On Feb 20, 2008, at 12:05 PM, dave malouf wrote:

> 2) Like what David Shaw said. You've gotta be nutz, coocoo, and just
> insane to leave anyplace including NYC and move to SF unless you were
> guaranteed something between $150k-$200k, and HUGE relocation package
> upwards of $20-$30k. Having done relocates to both coasts I'm pretty
> familiar with what it takes at this point.

While I understand the problem with the cost of living here, I think  
this is a bit extreme and may be overstating the issue a little bit.   
Not to take away from the very real issue of what the cost of living  
here is and how it puts a strain on people, but it certainly doesn't  
require earning $150K to $200K a year.


On Feb 20, 2008, at 12:05 PM, dave malouf wrote:

> 3) The value of SV as a nexus is being lost due to well what SV  
> does ... create technological solutions that mitigate the need for  
> centralized workforces. 8-)


Not sure I agree with this. I'm still shocked and amazed the amount  
of people or companies I get requests from to work on some pretty  
interesting projects. And in fact, Involution has gotten a good  
number of those projects specifically because our studio location is  
3 miles from Apple in Cupertino, 5 miles from Google in Mountain  
View, 2 miles from Yahoo! here in Sunnyvale, 10 miles from Adobe in  
San Jose, right around the corner from Intel in Santa Clara, and a  
short drive away from nearly every single internet, web or new  
technology startup... you get the picture.

If we weren't here, we wouldn't be getting any of these projects.  
While I know there's great work being done elsewhere, I still can't  
imagine getting all the latest projects , or at least the latest kind  
of projects we work on, without being here in Silicon Valley.


On Feb 20, 2008, at 11:40 AM, W Evans wrote:
> And I would love to blame the quality of the job posting sites.  
> There search engines are terrible. Just now, I search in   
> Washington DC....
>
> Information Architect (86 results - only 3 were for IA)
> Interaction Designer (41 results, only 1 for IxD)
> Interface Designer (10 results, only one for ID)
>
> Some of the things that come back in results are amazing. Search  
> for IA and get senior java architect as a high ranked result?

This gets back to semantics which no one on this board likes to  
discuss. The reason job titles, job descriptions and skills/craft  
descriptions are so important is precisely because people in HR  
simply cannot be expected to know every single in and out of what a  
field like ours does. I remember how much work I had to do with the  
many different HR people I've worked with, and they have a ton on  
their plates as it is.

The fact our field doesn't hunker down and help them with the problem  
of normalizing job titles, job descriptions and skills/craft  
requirements is our fault, not theirs.

-----

Now that we have some thoughts on it, is there a solution, either for  
Silicon Valley or in general to how to better connect designers out  
in the world with the various jobs that are cropping up everywhere?  
And part of that solution I think needs to fin a way to map designers  
to job that are within their skill sets, but also provide growth  
paths. I find most Job sites, free boards or paid, to be sorely lacking.

And yes, for those of you that have emailed me privately, please feel  
free to send me resumes/links to portfolios if you are interested in  
Involution or working/moving to in Silicon Valley to design software,  
web or other technology type products. You know my deal... I need  
designers who want to own both the aesthetic and interaction design  
on their projects, and who are willing to jump whole hog into  
prototyping at a code level with their own two hands whenever  
necessary, although we have awesome developers here to help in that  
respect. We currently have 2 to 3 openings for designers that need to  
be filled, and I've got way too many companies asking me to help them  
even more. It's a good problem to have I guess, but one I wish was  
not recurring year over year. I seem to have to deal with this every  
two to three years and it frustrates me. I'm interested as both a  
business owner and a designer how to better handle this sort of  
problem in the future since it seems to be systemic at some level.

-- 
Andrei Herasimchuk

Principal, Involution Studios
innovating the digital world

e. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
c. +1 408 306 6422


________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help

Reply via email to