On Email Organization
April 22, 2008 by Jonathan · 1 Comment
For the last month or so I’ve been on a rampage, an email rampage. I haven’t quite hit Inbox Zero but inbox 30-40 suits me well actually. Here’s what I’ve done:
- I now have only 2 visible email addresses, Gmail and my @jonathancoffman.com mail. Those other addresses (.Mac, Yahoo!, Mizzou, and my secondary Gmail) all now get picked up by my primary Gmail account, this way I only have two inboxes to check, and hopefully by responding to those with only one address I gradually get fewer and fewer messages going to those other addys.
- Combining the last two addresses, my primary gmail and my domain email isn’t yet feasible. I can’t quite take myself down to that level yet. Because they’re used for two very different purposes (personal and professional) the use cases will remain mutually exclusive for the time being.
- The downside to still having two inboxes: two sets of gmail tags/folders. My domain email is handled by GoogleApps (which I love by the way), so for now I have two identical but disconnected sets of tags.
- Account and Login Information
- Banking
- Bills
- Blog Conversations
- Contributr
- Current Projects
- Pipeline Projects
- Coupons and Discounts
- Job Hunting
- Journalism School
- Newsletters
- Personal (family)
- Private Betas
- Product Orders
- Service Orders
- Require followup
- Servers and Hosting
- Social Media
- Travel
- URGENT
Crossing The Skills Divide
April 3, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
There is an almost constant drone of phone calls and emails in my life right now, I’m right in the thick of finding a job for when I become available in May. It hasn’t been an easy road, but I’ve made great strides in my approach, the types of jobs I apply for, and the way I manage my personal brand.
I couldn’t do it if I didn’t have the help of all you out there, my favorite bloggers, my Twitter followers, my family and my friends. I am very thankful for all of the support I’ve gotten so far in my search and am very thankful for the education I have and the life experiences that have prepared me for this experience.
I’ve been using my support network a lot lately. Part of the reason is that I have a very diverse skill set, not only am I good with producing and editing content, but I also hold technology skills that allow me to create things like this blog, Smart Decision, Contributr, and more. But even beyond that, I have an entrepreneurial spirit that lends me new ideas, new inspiration, and new ways of looking at old and new problems.
I feel like this variety of skills that I have is hard to explain and describe in the limited contact I’m given with potential employers. Doing my best to convey those thoughts, ideas, and skills is getting easier as I do it more of course, but it’s a different way of looking at the world that’s for sure!
Typically I think that people possess one side or the other, they’re either very good writers and thinkers, or they’re very good programmers and developers. Both are on an equal standing as far I’m concerned, it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.
But then, where does that leave me? I’m someone who loves to think of new ideas, concepts, and products but I’m also aware of the technical abilities of current technology tools as well as their weaknesses. Taking that a step further, I also am able to clearly explain, teach, and lead developers to create technology tools that don’t exist yet.
The biggest problem I’m having during interviews these days is making sure that I convey my abilities and varied skill set while emphasizing that I do in fact prefer the idealization, and content side of the world.
Sure I can build web sites, blogs, Facebook applications, and other tools, but I recognize that there are people who can do those things much better than I can. It’s hard for people (including myself) to describe and explain how that works, yes I can DO those things, but no I’m not completely comfortable starting from nothing and building up on the programming and development side.
I feel like I have a good variety of skills and that I exert my leadership and entrepreneurship skills well, but I have to be careful not to pigeonhole myself into over-exerting my technology skills just because I think it’s cool that I can do both.
This post is a sort of stream of consciousness for me as I try to work out these details for myself. Be sure to visit again tomorrow as I look at the type of jobs and employers that I’m most interested in.
Jonathan’s Twitter Updates for 2008-03-17
March 17, 2008 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
- tweaking my proposals for the Reynolds Institute for Contributr #
- @annier I’m finally watching Once! #
- @willij I’m sure they will, their current iPhone app leaves something to be desired #
- I’m writing a testing plan for Contributr #
- Shopping Amazon for a game suitable for an 8-10 year old’s gift. Any suggestions? #
- Headed to bed, I’ve got a phone interview in the morning. #
- Apple Mail won’t stop syncing gmail… thus… Gmail has locked me out of iMAP for 24 hours for ‘abuse’ #
- Good Morning Twitterville! #
- wow pea sized hail coming down outside right now, and crazy rain #
- Well, I’ll have my full NAB Las Vegas trip paid for, but I’m uncertain how much support I’ll have for Contributr while there unfortunately #
- So that’s job-chat/pre-interview #3 today, job hunting is pretty exciting this week! #
- Geez, working with RJI is such a mess! We wait three weeks for approval on things, then in one day it gets unapproved, then reapproved #
- Filling out a job application, it takes forever even in the digital age #
Jonathan’s Twitter Updates for 2007-12-03
December 3, 2007 by Jonathan · Leave a Comment
- Wishing the Internet wasn’t broken tonight. #
- I’ve got some neck pain, I think it might be from a workout last week, it’s kinda weird #
- @chrisbrogan that WP theme is amazing, I’m thinking about buying and making it work on my site #
- Awake, contemplating how much time I want to put it in at the TV station in the spring, as opposed to job hunting #
- In my Capstone class, checking out some pretty cool viral ad campaigns #
- Me and by strained neck are headed to the gym to work out. #
- Need a few things fr the grocery so off I go #
- Emailing my usability testers to schedule our testing on the Adobe AIR app I’ve been working on #
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