Posts Tagged ‘software’

Summer of software: Through the intern’s eyes

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

Hello, faithful readers, it’s Jeffrey Lane. I graduated in June from a small high school in Oakland, CA and am headed down to UC San Diego in just a few weeks to begin the next phase of my life. I spent my summer working full-time for Experience in Software, makers of Project KickStart. As an intern at a smaller company like ours, I was something of a jack-of-all-trades. Perhaps you spoke to me on the phone, it’s very possible that you read a promotional email I helped write and just maybe, you’ll soon be benefiting from an idea or two of mine. I think I’ll just keep that one vague for the time being.

I’ve had a couple of jobs before, but this is the first desk job for me. Though I had visited my mom’s office in San Francisco a few times, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this office, given that it was a much smaller company in Berkeley. Would I be a world of suits and ties, corporate lingo and TPS reports? To make a long story short, I wasn’t. Here I sit, clad in jeans and a sweatshirt from my high school lacrosse team, and I have never been lectured about any missing cover sheets. (more…)

Feeling the pinch? Would a Kick help?

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

It’s no secret that many individuals and business are feeling the economic strain of a weak US economy. As a result, companies have begun to reexamine their business processes with a critical eye on efficiency. In a world of deflating property values, a weak dollar and $4 per gallon gas (yes, Europe, we know you think that’s next to free), companies are definitely counting the pennies.

When a company’s financial resources decrease, other tangible and intangible resources seem to dwindle as well. The workforce may become smaller. Employees might be more isolated than usual. The company may be too focused on stopping the monetary bleeding to plan for the future. (more…)