Year In Review 2011 – Pt 4
January 19, 20124. Design Technologist at Control Group - Control Group is a little known company that does big things. They revel in IT Management, Product and Platform Dev, and High Performance Systems. My role is, well, very ITP. I bounce around from design to code to concept. I do a bit of everything. And while it’s been nary two months, it is clear A) how lucky I am and B) it will fulfill all my criteria: a job where I can bring something to the table and also an environment to learn new things.
That’s it for me techwise for 2011. As for 2012, well, I’m getting married, so that will be my new big adventure. Thanks for reading.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentYear In Review 2011 – Pt. 3
January 18, 20123. Speaker at IgniteNYC - Speaking of Keynotes, I gave one of my own. In the last month of TechStars, I was chosen for IgniteNYC, thanks to Kristen Taylor for encouraging me to submit myself as a candidate. I tried to do something out of the ordinary, so my talk was a LA Survival Guide. I spoke in front of ~800 people and it was a blast. It was a thrill to meet Alexis from Reddit/BreadPig and, and…well, all of the speakers that night. Truth be told, I slept on the couch for a wondrous 3 hours up in the TechStars office cuz I had a tight deadline the next day.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentYear in Review 2011 – Pt. 2
January 17, 2012
2. HackStar at TechStars - TechStars is incredible. The people selected for it are incredible. David Tisch is incredible. Adam Rothenberg is incredible. I was brought on as a “HackStar”, which ultimately meant I was a floating designer working with the 12 selected companies. I worked with some ridiculously well-credentialed people and, while I was still working 14-16 hour days again, it was well worth it. I certainly got wrapped up in the startup scene and fell in love with the spirit, the potential to be on the ground floor for something huge. Another thing became very clear. Within this world, I was a visual designer, ui, ux, front end code, etc. Plus, if my Keynote skills were not strong before showing up, they certainly were afterward.
After the Summer program ended, I interviewed with quite a few startups. However, as luck would have it, I ended up at a company I met with before all of TechStars…yea, perhaps tomorrow.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment2011 – A Year in Review
January 16, 2012I haven’t updated this blog much since graduating from ITP, but I promise it’s been a remarkably productive year. I would like to chronicle this year cuz, frankly, I did more in this year than I ever could have imagined. It’s different from when I was an actor in LA. If I had a successful year, most of the percentage points were up to chance. This time, it really did come from hard work, persistence, and a considerably smaller amount of luck.
1. Graduated from ITP – I successfully graduated with a Master’s Degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. My thesis was entitled BookBridge.me – an exploration of literature redistribution utilizing low cost online dissemination and corporate philanthropic marketing opportunities. Former President Clinton spoke at our graduation ceremony. Both of my parents, my stepparents, and my brother came out to New York and saw my final show at ITP. It was remarkable and I was grateful.
I came out of ITP not knowing how to present myself. I spent my months leading up to graduation trying to line myself up with a job. It was a bit of a mess. I didn’t get the first job to because I didn’t have enough coding skills and I seemed more interested in design. The next interview said I didn’t have enough design skills and seemed to be more interested in coding. I believe this is a theme of many in the ITP realm, where you have grown accustomed to a multivarious approach and no one knows where to put you. I was not able to line up a full time job by graduation. However, the ITP community is incredibly supportive. I had new connections for work and advice from colleagues and former professors and alumni even before I graduated. My freelance work was great for me to sink my teeth into the real world before I became a HackStar…which I will talk about tomorrow.
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Urtak Questionaire
August 1, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment