might be. The opportunity to mix with some of the web's greatest designers is reason enough to be excited. I've picked out Interface Design Juggling with Dan Cederholm and Good vs. Great Design with Cameron Moll to be my favorite picks thus far from the topics presented. I am prepared to be surprised though as many of the topics covered are going to be great additions to the knowledge arsenal here at Simple Station Inc.

I'm hoping to cover as much of the event as possible in the journal, though I'm not 100% sure how I'll recharge my laptop during the conference. Worst come to worst there may be a few days of lag between the conference and the time when I publish my notes.

Boarding time! Boston and An Event Apart 2007 await me.

I just spotted the new Philips: Drag & Draw Technology on Youtube today. A very interesting laser based technology that will allow kids to draw all they want on a wall, then point their magic wand at their drawing and watch as it comes to life. The best part is that unlike pencils or pens, these drawings won't require you to paint over them.

I wonder if there are any practical business applications for a tool like this. I could see it being an efficient way to flowchart thoughts in a meeting if it was articulate enough – say goodbye to that whiteboard and eraser. Interesting.

Following the tradition of spotting simple websites that I love, Virb was announced this weekend.

Virb puts all of the things that make you you — photos, videos, blogs — in one place. So you can find friends (and friends can find you).

Apparently it only takes 30 seconds to get started and signed up for an account too!

After taking a look through the site. I was really struck by the sheer beauty of it. The typography is great and I love the media player. Not only does this new social networking site boast some great features, but it also sports much cleaner code than its competitor myspace.com. One of my pet peeves with myspace is that is has introduced a whole new level of terrible coding practice and bloat to the internet. Virb certainly has the potential of cleaning this up.

Virb's Media Player

Lately I've been thinking about what makes good and bad design. I always strive for and embrace simplicity in my design style. Frustrated by years of navigating poor web sites I have realized that the net should be about finding information, second it should be about good design. The two components can work harmoniously, but it takes a good designer to pull it off.

Recently Joshua Porter wrote a great article on 5 principles to design by. He states:

The litmus test. When people enjoy Art, they say "I like that". When people enjoy Design, they say "That works well". This is not by accident. Good Design is something that works well.

(more...)

After just pouring through Cameron Moll's blog this morning, I came upon this tidbit of wisdom that I just couldn't help but pass on. Graphic designers, photographers, web-designers — enjoy!

Cameron Moll:

Fear is the Adolf Hitler of creativity killers. It is responsible for supressing and destroying more brilliant ideas than all of the other creativity killers combined. It is a core ingredient of the most potent creative poisons. Fear limits the volume and dilutes the quality of the ideas we generate. It radically constricts the judgement of creative directors, bosses and clients.

Kodzis identifies top creativity killers, some of which include casting premature judgement upon ideas in their infancy, establishing unrealistic deadlines, dealing with managers whose moods change with every iteration, committing creative suicide through lack of discipline, and doing more of the same.

Whenever I hear someone utter the rationale "...because we've always done it that way," I am forced to suppress the urge to throttle them. For creative professionals, it is both insult and injury wrapped in one backward reaching statement. The essence of creativity is the pursuit of something different. The antithesis of creativity is to keep doing what has always been done.

I'm reminded of Greg Storey's confession upon turning thirty-five:
There is no secret sauce to what I have done with one exception, I never stop working on my confidence.
Hear hear, brother. In my book, there's no better tranquilizer for fear than confidence.