Apple, Inc
Monday, September 24th, 2007Dear Internet,
OK, I’ll admit it: there was a specific catalyst that got me working on my new weblog.
In January of this year, I decided that heading off to college right after high school was completely out of the question. It’s not that I think education is unimportant, or that I’m “too good for such nonsense” — it’s just that I felt like my life was gaining professional momentum, and I didn’t want to be foolish enough to break it. However, one of the problems with not going to college is that you can’t relocate very easily — I really, really wanted to get out into the world and experience something new. And that’s what I set out to do.
The initial plan was to join the wonderful team at Last.fm in England. So, I packed my bags and left the United States on the 20th of June for London . . . I was back in the US within 48 hours, after a rather horrifying misunderstanding with the British government caused me to be deported “on her Majesty’s service.” It was quite a shock, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything in the world. I’ll write about this story at some point in the near future.
The following months proved to be really interesting for me. I bought an iPhone and co-created PocketTweets, got about a dozen full-time job offers from people I’ve never even met, attended C4[1] (I even got to speak for a bit!), and worked on some of my biggest projects yet. I even sat back and watched a lot of my friends go off to college, wondering when my “path” would be revealed to me. I was on the outside looking in, observing people drifting towards their futures. I was feeling a little displaced. On top of that, my client work had gotten a little out of control. Handling ten clients at once doesn’t sound easy, and it’s absolutely not — and it’s even worse when one or two of those clients are unreasonable lunatics. Something needed to change.
Then, on August 15th, I got an email from Apple saying that they had come across my portfolio and wanted to talk with me about a career. I’m not going to lie: I was excited immediately.
After a few successful phone interviews, I flew out to California on September 11th for the in-person interview. That night, I stayed up until 2AM working on the portfolio keynote that I had to give to the .Mac team, and kind of dreaded the 8-hour interview ahead of me. Believe it or not, this was my first job interview, so I had absolutely no idea what was ahead of me.
I arrived at De Anza 6 the next morning feeling pretty energetic from a few cups of coffee. I was soon escorted off to a conference room where I hooked up my MacBook Pro to a projector and prepared for the presentation I was about to give. After all of the group had filtered in, I gave my portfolio presentation, which, as I was told later, “went very well.” The rest of the day involved one-on-one interviews, mostly with members of the creative team at .Mac. I expected to get along with them well, but I didn’t expect to get along with them this well. Everyone I met was nothing short of extremely talented and friendly, and I couldn’t envision there being any potential problems working with a group like them. Things were looking good.
In the weeks that followed, I sat in anticipation and agony, wondering if I really was going to get the job or not. This would be a huge step for me, and I was absolutely ready to take it.
Well, today I am pleased to announce that, starting October 8th, I’ll be a visual interface designer for .Mac at Apple. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be taking this position, and I’ll make sure to post about the whole transition here on Implodr.
But what about the Pixel Implosion? Well, the Implosion’s future is a little uncertain right now . . . whatever the outcome, I promise you I’m not going to disappear. In fact, I think you’ll be hearing and seeing more from me on the side! Implodr posts? Yes! PocketTweets 2? Yes! Something else? Definitely! Of course, I’ll be very limited as to what I can say about Apple itself. But, that’s a given.
Until next time,
-Bobby