Jump to content
gdf

Life

Recommended Posts

Oh, actually I searched for 'macro bee'. So it's a macro bee, sorry guys.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I hate wasps! Although I've never been stung (that I remember), I can't stand them. Just a couple of days ago I woke up to a wasp landing on my arm. The nerve!

Some months ago I saw a huge one (seemed about thumb sized, I guess that's a hornet) trying to fly in through a window, but I managed to close the window before it got in. After that I had dreams of giant larger-than-human-bees chasing me for a couple of nights.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hah, that's convenient!

I send out a million emails to people on craigslist every day and get no responses. Wooooo.

EDIT: Also the one studio I was looking at (in Oakland, a place I'm told I probably don't actually want to live), turns out I'm too rich for it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Welcome to searching for a place. I remember searching for something 4 hours away from me. I would email them, drive all the way up there, and in one day get both meetings canceled. "Sorry Bro, just rented." Oh, yeah, sure. Thanks.

Hey, it can make you feel better about the rest of your life. Currently I'm sitting here on not enough sleep, waiting in vain for a break in Hollywood and too impatient to even wait for an email back, even though I know from experience this can take days to a week or more for anyone to respond. But I can look back and say, hell, at least I didn't wake up at 6:30am to drive four hours straight just for nothing!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I started putting stuff in my "pls giev me job" portfolio, only to find that the client for my biggest freelance project has already replaced my work with something crappier. This makes me feel terrible about the quality of my work, and also means I can't put it in my portfolio because I don't have the resources (or, I suspect, the right) to host a clone.

Maybe I can use my copious free time to write something better! Except that project took about 300 hours and I need a portfolio now, plus I have no free time because I spend it all applying for jobs and writing reviews.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I started putting stuff in my "pls giev me job" portfolio, only to find that the client for my biggest freelance project has already replaced my work with something crappier.

I'm not sure what you do, so I'm going to assume you're a web designer, and just run with it.

Whenever I visit designer's websites, they always have screenshots of the work they've done previously. Everything on the net gets replaced eventually... do prospective employers really expect to see live, working websites?

If you want to take the screenshot approach, consider using The Wayback Machine to get your internets back. (or heck, this may actually work for hosting a clone too).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm a Jill-of-all trades, in a fairly even split between:

  • UX/UI/IA diva (i.e. architecting, prototyping, wireframing, and designing for usability) with many hours spent OmniGraffling
  • Web developer with (L/M/W)AMP experience, specializing in useless languages like ActionScript and PHP with a little ASP(X), plus a history with C/++ and the obligatory JavaScript/jQuery monkey
  • DBA for mySQL and MS SQL Server, and
  • Technical writer/trainer.

The project was a Flash app pulling from an extensive mySQL DB, so the couple of screenshots I have might not be representative. Worth a try, though, since it's that or spend the next month with Eclipse and the mysql> prompt.

Most of my other work - the sitepaths and prototypes and manuals and such - is NDA-ed or otherwise restricted.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Very cool, that's a lot of trades! My day job is mostly C/C++, but my other job is UX/UI/IA, Obj-C (which I first despised, but now totally love) a lot of C/C++ & OpenGL for Video games.

When I was looking for a job (right out of university, mind you) I had a website with, basically, everything I've ever written (even all the embarrassing shit when I was 10 years old :P). I'm pretty sure none of my prospective employers ever downloaded any of them, but they browsed through, looked at screenshots and asked questions. In my experience, they aren't so much interested in the end result, but they want to know about your process. Finished projects are definitely a plus though.

A portfolio for a dev is more of a starting point for a conversation, rather than a be-all/end-all decision maker (like I suspect it is for a graphic designer).

QUESTION BECAUSE I'M CURIOUS: Your "UX/UI/IA diva" title ... did you go to school for this or was it self-taught?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interaction architecture. It's how you build, say, a form, by carefully placing your divs and your spans such that the whole thing doesn't collapse under its own weight, and wiring up internals like buttons and input fields such that they operate within specification. Especially very tall, complicated forms need highly skilled IA engineers.

Did you know interaction architects are working on the world's tallest form, in Dubai?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, Toblix. You never fail to sound almost plausible.

IA is an abbreviation for Information Architecture. It's the stuff that comes before you fire up OmniGraffle to start prototyping: the task analysis, the workflows, the wayfinding, the classification, structural design and blueprinting before you even start thinking about buttons and spans and divs. The part of UX that benefits most from a librarian.

SiN: I have a M.Sc., which I finished this spring. However, I've been at the coalface of large-scale data system design for 7 years now, and I was doing UX stuff and collecting piles of Donald Norman essays even before I finished undergrad. So... both?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have found and been approved for a swank new pad and will sign the lease tomorrow morning. It is pretty rad and also kind of enormous? I'm excited. Except now I need to furnish that motherfucker. Yes, yes.

As a bonus, I snagged a roommate through work. I hope that doesn't backfire.

As a double bonus, it's two miles away from an old friend who also just moved to San Francisco (well, way south, but within train range of). That wasn't planned. I just took what was first available. Woohoo!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, Toblix. You never fail to sound almost plausible.

He really would be the best televangelist.

My eldest cat, Aurelius, is sick as a dog, and I've been administering shots to alleviate the problem, and the little son of a bitch has been fine with it until today, at which point he tears himself from my grasp and I jam the needle into the fold of skin between my thumb and forefinger and tear it open. Having a pain tolerance of exactly none, today was certainly an enjoyable day, even with copious painkiller. Little bastard isn't getting any fish for a week.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, Toblix. You never fail to sound almost plausible.

MUST YOU RUIN EVERYTHING WITH FACTS?!!

SiN: I have a M.Sc., which I finished this spring. However, I've been at the coalface of large-scale data system design for 7 years now, and I was doing UX stuff and collecting piles of Donald Norman essays even before I finished undergrad. So... both?

Helpful, thanks. I ask because I've got a BCS, and I'm good at/enjoy the comp sci stuff at work, but I'd like to take on more UX work as well. I've done enough design work on the side (and yeah, a lot of essay reading) that I feel comfortable calling myself an interaction designer, but I'm not sure how that translates into a getting-a-real-job scenario.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The reason that happens is that when you hit a moose, usually it turns out to be a polar bear.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I started putting stuff in my "pls giev me job" portfolio, only to find that the client for my biggest freelance project has already replaced my work with something crappier. This makes me feel terrible about the quality of my work, and also means I can't put it in my portfolio because I don't have the resources (or, I suspect, the right) to host a clone.

Maybe I can use my copious free time to write something better! Except that project took about 300 hours and I need a portfolio now, plus I have no free time because I spend it all applying for jobs and writing reviews.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU

Man I can empathise with this. When I was made redundant last year I had to rebuild a whole new portfolio as being happily employed for five years had rendered my previous one beyond obsolete, however as I went through my projects I realised that many of the clients had replaced the work with bafflingly poor alternatives, or even worse tried to edit them themselves to the point of horror.

So for my new portfolio I opted to go through the unbelievable hassle of turning everything from ASP.NET e-commerce to WordPress e-zine into a static, portable build I could use indefinitely. It was worth it because at least I know these'll never just stop working some day, and I don't have to worry about anyone clicking a thumbnail to see the full version of my work only to find a completely different site.

I should clarify, however, that this took fookin' ages. For the sake of efficiency I rarely built my work to be used in a standalone fashion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

They want to censor porn sites in Jordan. They think they morally corrupt youth.

Because god knows having a libido is two steps away from being a gun-wielding psychopath.

And people wonder why I hate it here.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×