Work : MediaWhiz

In some sense, MediaWhiz was a return to my roots (in terms of development and what not). It had an aura like iCanServices, but with more money :)

After ITT, I was on "break" for about 3 weeks (read: I couldn't find a solid lead). In terms of my job search, I had been frequenting Dice.com, Monster.com, NJ.com, and on, and on. Sadly, I still spent most of my days sitting at home, waiting for The Call. What sucked about this whole process was that it wasn't even like I could go to the gym and do stuff. I always had to be by the phone in case some potential employer called. The biggest hurdle that I faced, at this point, was that I felt that I was ready for a mid-senior level position, but my "on paper experience" said otherwise (lots of employers say that they hire based on experience/merit, but they usually mean paper experience).

On a side note, I have come to realize that in Corporate America, there are really lots of incompetant employees on all levels. I'm sure that there are countless cases like ITT where the emphasis is on business and management, even when it comes to technology. I was hoping, that working in a small business environment like this, that I'd have more control over the technological direction and overall product development.

I had been on a few interviews before MediaWhiz, none of the particularly promising. One interview that stands out in my mind was with BearingPoint, a division of KPMG. It stands out because I think I was rejected in such a blatant manner and I feel totally lied to. All of this, not because of my technical capabilities. First of all, my interviewer, while she was recruiting for a technical position, didn't ask a single technical question. Fine, you don't know any technical questions? Then have a specialist quiz me before you waste your time and mine. Second of all, I feel like she judged me based on what I wore or rather what I did not wear: a suit. Third of all, I think she was a total liar. It's a long trip for me to get into NYC; she had told me that she wanted to get me to the client in the afternoon the very same day after a talk with her manager. Well, her manager was out of town, as it happened, so I had to wait for a phone call from her. But of course I only had my cell phone with me and Maria so kindly guided me out of their offices. So it was kind of a pain in the ass to try to have an interview over my cell phone with all the background noise in NYC. Remember, I had decided to stay in NYC because she wanted to bring me on-site to the client in the afternoon. So after my phone interview with her manager, I called Maria back. No answer. I left a message asking her to call me back...which never happened. Overall, I think BearingPoint runs a P.O.S. operation. I left NYC and never called her back.

Anyways, back to MediaWhiz. My interview with them was on a Friday afternoon. As is customary with Jason, the CEO, he would bring in his two dogs on Fridays. Having had to deal with BearingPoint the previous week, this was a welcome relief. No suits, no ties, laid back, lead developer...this was everything that I could hope for! Well, except for the money. Jason had made a fair case, which I still think is fair, that he would start me on a 1 month 1099 on a trial basis. He offered me, in retrospect, a really crappy rate; but I took it because the bills were starting to catch up. But in any case, I felt that this was an environment where I could really have an impact.

For the most part, it was great working there. The guys and gals were all very friendly and they were a very close bunch. I'd often find myself laughing at Jimmy's one liners and listening in on their jokes. It was just about everything that I could have wanted in a work place. Well, almost everything...

In the end, I chose to leave MediaWhiz for a multitude of reasons:

• I always felt that there was a bit of discord between my personal beliefs and the business itself. I just don't believe in spyware, gathering-selling people's information, and signing people up for spam.
• I think that Jason, the owner of the company, didn't put enough emphasis on the tech side of his business. I didn't really want to end up doing a lot of ASP maintenance. At the time, I was fairly excited about Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services, but it was made clear that maintaining the existing sites were of primary importance.
• The commute....2-3 hours round trip! I don't know how my mom did it for so many years.
• It would have been prohibitively expensive to work this job unless I was making near 6 figures. At a minimum, it cost me $15/day to get in and out of NYC. On top of that, if I bought lunch in NYC, that was another $10-15.

I must say, though, that even with these reasons, the decision to leave MediaWhiz was a tough one to make. For all the reasons that I didn't like working there, there were many others that made me want to stay long term. I really liked the people, the environment, and the possibility of grand success (and being a key part of it as a lead developer). On a different level, in some sense, I felt that the relationship between myself and Louis was similar to the one between Hoon and I at iCanServices; I really enjoyed the fact that Louis was eager to learn and that I was able to help him like Hoon helped me so many years ago. But ultimately, I think that Factiva was a chance encounter and hopefully everything that I hope it will be for me. There's no possible way, short of maybe $120k/year :), that I could have given up this opportunity.

At the time, I was being persued by no less than 4 different companies: MediaWhiz offered me a full time position, Phillips Medical scheduled me for a second round interview, INO Pharmaceuticals had scheduled a first round interview, and of course Factiva...all of this was within the same week! As I said, it was a tough choice, one that could affect the direction of my professional career. Without question, Factiva was the single best interview that I've ever been on in terms of my ability to answer their questions, the people, and the chemistry between myself and the interviewers (but that's a story for another day). At no point during the interview, did I feel uncomfortable and I was able to answer nearly 100% of the technical questions that I was given. I felt that environment at Factiva was one that could foster my skills and bring me to the next level as a developer.

So with that said, only time will tell. Best of luck to ya' MediaWhiz!