Help Niels get a job July 30, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 6 commentsIt’s taken a few iterations, but I finally have a good sense of what I’m looking for. A product marketing manager or product manager position would put me back in the tech world, but on the business/marketing side, which is where I want to be right now.
The problem, with startup jobs in particular, is that they often are unadvertised and positions are commonly filled through word of mouth and references. In other words, my entire job search is really about finding the right person to connect me with the right person who knows someone in the right company.
So if you’re reading this and know someone in the Seattle area that I should meet (startups, venture capitalists, etc), please connect me! Drop me a line at blog AT nielshoven DOT com. I’m doing pretty well on my own, but help is always appreciated.
My background: I come from a technical background (two masters degrees in EE) but have spent the last two years in more marketing/sales/business roles, including running my own public speaking business.
I spent three years in the electrical engineering Ph.D. program at UC Berkeley. I specialized in wireless communication, specifically cognitive radio, and spent a summer at Philips Research.
Following that, I sold and taught high-priced training seminars on interpersonal communication. I managed workshops and teams of instructors across three continents and delivered record-setting sales figures. I branched out on my own and began speaking professionally as well as running my own classes, but eventually realized I missed the rate of learning and growth demanded by being in the technology field.
I took a short-term position at a startup in Seattle, designing a new strategy and business model to more effectively monetize their existing assets and tripling sponsorship revenue within two months. It was a great experience, and now I’m looking for a longer-term challenge.
Your thoughts?Urban untouchables July 27, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 3 commentsWalking back to my car with friends late last night, we passed a disheveled homeless man, also walking along the sidewalk. We were talking pretty loudly, so he must have heard us coming because as we got closer, he stopped, got off the path, and waited for us to pass before continuing on his way.
I’ve had plenty of panhandlers ask me for money, but that never made me feel as bad as having someone simply get out of my way. I think it’s because the act was so dehumanizing, and done without any hesitation. I felt almost like I was in some sort of caste system where the man accepted his inferiority so unquestioningly that he didn’t even want us to go through the trouble of walking around him.
Your thoughts?How your cell phone provider could screw you by making you happy July 21, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 1 comment so farA bunch of my friends just got new iPhones, and one of the perks of switching to a new cell phone provider is that you can change the number of minutes/megabytes/etc in your voice/data/whatever plan anytime within the first 30 days with no penalty.
That’s weak sauce. Here’s the strong stuff.
If I were a cell phone provider, every one of my customers would get unlimited minutes and data for the first month anytime they bought a new cell phone from me. Currently, I’ve got a pretty conservative cell plan and mostly only call during my cheap nights and weekend minutes. I don’t even have internet. But if I spent a month with unlimited daytime minutes and internet access, I’m sure that within 30 days I wouldn’t be able to imagine returning to my current conservative plan.
Give me one month of complete cell phone freedom and you could probably hook me for a plan that costs double my current one. And I bet there’s a lot of people in my same boat.
Your thoughts?Why I didn’t see the end of the Dark Knight movie July 19, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentFun plans yesterday. Happy hour with friends, then an outdoor viewing of Batman Begins at Movies on the Pedestal at Rainier Square, then THE DARK KNIGHT at midnight. I’d been looking forward to the Dark Knight for a while (totally bought into the media hype), and despite my friend Fil’s admonishment that he’d never looked forward to a movie without being disappointed, I was excited about it. We actually had to leave Batman Begins early in order to get to the Dark Knight on time, but we ended up in an almost empty overflow theater and the movie was great. The part I saw, at least.
I was watching the movie, thinking, “this is great, finally a movie I looked forward to that didn’t disappoint me” when, in the middle of the climactic scene between Batman and the Joker, the reel caught fire. Thanks, Pacific Place. The manager said there was nothing he could do, the damage was too extensive, so we got some free movie passes and went home at 3am without seeing how the movie ended.
Aargh!
(Semi-happy ending: I caught the end of the next showing at 10am, saw the conclusion, and even got a refund on my ticket. Not a bad result to very frustrating evening.)
Your thoughts?Best sex education video ever: “Am I Normal? A Story About Male Puberty” July 17, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Links , 2 commentsWhen I was in ninth grade, in health class, I watched the best sex ed video ever. It was called, “Am I Normal?” For the past decade, every now and then I’ve checked the internet and local libraries, trying to get a copy. Now, I’ve finally found it, and you can watch it too! Nothing I can write here can possibly do it justice. Parts 1-3 are below, about 20 minutes total. Click the “more” link to show/hide them, they mess up the formatting of my page.
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