Ed Gutman

This month marks four-year anniversary of the launch of Youtube. In that four years, it has managed to hold down the crown of online video traffic. With sites like Vimeo and Hulu slowly growing, those days may be numbered.

If you’ve used Youtube long enough, you’re very familiar with the interface (which has been oft copied by sites like Break and Dailymotion), but lately it’s been showing it’s age. In an industry where looks are everything, it’s not exactly pretty. Check out this video on both Youtube and Vimeo:

Where the Hell is Matt? (Youtube)
Where the Hell is Matt? (Vimeo)

Off the bat, Vimeo has a more pleasing user interface. Plus, there’s even an official full HD download link (which the uploader can turn on and off). Note that the Youtube version just added HD options while Vimeo had it when the video was originally posted 8 months ago. Lastly, the Vimeo ads aren’t embedded in the video content, instead opting for a slot on the side. In general, I’ve found the ads to be just as relevant on Vimeo as they are on Youtube, albeit slightly more compelling and far less obtrusive. Based on all of that, which site would you rather watch this video on?

You may have also recently seen the new feature of annotations on Youtube videos. If you’ve ever wondered how they were going to spam video, here it is. I can’t count how many times I’ve cringed when one of those text blocks came up telling to visit x website. It’s distracting and cheesy looking, and while it’s a novel idea in theory, it has to go (I believe they’re may be an option to turn it off, although I haven’t figured it out yet).

Sure, Youtube has started adding HD content in the last month. Unfortunately, they’re also planning on making it impossible for anyone to download content off the site (all those third party download sites will be rendered useless). This may be a move appease major studios. But, it really makes no difference when you’ve automatically capped the video length to ten minutes. Who knows how much potential content they missed out on by placing this restriction?

Outside of the personal video market, Hulu has nailed downed the commercial content segment. With a slicker, faster interface, more quality content and a delivery system that can bring it to your television via Xbox Live or Roku, it’s light year’s ahead of anything Youtube’s got. To make matters worse, they seem to have figured out how to monetize their content with ads, without compromising quality.

While neither Vimeo or Hulu is close to the 70 million viewers on Youtube has, it really won’t matter unless the folks at Google can figure out a better long term plan. The migration from television to online video is accelerating, and with that more options are becoming available. As long as it has the content it has now, Youtube will continue to be relevant. But with that, the end of it’s reign as the go to video portal of choice is may be coming. And I couldn’t be happier.

The state of online job applications blow. It’s archaic at best. In this new era of social networking, tagging, and semantic search, most job/employee finder apps can do little more that handle a few web forms, search, and collect a Word doc. Worst of all, it’s not standardized. One company’s job application mess can differ from another’s in any number of ways.

Take for example the following job search web page from a fairly high profile tech company.

Look familiar? It should if you’ve been looking for a job long enough. Just about every tech company uses a similar (or the same) template, which design and function-wise, is very 2001: lots of HTML and some rudimentary JavaScript. This particular app is run through Hire.com (which is now Authoria). Comparable options are available through Microsoft or any number of sites, such as this. As a potential job seeker, it’s a clunky, repetitive interface, which only encourages candidates to merely upload the same resume (and maybe a cover letter if they feel like it) to multiple jobs and move on.

Some may argue this is all that is necessary; let the recruiting software and HR do the rest of the work. I would argue that it loses good candidates more often than not (which I’ll get into later).

There is hope: sites like JobScore, LinkedIn, eMurse, and to an extent, Craigslist, provide a new way of bringing potential employees and employers together. But alone, they aren’t an optimal solution. New rough economic times call for new technology: this series of posts will formulate what I think a newer, better way of finding a job should look like.

courtesy Brent Keane

Those who know me know that I have this hobby, Lindy Hop (swing dancing), that I’m quite passionate about. I’ve done it longer than any other hobby I’ve had, which is standing at almost four years today. While I thank a lot of people for helping me along the way, Carla Heiney has been one of my biggest influences and supporters.

When I started dancing, I remembered endlessly watching clips of other popular dancers, such as Nick Williams, or Minn and Corinna. But, there was one dancer that I watched more than others; I remember hoping that I’d get to dance with her at least once someday. At a dance event in Los Angeles, after daring myself and a friend to draw up the courage to ask her to, I finally did. Much of what I remember was a relentless focus on trying not to eat the floor, but despite that, everything she did was beautifully effortless. That dance sticks with me today, even when we dance now.

After moving up to the Bay Area, as I became more at home in this scene, I got to know her, got to dance with her, and most importantly of all, got to be friends with her. To my good fortune and amazement, I get the privilege to teach with and learn from Carla today. A part of me still looks at her the same way that young dancer did all those years ago.

So happy birthday Carla. You still inspire me today.

courtesy Jesse Niou

Thanks for being there for me when I needed it, now more than ever. And, thanks for letting me share my wackiness and goofiness with you. I think it technically qualifies as being crazy (as opposed to goofy) when you’re single.

Happy Valentime’s Day!

Love,

Eddie

You posted a job opening for a CrunchBase Junior Analyst. I really really really want that job. No, seriously, I want it. But why should you hire me? Excellent question, glad I asked.

Let us start with a list:

• Omnipresence. There are rumors that I live on the internet. These rumors are true. I may have a physical body somewhere, doing God knows what, but for all intensive purposes, my spiritual presence is on the web. I might even consider transferring my collective consciousness over to the TechCrunch servers if you were to hire me.
• Cheap. I will take that job for peanuts. Honestly. If you guys (and gals) paid me just more than my unemployment, I would take it. Heck, I’d pay you a finder’s fee.
• Connectitude. I have worked for three of the companies on CrunchBase. That’s right, three!
• Knowledge. I know a thing or two. Or three.
• Name dropping. Michael Arrington. Sarah Lacy. Erick Schonfeld. Now I don’t personally know these people, but I can drop their names on command.
• Alpha(beta). I don’t take ‘beans’ from anyone. So those interns should be afraid. Very afraid. But only a few times a year. 90% of the time I’ll be their best friend.

So seriously, you should pick up your iPhones, G1s, Crackberrys and get to emailing me for a good time to interview (which is technically anytime, since I live on the internet). You can reach me at ed@edgutman.com

Many worded resume can be found here: PDF

Sincerely,

Ed “Hired” Gutman

I’m coming up on nearly four months of unemployment and the job search has been pretty dry. I must admit I’ve been a bit picky; I’ve enjoyed my last couple of jobs and would like my next job to be just as enjoyable.

So far, my tally is:

• Facebook: 5 phone interviews, 1 onsite.
• Blackbag Technologies: ∞ phone interviews, 2.5 onsites.
• Plaxo: 2 phone interviews, 1 onsite.
• Netflix: 2 phone interviews.
• Loopt: 1 onsite.
• UC Santa Cruz: 1 phone interview, 1 onsite
• FBI: 1 passing exam, 1 pending interview.
• Approximately 10-20 random phone interviews
• Applied for over 200 jobs

I did the math: for those 200 or so jobs I’ve applied for, 3% got me an onsite interview. My “successes” month-to-month vary, due to the fact any luck I have that month is based on jobs I applied to the month before. Most of the interviews I’ve had with these companies went well (at least from my point of view), but I haven’t really been able to judge how successful they actually were (obviously not ultimately successful, otherwise I’d be working right now).

I’ve been vigorously trying to get interviews at Apple, Adobe, and IDEO as well, but to no avail. Facebook (my 1st choice) has actually been the most responsive, but they appear to be in a hiring freeze; there’s one role that looks good for me opening next quarter, but I would preferably want a job before then.

While applying at these companies has worked well, I’m also finding that posting ads on Facebook has gotten some positive attention. It’s relatively inexpensive and can be sharply targeted to specific companies or locations.

Most of the companies I want to work for are in tech, be it offline or online. However, I’m definitely open to working for a nonprofit. If I could combine the two, that would be great. I’m seriously thinking about going back to school (economics, stats), but pretty sure I don’t have the money for that right now. Teaching (computers, math, or science) may also be a good option if I can get it. Lastly, the FBI gig is still an ongoing process.

I’ve completely over-analyzed this (this is the condensed version; I have graphs as well). Blerg.

I get this question a lot.

I usually give a pretty simple answer: “It’s a very easy to use micro blogging service.” Most of the time people will respond by pointing out that Facebook does the same thing with status updates, albeit in a larger, stalk-ier, complex package (I would like to point out that it seems quite a few people who use Twitter are not avid Facebook users).

It’s nearly inevitable that Twitter’s the next big thing: check out this graph on Quantcast. They average almost 4.1 million people users per month in the US alone. It’s a meme in pop culture. Heck, I’ve seen it mentioned on the news twice in the last week. Twitter has tipped. And most of you too, will use it eventually if you’re not already.

Much of it’s main appeal is in its sheer simplicity and structure. In a way, it’s like reading a newspaper for the headlines, only in this case it’s your friend’s headlines. And with the endless stream of Twitter apps (I use Tweetie and TwitterBar) in all flavors of OS plus an open API, it’s integration into everyday life has become more prevalent.

Now if they could only figure out how to keep the thing running more consistently (it’s down as I type this) and figure out how to make some money, they’d be set.

So those of you who know me know at one point I used to work for Google. You probably know that I quit Google as well. I read this awhile back on Techcrunch story, and figured I’d add my own experience.

The first phone call I received from the recruiter was curious but standard: background info, et cetera, et cetera. The recruiter didn’t really elaborate what the job he was polling me for was but did send me a (ridiculously basic) worksheet to test my familiarity with some basic web concepts. All I knew is was that it would be an analyst position, which seemed interesting to me. At this point, I’m not very familiar with the aura of the interview process revolving Google, so I go with it. After I send it back, I’m called asking if I’d be interested in interviewing and, naturally, I say yes. At this point, I still don’t know what the job is exactly.

The interviews themselves were pretty straightforward; as I’m driving back home to San Luis Obispo from Mountain View, I get a phone call saying I’ve been offered a job. One catch though, it was a contractor position. Being naive, dazzled by the pretty lights, and unfamiliar with the work world, I dropped my thesis work and took it happily.

The work was far from challenging. It was an exercise in ad nauseum tedium. I have no doubt that at some point the job will be rendered useless by Google’s gains in automation. Nevertheless, this was not what I signed up for. What was so crazy was that my coworkers on that team were a collection of very intelligent college grads. Many were engineers, mathematicians, artists, teachers; all very accomplished, relegated to menial tasks. The promise of full time employment, graduating from our contractor status, kept most of us in check. In essence, this process was a “boot camp”, meant to make Google soldiers out of us.

My manager demanded loyalty and those that succeeded fell in rank and file. No questions asked, do as your told, and you have a job. The management team in general was very secretive and did not elaborate as to the purpose of many of the tasks we worked on. It was when I started asking questions that the problems started to arise. After lots of smoke and mirrors and several interviews later (for the full time position), I pulled out to take a full time job at Yahoo.

There were some great things that happened at Google. That feeling that you were around greatness and working for a product that I deeply believed in was awesome. But, you do pay a price.

It’s funny, I ended up leaving Google because I didn’t believe in the job, but I believed in the company. I left Yahoo because I believed in the job, but was starting to doubt the company.