Anil’s post about moving from New York to the Bay area for Six Apart prompted me to go take a curious look at the Six Apart jobs listings.
As much as I enjoy being something of a “jack-of-all-trades” in my computer experience — lots of experience across a wide range of fields — the downside is a lack of comprehensive knowledge in nearly any field. It’s a shame, too, because I think I’m about 80% qualified for a job at Six Apart.
Web Designer/Developer
Terms: Salaried Employee with benefits (Medical, Vision, Dental and Vacation)
Hours: Full Time
Onsite: Yes, required. (San Mateo, CA)
Reports to: Lead DesignerDescription:
Six Apart (http://www.sixapart.com/), the company behind the Movable Type and TypePad weblogging systems/services, is growing and we’re looking for a Web Designer/Developer with a combination of strong HTML and CSS abilities and graphic design skills. You will be asked to design and implement elements into existing web applications and websites while maintaining existing UI branding.The ideal candidate will be hardworking, with a willingness to learn and understands the importance of user experience and brand consistency.
An online portfolio of work is required for consideration.
Whoops, there’s one problem — I don’t exactly have an online portfolio. Only two of my current four stylesheets are mine (and one is really no stylesheet), and my only other “live” design work is the remnants of an old design on my DJ Wüdi propaganda page and a circa-1995 frames-based site for Gig’s Music Theatre left online as a memorial.
What You’ll Be Doing:
- Design and implement elements into existing web applications and websites while maintaining existing UI branding
- Work with other members of the Six Apart team to develop solutions to a variety of design-related projects
- Work with the Six Apart team to help evolve Six Apart’s weblogging products based on user experience and market demands
I think I’m good on all of those. I don’t have any “official” design experience, really, but it’s something I’ve tinkered with from time to time in everything from my websites to a few custom FileMaker Pro databases at my old print shop in Anchorage to redesigning an internal Xerox/Microsoft website for the MSCopy printshop (which, unfortunately, had its plug pulled by the Powers That Be when they decided to move to a .NET based solution rather than a Java based solution), and I’ve generally received good remarks on how things end up being put together.
Requirements:
- Strong knowledge of basic design principles: page layout, typography, color theory as it applies to the web
Two out of three I think I’m okay on: page layout (dating back to my days as Layout Editor for my High School yearbook) and typography (again, no real training, but I think I’ve got a decent feel for it — though at the same time, I’m sure I could learn a lot). Color theory, though…as is evidenced by my last few site designs, to paraphrase Henry Ford, I’ll do any color you like, so long as it’s grey. 
- Expert-level experience in coding HTML and CSS is required
Hmm. I’d rate myself as extremely good, possibly even approaching expert with my HTML skills. CSS, though, I’m still very much learning, and it would be foolish for me to try to pass myself off as an expert.
- Mastery and understanding of Web standards a requirement
- Proven design skills for developing web interfaces with a focus on user experience
The first one, I can pretty confidently say I’m solid on. The design skills…as I mentioned above, I’m untrained, but have generally received compliments.
- Thorough knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator, Powerpoint
I’ve been dabbling in Photoshop for years, but that’s it. Illustrator I can muddle my way through simple stuff, but bezier curves have always confused me. PowerPoint I had to fight with when I was working at MSCopy, and was never very fond of it. With all three, though, I’m pretty confident that I could dramatically increase my skill level if I was using them on a regular basis — I just wouldn’t be coming in with the highest level of expertise.
- Excellent organizational and communication skills, works well with a team
- Independent problem solving skills; flexibility to meet tight deadlines
- The ideal candidate will possess excellent attention to detail and a positive attitude and strong interpersonal skills
I have no doubts about my abilities here. Over a decade of customer service in high-volume, quick-turnaround print shops requires all of those points, and I’ve always gotten consistently good remarks during my personnel reviews. At least there’s something I can be confident about!
Desired Skills:
- Experience in JavaScript and DHTML a plus
- Knowledge of Flash is a plus
- Working knowledge of CVS a plus
- Familiarity with weblogs a plus
Ouch. Of those four, the only one I can rightfully claim is the last one. The first three — sorry, but those are just not in my skill set. As with my comments above regarding Photoshop, Illustrator, and PowerPoint, I’m fairly confident that given the opportunity, I could come up to speed fairly quickly, but I’d definitely be coming in on the ground level, if that.
Contact Information:
Please apply with cover letter (plain text) and résumé to jobs@sixapart.com.
Please include a resume and link to online portfolio and/or recent work. If providing list of sites that you have worked on, you must include an explanation about your role on that project. Online portfolios are preferred.
Please also include salary requirements.
Much as I’d love to apply, I’m afraid that my limitations — which I try to be aware of and realistic about, without exaggerating them to the point of talking myself out of good opportunities — are enough of a hindrance that I’d easily fall by the wayside to other, more experienced applicants.
A shame, too. While I was also swept up in the recent licensing controversy, I’ve been using either MovableType or TypePad for two and a half years now (since Dec. 21st, 2003, in fact), have no intentions of leaving TypePad anytime soon, and have generally liked what I’ve seen of the folks at Six Apart. Heck, they even put up with me triggering TypePad’s first Slashdotting! From everything I’ve seen, the chance to work with the Six Apart crew could be quite enjoyable, certainly a lot more so than my current job, and quite possibly well worth uprooting myself and moving down the West Coast a bit to the Bay area.
Ah, well. For now, I suppose I’ll just keep tinkering around, and see if I can’t increase the sphere of my “jack-of-all-trades” knowledge to include some more of the skills listed above that I’m lacking. Maybe they’ll still be hiring in a year or so…
17 Responses
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Alternatively you could give it a go and send your resume and see what happens. As one of my current favourite quotes for the time being says: “change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.”
I would say you never have anything to lose by trying. Your best bet could easily be to write a cover letter stating that you know a fair amount about a lot of areas but have a strong desire to start focusing your skills. Word it in such a way as to try and at least gain contact with them for future use perhaps. Anyway you look at it, the worst thing you end up doing is getting practice writing cover letters (which are generally more important than a resume in my opinion).
Hey, if you word your MS experience well enough, they may even remember the story and give you bonus points for it. I mean I started reading some of your posts because of that, but you write well enough and find interesting stories that I keep it on my RSS feed. A good cover letter should be easy you.
Go for it! And start hitting the books.
Case in point, I applied for a job as a kitchen supervisor feeding 2,000 people daily with a staff of 40 and a budget of a million dollars a month. The interviewer liked me but said lets be realistic here, you’re only 75% qualified for this job. I said yes that’s true, but I’ll work 50% harder and you’ll get the extra 25% for free.
Don’t ya know I got the job!
Michael you know I was a kitchen supervisor for many years in Prudoe bay and you know I’m not lying or making it up.
I say again…Go for it.
I’d go for it. Having just been through the job hunting process, I applied for numerous jobs that I wasn’t even 80% qualified for. The position I was offered asked for a whole list of skills in Immunology that I possess, but also asked for a whole list of molecular biology skills that I don’t. And I could not even pretend to know what he was talking about with some of the biochemistry techniques that I will be learning shortly when I start. I suspect what got me in was knowledge of FACS which isn’t all too common, a professional looking resume, and being flexible and very willing to learn.
So send in that resume and get ready to pester them on a regular basis and you might get yourself a job. And knowing a lot about the company so that you can gush about their products goes a long way toward getting you a job also.
I’ll throw my vote in for sending them a resume as well. There really is no harm in trying and you have nothing to lose. I’ve applied to a few jobs that I didn’t think I was qualified for and have managed to get an interview. I might not have gotten the job but at least I tried.
I think you should go for it as well. The things you have said you don’t know will come to you easily, I think, because of your knowledge in other areas. Let them decide whether they want you or not, don’t decide for them
The worst that can happen is that you stay where you are. Nothing lost, really.
I like Tim Who?’s attitude. Confidence and the willingness to work hard and learn will take you far. Good luck!
My first job (I was a 3rd year student of Computer Engineering), required a knowledge of UNIX. I had never used UNIX in my life before that! Well, I was expert with DOS command-line since I was a kid, so the transition to UNIX and the paradigm of files, hierarchies, was easy to grasp.
In my current job, Oracle knowledge was required. I had used many other implementations of RDMSs, but never Oracle… but I was very confident of the things I could learn.
Go for it!
When I was much younger, and somehow afraid of daring sometimes (no need to give details about daring “what”, now), a good friend of mine gave me what I rate a valuable advice: “Go and ask anyway! The worse possible answer you may get is a ‘no’, and that is exactly the same result you’d get if you don’t ask”.
So, don’t waste an opportunity and try without worrying. When I’m looking for people to hire, I always ask for the best possible skills, hoping to be lucky (which usually I’m not), and then I pick the best compromise between what I was looking for (the best of the best) and what is available in the market at that moment (somebody already good enough, with the potential to keep becoming better and better). I don’t think things go differently in the US.
Simply, when (and if) interviewed, be honest about what you know, and what you believe you may easily learn in a given time. Most professional head hunters have some skill in detecting liers, and they don’t like to be fooled. Good luck.
do it anyway
it’s good experience, and it will force you to get your shit together. hint: use your photographs as examples of your artistic eye, and make your design something you think they’d hire you for. consider that their public templates aren’t the most stylish out there (sorry, they aren’t) and try to make something you think you can at least try to sell.
you may not get far enough this time, but next time you try for something like this, you’ll at least have a preliminary portfolio to shine up.
and if you do get far enough… well…
i will help you if you want it - and if you’re willing to put up with my usual level of criticism. really - do it!
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Wow — in all honesty, that wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Thanks much, everyone! Maybe I’ve just been in the wrong segment of the job market for too long, but silly me, I always assumed listed job requirements were, well, requirements.
At the very least, I’ll definitely give it some thought — even if I don’t go for (or do go for, and don’t get) this, it at least gives me a good idea of areas where I can concentrate my “dinking around” time in order to pick up some new skills for the future. You never know where things might go eventually…
Go for it. Don’t give up before you try or you will regret it later. Life is about taking risks, and even if it doesn’t work out you will feel so much better having tried than if you didn’t. Listen to your inner voice. You already know the answer, so run with it. That little voice inside you that is making you question your life as it is, saying “What have I done this far?” is telling you it’s time to make moves, make changes. Do something, anything take the steps necessary to move in the direction you want to go.
Things usually work out better in the end than we could have ever imagined, even if we have to go through a few trials to get there. Everything happens for a reason good or bad. We may not understand the reason but it all makes us stronger in the end, and prepares us for bigger things. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.
I know that all this good advice is easier said than done, but you know better than anyone what’s best for you, so whatever that is just do it.
You know, I should be the last person to talk about making fruitful use of one’s time, but I’ll chip in anyway:
The great thing about investing your time in building this skillset is that, as you know, all the tools and documentation are available for free, and the internet is just bursting with support communities if you run into questions—so time is all you need. And you’ve already have displayed a strong aptitude with your web presence and running servers (that’s how you host people, yeah—run your own apache/mysql setup?). Charities or non-profits’ websites can be an easy to way to build a porftfolio of work, and family and friends are good initial paying clients. If you need credentials, maybe a certification exam or two—et voila! Now your job is something you do for fun anyway.
(I know, easier said than done.)
You don’t want to deprive them of the opportunity to say YES.
Requirements are requirements. But sometimes a company will make exceptions for the perfect fit. Fit is often more important than meeting all the requirements. It’s always worth it to try. Like Mom said, don’t deprive them of the opportunity to say YES. You have nothing to lose.
I agree with the comment about qualifications. They put the info out asking for everything they want, not really expecting to get someone with all those skills right off the bat.
As long as you don’t come across as too dumb to realise the significance of the skills you don’t have, you can certainly ‘spin’ your experience to your advantage, and if they decide you’re not ready… who knows what else they might suggest?
At least then, you’d know where to focus next.
Plus, it’d take them a lot longer to train someone to have an eye for design and a feel for their brand and products than for you to get up to speed on software and technologies.
Good luck!
Paul
I wouldn’t hire you, and I’m a manager. Gee, did that get your attention.
It has nothing to do with your skills, and no, requirements are not requirements. When one does a job positing, they put out ridiculous skills because they know no one will have every skill listed. What they want is someone who is looking for a challenge and someone who is willing to risk a little to be rewarded.
If I am hiring someone for a minimum wage job, sure, requirements are requirements. If I was hiring for a job that is integral to my business, I want the guy that is willing to take up my challenge.
I very much doubt that you would apply for this job and go in to the interview with an optimistic attitude.
Your skills are unquestionable. Your attitude when talking here to us is perfect. You can do the job. However, from the tone of this article, I doubt you will even apply.
Brian - fair enough, and you have some good points. I’d just like to point out that the post was not written from the standpoint of “I’m going to apply,” or even “Should I apply?” — rather, I was looking at it with the expectation that I wouldn’t be qualified enough, so no, it wasn’t terribly optimistic.
It wouldn’t be terribly hard for me to say much the same things as I did in this post and put a positive spin on them, really. In many cases, even without certifications in a specialized field, being a “jack of all trades” could be a definite benefit, as my thinking isn’t locked into one mode or another, and it’s easy for me to draw upon different experiences to solve problems that I run into that some trained to go “by the book” might not come up with. See? Not that hard, I know it, and I know that a lot of my downsides aren’t as much of an issue as I see them as at times.
As I indicated earlier, though, I was looking at the listing with the (apparently naïve) assumption that requirements were requirements, not a best case scenario, and that I was unqualified. Apparently that may not be the case (though, of course, it may be), which presents things in a new light.