Work : iCan Services

For many of us, we can recall a specific starting point in our professional careers. This would be it for me.

It was already summer and my finals had just completed the previous week or two. I can only vaguely remember the Jobtrack.com posting for this job, but they were looking for students with a background in HTML, Javascript, Photoshop, and ASP. I took one look and thought that I matched their desired profile, except for this ASP business. I emailed the contact with a link to the third personal website that I had built at this time which had a bit of (in retrospect) crappy artwork.

Luckily for me, I was contacted about an interview! I was so excited; my first interview! The day before, I drove all the ways down there just to make sure that I would be on time. I even went to Border's and read an introductory chapter on ASP. At that time, all I knew was that it allowed developers to create "dynamic webpages", whatever that meant.

The day of the interview, I was excited and nervous to say the least. I desperately wanted a meaningful job and I wasn't sure that I qualified for this position as I had no experience with this ASP business. When I arrived, I was introduced to Ezra Hedaya - the president of iCan, Hoon Lee - the lead (and only) developer, Marc Schaad - the graphic designer, and Mr. B - "VP" of operations if you will. It was a small crew (recall that this was still the Era of the Starups).

iCan's primary product was a "portal-like" application which was geared towards the older (55+) adult market. Captain saw this as an untapped market in terms of Internet content and had created the beginnings of an application that was geared towards ease of use.

The actual interview is a vague memory now, but bits and pieces do remain. I remember sitting first with the Captain, as we referred to Ezra, and then with both Ezra and Hoon. It was clear that I was a rookie. My year of Java and C/C++ was useless in terms of this fandangled ASP technology; I had no idea what it was, or what it really did. Even on the topics of Javascript, I admitted that I didn't know how to write it yet (the ImageReady output was very difficult to decipher for a rookie), but that I understood how to read it and that I was a fast learner.

It was a tough interview, I really didn't think they were going to hire me. But there was something about me that Captain must have liked. I think it was my eagerness, my artwork, and my website. He was initially drawn to my (again, in retrospect, crappy) artwork. And even though he already had a seasoned graphic designer on hand, and I really didn't know ASP, he decided to hire me. I remember him stating that he'd find some use for me.

And so it began. I worked on quite a variety of tasks while at iCan. I did graphics, HTML/DHTML, experimented with Javascript, did some ASP and rudimentary database work (all new to me), and in the end, right before I left, Captain even put me in charge of reorganizing their server file structure (it was a total mess). I would say that the majority of my efforts, as I recall them now, were focused on Javascript and trying to create the controlled environment that Captain wanted. I remember working 10-12 hour days because it was fun, because it was challenging, and because they had DSL :)

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. I had a blast while I was there; we were all a very close-knit bunch and everyone there had a great spirit. My sister even had a two week stint there helping Captain produce content. I really, really enjoyed working in a small, creative unit like this. Captain even treated us to lunch each day (usually something Italian from Luigi's, a local Italian eatery/pizzaria). I was sad to go, I really wanted to stay, but there was just no way that I could keep up the commute as I could not have a car on campus. Utlimately, I am extremely grateful to Captain for giving me a chance, and for taking a chance on me.