Prototype of a Person

Google do or Google don’t

In my entry dated the 4th of August I mentioned that I had just completed an online assessment for Google, I received a phone call from them on the 14th of August to tell me that I had passed and that they wanted to interview me… over the phone. I had the interview two days later.

The interviewer asked me plenty of basic questions, and a good few of those awkward ones like “Give me an example of a time in your workplace where you worked in a team.” They asked me about my thesis and college course, which I was delighted to talk about. We spoke for almost 30minutes, which I can only assume is a good thing.

But I was nervous as hell. I’ve never had a phone interview before and it was difficult to get into the right frame of mind, usually when you’re going for a job interview there are numerous steps you take before meeting the interviewer. Your journey there, finding the building, waiting for the interviewer - plenty of time that your mind is forced to concentrate on the task at hand. My mind wasn’t focused enough.

I’m not feeling very positive about how it went, especially since they told me they would get back to me in 2 to 3 days, tomorrow it will have been a week ago. When they do get back in contact with me it will be to tell me if I can progress to the next stage - a second phone interview and then, finally, a face-to-face interview. Google are s-l-o-w in their recruitment process. It’s worth the wait because the job sounds really interesting, the money is also considerably more than the basic I’m on at the moment, and, of course, it’s GOOGLE.

Photography: New Hobby?

For years I’ve had an interest in digital photography but have never had the money to purchase my own digital camera, I’ve always borrowed everyone elses or used my god-awful vga camera on my mobile phone. I’ve been thinking that it’s about time that I purchased a digital camera of my own. Of course, when it comes to me and technology, I want the best there is to offer. I had my hopes set on getting a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera - the difference between a DSLR camera and a standard digital camera is the ability to view the picture you are taking via the lens rather than the viewfinder, giving you a truly accurate image. Unfortunately, even a 6 mega pixel DSLR camera is about €600. Which is definitely outside of my budget, for now.

The traditional digital camera market is completely saturated, and I’ve found it rather difficult to choose one (hence why I still don’t own one!) as my own terrible greed for “features” makes it impossible to stay within a reasonable budget. However, upon investigation I found an alternative to a DSLR camera that’s within budget. The Fuji FinePix S5600 Zoom: it’s only 5.1 megapixel, however it boasts 10x opitcal zoom. That’s impressive for €300, and it looks quite cool too. It has some wonderful features, for instance, movie recording in .avi format and the ability to change the lenses (I already have my eye on a fisheye! - ha ha).

The only drawback to buying a Fuji digital camera is the fact that they only take xD-Picture Cards, which is annoying considering I have plenty of MMC cards just lying around from old digital cameras and phones. If I’m to buy this camera I’ll have to purchase at least 1gb, which will set me back another €60, double the price of a standard MMC card. For now I’m not going to make any decisions, until I actually have the money. What fun it is to procrastinate.

Google and MySpace: The good, the bad and the ugly.

Google has paid out $900 million to provide search results and ad listings on MySpace.com (read more…). Basically, this means that MySpace users will be able to use Google Search without having to leave www.myspace.com - entering any term into the search box directs myspace users to a page similar to this one, the Google ads appear in the form of sponsored listings in the search results. This will be of major benefit to Google as an additional source of traffic and ad revenue. Almost 100 million MySpace members will access Google’s search tool from the network, thus viewing ads relevant to their search terms.

Google will also provide contextually targeted placements on MySpace pages. Unlike the search box functionality, this has yet to be implemented. Considering Google’s policies on not administering pop-up advertisements (and the Google Toolbar that actually attempts to blocks pop-ups – emphasis on the attempt, as my own Google Toolbar still allows Dell ads from MySpace to appear) this suggests an end to pop-ups on MySpace.

Personally, I’m hoping it is also an end to “interesting” animated banner and skyscraper ads for online dating websites - for example this monstrosity. Also, ads that are misleading and direct the user to install rogue anti-spyware/adware/malware products. Currently, these ads still exisit on MySpace. Just recently Google has started warning people when search results could potentially lead them to malicious code, if these ads continue to appear on MySpace, perhaps these warning signs should be displayed when your search term is “myspace”.

Opportunities on the Horizon

I just completed an online assessment for Google, the purpose of which was to assess my analytical skills, my Internet and product knowledge as well as my use of language. I applied for the AdSense Coordinator (English) position about a month ago. If my test results are sufficient I am assuming that they will contact me to organise an interview. Fingers crossed! The tests took an hour, and to be honest, it was rather difficult despite 75% of it being multiple choice.

Even if I don’t get an interview, I’m thankful for the opportunity to do the assessment – it’s not like any other test I’ve done before, and I don’t think I was very well prepared for the final section. It was free-form, assessing my ability to express myself in written form. I was asked a question on a topic and asked to write a response (a mini essay). I had 15 minutes to complete this section, and it was the only part where I felt really under pressure.

At least it’s better than an automated response.

So Google is closer on the horizon, but coincidentally so is a post-graduate course. IADT have two new Postgraduate Research Opportunities open for application, both projects involve teenagers and their Internet usage. The two project titles are:

Young People Online: The Alchemy of the Virtual and the Real in the Performance of Identity on Interactive Sites

Cyber Bullying: A New Dimension to an Old Problem

Both are extremely interesting topics, so I’m thinking very hard right now about whether to apply, or to keep to my original plan: to work for awhile, and then go back to college and do a taught masters.

Data Monkey

I’ve spent the entire day in work (so far) counting stock and then entering the stock count into the electronic point of sale computer terminal in the office. This may sound strange, but I actually enjoyed the work, it relaxed me. It was also filled with mini stress and mini victory, where I would think some stock missing and then upon investigation find that it had simply not been returned to the correct section in the stockroom. Although data entry is rather monotonous, I find that monotonous work calms me.

Paperwork, on the other hand - although monotonous, can sometimes really annoy me because it’s seemingly pointless. It must be done manually as well as entered into a database, so you’ve twice the work, just incase one system fails. Paperwork involves keeping a paper copy of everything AND a computer copy of everything. (Because people are still too afraid to rely on computers completely?)

Work has been going really well lately - I’m actually quite glad that I didn’t end up getting that job with O2 Retail. I’m working full-time hours and beginning to find myself comparing my sales against the other staff, it’s a competitive streak in me that I never had as a part-time sales person. I’ve also been promised the occasional Sunday or Saturday off, I’m not too sure when that will begin, but I’m looking forward to it. In retail, you can never be guaranteed to get an entire weekend off, it goes with the territory, but just having one day off would make me happy. For the last 4 years all I’ve done is work practically every weekend. What’s worse though is that my partner is now working an office job, Monday to Friday, so I’ve been seeing less of her than I want to, but now, that is subject to change.