I'm Director of Engineering & Product at Close. I'm interested in startups, programming, UX, SaaS, and building great web products. More about me.
I’m was recently offered and accepted an internship at Google for the summer. I’m extremely excited about this opportunity as I’ll be working at the company which has been having such an incredible amount of impact on the web. I’m looking forward to being around and learning from the very talented people that work there.
I just got back from another trip to the Bay Area in California, where Yahoo! generously flew me out to be a part of their Time Capsule Camp event…
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Look mom, I’m famous… the Yodel Anecdotal (Yahoo’s Corporate Blog) released a podcast on social networking that features me and 6 other interns discussing current trends in social networking. Go check it out.
I have officially completed my internship with Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, CA for the summer and am back home in beautiful Jacksonville, FL. Overall I had an incredible experience and learned a ton. My eyes were opened to the large amount of tech start-ups and large companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. I got to see the office buildings of Yahoo!, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, eBay, Adobe, Altera, McAffee, WebEx, Facebook, Flock, and Meebo. You just can’t do that anywhere else. I always knew there was a Silicon Valley, but living in the area and rubbing shoulders with so many talented people in one area was a new experience for me.
Yahoo! launched its corporate blog entitled the Yodel Anecdotal. I have to admit, it’s a good name, way better than the one I suggested. Paul and Doreen (other Y! interns) have been working hard on it, so I’m sure they’re happy they get to start the actually blogging now. I also have had the privilege of being included in some upcoming content for the blog.
Some exciting news for front-end developers today: The Yahoo! Developer Network has released the newest version of it’s YUI JavaScript libraries today. With extensive documentation, great support for cross-browser coding, and a couple new components, these tools are becoming an even better solution for JavaScript developers. Check out more at the official YUI blog. Here is what’s new:
In late March of this year, when I was at school and was just starting to think “what am I going to do this summer?”, a big opportunity opened up for me almost all at once. I was literally sitting in a Calculus 3 class when my cell phone started buzzing, and an unknown, out of state number appeared. That was nothing new or special, but they left a message, making me more interested. Once I got out of class, I listened, and sure enough, “Hi my name is …, I’m a recruiter from Yahoo! … and we want to talk to you about some positions with the company…”. I really couldn’t believe it at first and I won’t lie, I think I listened to the message at least 4 times. When I got back to a computed and checked my e-mail, sure enough, there was a legitimate email:
My name is … and I’m a recruiter with Yahoo. When you have a free moment I would like to discuss Front End Engineering positions we have open. When might be a good time to speak?
Many phone calls and emails later, I got a (generous) offer letter packet in the mail and accepted it, but it had not been an easy decision. I already had several opportunities to stay in Jacksonville with family and friends, to work on a project of my own, do freelance, or possibly repeat my internship from last year. However, this was an opportunity I decided would be foolish to pass up. A job at the headquarters of the world’s most popular website doing what I love, while gaining great experience for myself, my resume, and picking up a good bit of cash.
PS – thanks to everyone who helped show me that this was an opportunity not to miss. And thanks to Chris Dawson who reminded me to check for cheap Kappa Sigma housing in CA, so that I’m not actually losing money by working out here. Photos of “my crib” are available.
After telling enough people that I’m “going” to put a blog on my site, it’s time to finally do it. And what better time than now.
So here goes. Expect semi-frequent ramblings about my life, web development, college, interning at Yahoo!, entrepreneurship, and anything else I feel like.
