Time keeps on slipping, slipping, into the future

Today is the last day of February and March begins tomorrow. March is followed by April, which is followed by May. May will mark the one year anniversary of my graduation from the MBA program.

 

This is …. pretty frightening. I was looking at my Outlook calendar last week to plan out my March and I had trouble believing that I have been out of school for that long, that I have yet to find a job, and that I cannot recall what I have been doing all this time.

 

There is a reason why I have not blogged about this topic in over a month. It is not that I never think about my job search. On the contrary, I think about it all the time. I was talking to someone about two weeks ago and I politely asked him to stop asking me about the job search. I told him that there is not a five minute block of time in my waking hours that it does not cross my mind that I am unemployed, that I entertain all sorts of scenarios about how this situation can possibly resolve itself, and hearing comments such as “if you don’t find a job by the time the MBA Class of 2008 graduates, you will really be screwed” does not help.

 

Since returning to North Carolina, every week has been an emotional roller coaster where my mood changes several times a week, sometimes even on the same day. There are times when I feel like I am a pretty smart guy and can easily find a way out of this and then there are other times when I feel hopeless and don’t see how this journey that I embarked on almost three years ago can possibly have a happy ending. When my mind is idling, it tends to think about things that make me angry or scared. In response, I force myself to do job search stuff even on the weekends just to keep my mind focused on something other than my situation.

 

One thing that is encouraging is that the interviews are still coming. Two weeks ago I had phone interviews with two companies, one is for a director (yes, director level) of product marketing position at a small technology firm in DC and the other is for a product marketing manager position for a company in Virginia that makes educational software. I thought both interviews went pretty well. One interviewer has responded telling me that while he likes what I said during the interview, he wants someone with more marketing experience. In other words, it wasn’t that I said something wrong, it was on what I didn’t say.

 

I really don’t know what there is more that I can do except to keep looking and to consider looking for positions that I hadn’t considered before. Last week I applied for a business development position for a well known non-profit organization in China. next week I have two phone interviews – one is for a Senior Business Analyst position at an insurance company and the other is for a Product Manager position at a computer hardware company. These position are polar opposites in terms of what I want to do. The Product Manager position is ideally what I want to do where the Senior Business Analyst is probably the “lowest” I will accept, not because there is something wrong with the company or position, but because it is quite far from what I ideally wish to do. One of the interviewers next week will be talking to me from an office within one mile from my house while the other will be in a foreign country.

 

As bad as things may look, there are a couple of things in my life that I am extremely thankful for. First and foremost is my Christian faith. I have written on this blog that religious faith is not be based upon whether we like the events that transpire in our lives. Rather, it is when the individual continues to believe in spite of hardship and setbacks that is the stronger testament of faith. Throughout the past couple of years I have fervently prayed for three things. I prayed for God’s will over my life to prevail, I pray for Him to put me in situations where I can be of most use to Him, and I pray for circumstances where my faith will be strengthened. And I have to believe that God is continuing to look over me and will open the appropriate doors. In spite of my circumstances, I cannot say that God hasnot been listening to and answering my prayers. Over the past month, there have been several instances of good things happening to me at exactly the right appropriate times that are beyond what I can explain as mere coincidences. In addition, I recognize this as an opportunity for me to test my faith and years from now, I want to be able to say that when times looked tough, I continued to not only hold onto my faith but relied on it for strength.

 

Several other things have helped keep me from emotionally going “off the rail.” I have a friend in California whom I have been calling late at night when my mind winds down and automatically starts to entertain various nightmare scenarios (it helps to have friends in several time zones to the west of you). It’s reassuring just to hear her voice telling me about my attributes and saying that things are going to be okay. And this blog has helped me too. I have gone over various entries to remind myself of some of the lessons I have learned (here, here, and here) during business school and why I made the decisions that I have made.

 

As I looked at the calendar today it dawned on me that today’s the leap day. It’s nice to have an extra day to get things done. If only there is a way God can give me an extra month, or better yet, the past nine months back.

Update on layoff rumors at local technology firm

Two weeks ago I reported on layoff rumors concerning a local technology firm. The rumor has been confirmed.

 

“DURHAM, N.C. – Motricity, a fast-growing global provider of mobile content applications for telecommunications providers, is preparing to lay off many of its 650 employees, sources tell WRAL Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com.

 

Motricity declined to comment on the report.

 

However, multiple sources said layoffs could affect 200 or more people. Motricity currently has 350 employees in Durham.

 

Sources also said that Motricity is considering moving its headquarters out of Durham to Bellevue, Wash.

 

The moves are part of a consolidation of two companies – Motricity and the mobile information business unit of InfoSpace, which Motricity acquired for $135 million in October. The deal closed in January. The InfoSpace group is based in Washington.”

 

To be exactly accurate, the rumors I reported were three-fold – that it would cut 200 of its 350 employees, that its businessmodel is not working, and that it is going under. Only the first part has been confirmed so far. I will keep you updated if I hear anything on the other two.

Bringing the iPhone to the masses

Yesterday’s New York Times had an article about the underground market the iPhone in China. It illustrates two unique challenges of marketing a popular technology product.

 

The first is that if your product is a hit, if you don’t have a distribution channel to sell your product in other countries, a channel will be created for you and often at your expense. Of the 3.7 million phones Apple sold in 2007, only 2.3 million have been activated. The remainder phones are ending up abroad where they are being unlocked and used on local cell phone networks, against Apple’s wishes. The article interviewed one 22 year old internet professional who is using one such phone.

 

“He and other people here often pay $450 to $600 to get a phone that sells for $400 in the United States. But they are happy.

 

“This is even better than I thought it would be,” he said, toying with his iPhone at an upscale coffee shop. “This is definitely one of the great inventions of this century.””

 

Even though the sale of these iPhones contributes to Apple’s revenue, this is bad for Apple because it forfeits receiving the monthly royalty payments from the cell phone company over the life of the phones.

 

The second challenge is dealing with knockoffs.

 

“The copycat models are another possible threat to Apple. Not long after the iPhone was released, research and development teams in China were taking it apart, trying to copy or steal the design and software for use in knockoffs.

 

Some people who have used the clones saythey are sophisticated and have many functions that mimic the iPhone.

 

In Shanghai, television advertisements market the Ai Feng, a phone with a name that sounds like iPhone but in Chinese translates roughly as the Crazy Love. That phone sells for about $125.”

 

When I was in Hong Kong last year, I went to Temple Street and saw that some of the street vendors had what looked from far away like iPods. Except when you get up close you realized they lacked the signature iPod click wheel.

 

Speaking of my trip last year, if I had known there was such a market for the iPhone in China, I would have bought a couple with me and then stood on a street corner in Shanghai's Xiantiandi tourist district and tried to sell as many as I could. With my profit, I could have loaded up my actual iPod with songs purchased from the iTunes store.

“The Big Mo” running out of steam

One of the things that I am very aware of as I go through this job search is that, with the technology field being what it is, very oftentimes a “hot” company today can quickly run out of momentum and become a dog tomorrow.  And with the economy becoming reminiscent of 2001, I ambeginning to wonder if maybe the big momentum that has been powering some of technology companies will run out of steam.

 

There is a local company that I am interested in working for. It provides content and applications for mobile devices and is considered one of the more exciting local technology employers. I remember reading back in the fall that the company was considering going public and the initial public offering may make some of its employees pretty well off.  

 

Recently a friend gave me some news about this company. He heard from his sources that the business model is not working, the company is going under, and plans to layoff 200 of its 350 employees.

 

I have not seen any mention of this anywhere on the internets anywhere but I want to mention it here and if this comes into fruition, I will blog about it again. If I hear nothing, we will chalk it up as one of the many predictions I have made/reported on this blog that have gone nowhere.

Where have you gone, Jack Bauer, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you?

I blogged in November that the January premier of Season 7 of 24 would be delayed due to the Hollywood writers strike. Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that there have been other problems behind the scenes which may keep the new season from premiering until as late as 2009.

“Ratings dropped by a third over the course of last year's sixth season. Producers would later experience trouble casting roles, once some of the most desirable in television, because the actors disapproved of the show's depiction of torture. "The fear and wish-fulfillment the show represented after 9/11 ended up boomeranging against us," says the show's head writer, Howard Gordon. "We were suddenly facing a blowback from current events."

Last spring, Fox executives asked producers to come up with a plan for what to do with their onetime crown jewel. The producers decided to take the radical -- and rarely attempted -- step of reinventing the show. While some fans complained "24" had grown too formulaic, the producers also grudgingly saw the importance of wrestling the show from its ties to an unpopular conflict.

The result: "24" is nowhere to be found on the TV schedule. For weeks the show's producers tried to reconcile the show's premise with the new public mood. Should Jack atone for his sins? Is Jack bad? The script rewrites and philosophical crises left the show so far behind schedule that when the Hollywood writers went on strike in November, Fox had no choice but to delay its premiere date. The show could premiere this summer, next fall or as late as January 2009.”

I like 24 because it gives a real life depiction of the domestic war on terror. It illustrates the craftiness of our enemy and the decisions the real life Jack Bauers face to save lives and foil terrorist plots. Jack makes personal sacrifices (as depicted on the show) by basing decisions on protecting his nation rather than protecting his personal interests. Instead of recoiling at his torture of informants, I rejoice at seeing an American hero who works hard to save the lives of Americans, many of whom he will never meet, will never know of his actions, and if they were to become informed of his actions will probably demand that he be tried before a Congressional committee.

That, my dear readers, is why I watch and follow the show. And I will continue to do so as long as Jack continues to be Jack.