Google's choices not bullet proof

Image via CrunchBase

We tend to think of Google as bulletproof and everything they touch turns to gold.

They have made some HIDEOUS decisions in the past, and none greater than the one biting their ass today - the offloading of their 5% stake in AOL which was originally purchased for a cool $1 billion.

We were all giddy at AOL when the transaction happened, both for the fact that we worked for a company worth $20 billion (5% x 20 = 100% for those having maths difficulties) and the fact that we MAY have an "in" to getting work at Google.

Neither really happened.

Today, Business Insider are reporting that Google has called time on the horrible experiment that is investment in AOL and sold their share for $283 million.

I wonder what Google's other stunning investments - Orkut, Jaiku, etc. - will have to do to get similar treatment.

Need to up my game

Having had yet another contact let me know they're now on LinkedIn, I thought I'd do a snoop on my ex-colleagues to see where they are now.

I know the name of AOL carries a lot of weight, it's how you handle yourself when you get in the door that separates the boys from the... well unemployed.

It was with a heavy and depressing heart that I realised that everyone I've worked with seems to be flourishing since having left AOL, whereas I seem to be almost floating backwards in this great river of life.

It's spurred me on to begin anew to up my game, get a new job with a decent title and actually do some work that has a progressive feel to it, instead of filling in boxes and basically feeling underused.

Pay Day

I don't know why it bemuses me so, but today is pay day (well in lieu of tomorrow which is a Saturday). It's the first time I haven't received an AOL pay packet in over 6 years and it feels both fantastic (as the amount is more) and odd (as it's not from AOL).

To ease me into the new world of non-AOL pay, I did receive my final PubOps oncall pay from AOL today as well, so two pay cheques this month. Just in time for holidays too.

Does it get any better than that?

Day 4 at the new job

Well I feel like Hannibal Smith today. It all seems to be coming together, so I love it! (cue smarmy cigar chomping activity).

I'm still getting my head around almost everything, but I've been meeting with people in different departments, been given assignments and have ALMOST got this commuting thing licked. The route home is almost solved, but the route to work needs some ... work.

Today is the first production day I've been involved with and it's quite interesting to see the machinations of getting an international journal of repute published (Toronto Sun notwithstanding).

Started in my "pastures new"

After a long seven week notice period and a week off for...well, I took a week off and don't need a reason after six years... I finally started my new employment yesterday at Economist.com

Still trying to come to grips with EVERYTHING, as one can imagine. From the new corporate environment, to the intricacies of the job and the local haunts - from coffee to lunch. It's all important.

As far as the job goes, the title Producer can mean soooo many things. You ask someone in the theatre, or a musician or even me, and you'll get loads of different answers. I'm trying to figure out which hat from the producer's pandora's box I'll be wearing most. From the first 10 or so hours of work, it looks like I'll be mostly wearing the Project Manager / Documenter of what needs to happen hat, which is cool and a nice change from the Coding Monkey hat I wore at AOL for the last year.

More later.

Nouveau Jobbo.

Having put my CV up on Monster over X-Mas, I was uncertain whether my unique skill set garnered from too many years at AOL would actually make me wanted in the greater job market.

In hindsight, I need not have worried. Since that fateful day in December, I have been inundated with phone calls from a myriad of recruitment firms offering me interviews with companies all over London.

I've been to a couple of interviews, turned down a couple of position, and said no to contract work (I like being an employee and having benefits).

After many fake doctor appointments and illnesses, I have finally decided - after much trepidation - to make one of the new positions I have interviewed for.

As of yesterday, I am no longer an employee of AOL UK, I am "working my notice period". I should start my new job, as Web Producer at The Economist in late April / early May. Hurrah. A new job at quite the prestigious publication.

After six years - as of yesterday - at AOL, the scales are finally falling from my eyes. I haven't been treated well here. HR are a joke and are interested more in keeping the company happy than any HUMAN relations. I've learned a lot, but mostly by accident and on my own dime. No, I don't think I'll be sad to see the back of this place. Only regret I didn't get in the last round of redundancies. Still, the falling scales are invaluable, I could have been here doing this job at 50 and wondering where my life had gone.