Thursday, November 6, 2008

User Experience Professional At Large

That would be me. I was laid off on Monday, along with my manager, and most of our group. It took Monday and Tuesday to excavate my desk (30 years makes for a lot of stuff). As I had to turn in my badge end of day Monday, my (former) second level manager had to sign me in and get me a badge. While it said "Escort required", other than needing someone to open the outside doors for me, I had the freedom of the building. Excavated, visited around, etc.

Packing

30 years of stuff

I wouldn't say I'm in disbelief, although I still wonder at the logic of blowing away the corporate user experience group.

That said, I'm probably not going to seriously start looking for a job until at least after Thanksgiving.

However, if you know of anyone that needs someone to
  • elicit user requirements,
  • get an excellent understanding of the user's problem space from the USER'S point of view,
  • facilitate the formation of product requirements,
  • create user personas and scenarios,
  • design a user interface architecture, and then populate it with the details of a user interface,
  • as well as do iterative usability testing...
  • preferred in the Portland area
let me know!

In the meantime, I'm going to ride a permanent next Tuesday. 200km, Prairies and Wetlands.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have no idea what most of that stuff means but I've passed along your blog-sume to my sweetie for further review. As you know she has some experience with the whole job search thing and perhaps can help you strategize when you're ready to begin.

Jim said...

There's also been interest in hiring a usability consultant for our highly technical product. (I can go into more details in private if you're interested in)

Also thanks for having a Captcha that I can actually read :-)

Jim said...

(I also meant to say we have a senior development position open in Bellevue.)

Andy said...

Good luck with the job search, Lynne.

G said...

Hi Lynn - I arrived at your blog via a link from one of your responses on bikeportland. Sorry to hear about the job - it's always amazing when entire departments vanish, especially with ample evidence that the company will pay much more in the long run for their deeds. Anyway, I don't know your detailed background, but I did notice a job at Nike that might be interesting to you. Best of luck in your search!

Senior Application Engineer (Front End Specialist) - Nike.com Digital Commerce IT-040042
Description
What's IT like at Nike? Some things are a given. Like getting to work with the latest applications and technology. And being surrounded by full-time colleagues, not just consultants and hired guns. IT at Nike is over 900 professionals working on the most advanced business applications and e-commerce capabilities in the industry. Around here, you'll push your colleagues to do their best work, and they'll turn around and do the same for you. At the end of the day what matters is being able to use the best technologies to help a great company perform even better.

As our Senior Application Engineer, you'll leverage a solid background in front-end application engineering and work in our fast-paced and dynamic environment, supporting Nike's Global online e-commerce and branded websites. You'll collaborate with other Developers and Architects, as well as our business partners, to design, develop and deliver solutions that meet and exceed the requirements, both from a functional standpoint and from a systems performance perspective. You'll also have the chance to become a key member of the team, enabling Nike to grow and expand its global e-commerce offerings. You'll demonstrate a solid understanding of rich application development in Flash and, preferably, Flex, in addition to fully utilizing a strong UI design background. In addition, you'll be passionate and driven to deliver best-in-class solutions that will drive the business into the future.

Qualifications
Requirements for the position include:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field
5 years' experience programming and working in various phases of the software development lifecycle
2 years' additional relevant professional experience in lieu of a degree
2 years' experience developing object-oriented, web-based business applications in a Java/J2EE 3-tier environment is strongly preferred
UI design experience
2 years' development experience in Flash with ActionScript 2.0 is highly desired
0-1 year of development experience in Flex with ActionScript 3.0 is also desired
2 years' experience with HTML / CSS / JavaScript
2 years' experience with XML (constructing, parsing, E4X, etc.)
2+ years' experience with Photoshop, Illustrator or other imaging software is preferred
Experience in working with Web Application servers such as ATG, WebLogic or JBoss
Experience in developing in a 3-tier environment, preferably with Oracle as the database
Familiarity with Unix
Experience with the following technologies is preferred: JSP, XML, Intellij, Clearcase or Subversion, JDBC, Ant, Web Services, SQL, Struts, Spring, and/or Hibernate
Experience in the e-commerce space is desirable
Detail orientation and self-motivation
Strong communication skills and team player mentality
Ability to pass a 7-year background investigation

Have we piqued your interest? Good, then our beautiful corporate campus, incredible resources and generous benefits package will only sweeten the deal. We offer a stock purchase plan, 401(k), a casual work environment with on-site sports complex, childcare and a host of other perks we don't have room to mention here.

As soon as you post your resume, our technical recruiter will be immediately notified. We're interested in learning more about you and appreciate you taking the time to apply online.

Nike is committed to employing a diverse workforce. EOE/M/F/H/V

Job Information Technology
Primary LocationOR-Portland
Schedule Full-time
Travel Yes, 5% of the time
Drug Screen Required No
Background Check Required Yes
Relocation Available No
Non-Compete Required No

Fred Hanson said...

Sorry to read this, Lynne. Never a good feeling to lose a job involuntarily.
The industry certainly still needs usability input.