How well can you type?
Shannon Barrett , May 27, 2008
Comment (1)Most folks in the office spend a large part of their day behind a keyboard but how good at typing are we really?
I took typing class in grade school and wrote dozens of 20-page papers in college but it wasn’t until I was sitting in front of my computer everyday that I really started picking up speed. These days I hardly have to think about what specific letters I’m typing but I know several people (my wife included) who still use some sort of variant on the hunt-and-peck typing method.
Thankfully there is a new keyboard for folks who are confident in their typing 
and want to take it to the next level. The Das Keyboard comes without any letters, numbers or symbols on it. It has slight curves on the F and J key but otherwise it is completely blank.
So what do you say? Do you think you’ve got the typing chops?
Rituals can create a culture. . .
Josh suggested in a post today that, “Your culture can be one of the hardest assets for you to protect.“ We certainly don’t have the whole culture thing figured out at Architel, but we have attempted to create culture through the creation of rituals.
For example, each Friday we turn off the phones at noon and keep them off until two for an all hands meeting and a communal lunch. All employees are required to attend the meeting where we discuss issues facing the company, individuals or the market in general. We reward employees who have gone above and beyond with certificates and gift cards. Finally, we serve lunch to the entire team. We have shared lunch with each other since 2003 and while it may seem like a small thing it is something many of us look forward to each week. Of course, we won’t be able to do this forever (i.e. we will eventually get too big).
Both current and former employees have told me that getting together as a group is/was their favorite part of work each week. Does your company have a ritual?
I get no respect I tell ya…
“I’m tired of chasing my dreams, I’m just gonna ask where they’ll be and hook up with them later.”
It’s very hard to be successful in the IT field. There are a lot of “fakers” out there that are mostly incompetent so how do you stand out as a diamond in the rough without coming off as a “suck-up”?
Tip #1
Pick what you talk about carefully and don’t be Mr. Obvious. Techs whom point out the obvious are usually incapable on some level(compensating for something) unless mentioned as a variable to be controlled in a given applicable scenario. For instance if you are casually talking about the SMTP protocol and mention that it runs over port 25 I (as an extremely intelligent and talented tech 
) will assume that your experience with SMTP is limited because you are taking the time to mention such a “mundane detail”. This may seem ironic and it is but, none the less, the less you say the more you probably know or at least the less I know you know.
Signed,
Elitest Computer “GURU”
Tip #2
Don’t call or refer to yourself as a guru.
Sell Yourself.
Sales is a hard job and not everyone is going to be good at it. Just like anything else it takes time and persistance to perfect. Over the years I have learned many things. No matter what industry you are in, getting tips from others has always been the best tool of success for me. Bouncing information from one another helps an individual grow. Below are some tips that anyone can use; because no matter what we are doing, we are selling ourself.
1. Don’t do the bulk of your business prospecting during prime business hours. Often the call that is placed at 8AM or 6PM will be received by a decision-maker that has more time to talk. And don’t under-estimate the value of leaving voice mail messages at night. These will be the very first messages that your prospect will hear in the morning, thereby increasing the odds of them placing a returned call.
2. If you want to present products and services that are of value to the prospect and that meet their needs, you have to ASK questions. Ask the right questions and the prospect will tell you what they want and how they need to be sold. Ask open-ended questions.
3. Too many sales reps launch into a conversation by discussing the features of their products and services. Features never sold anyone. The only thing that a prospect cares about is what these features will do for them. In other words, speak in terms of benefits and your prospect will be more pre-disposed to listening to your presentation. It’s not the typical sales pitch that way.
4. There’s no magic bullet. Prospecting takes time and patience and if your sales pipeline isn’t always filled with prospects in various stages of being worked, then you are in for a future sales slump.
5. Don’t underestimate the power of faxes. In these days of email, faxes have taken a back seat. Because of that, faxes get noticed. Carefully position faxes as part of your prospecting efforts. Another thing to consider is a hand-written note or card. It makes you stand out.
6. Follow-up and follow-through are keys to prospecting success. Just like gardening, if you don’t water the seeds, the garden will languish. And so it is with prospecting… if you don’t remain in contact, you will never break through.
7. Give a prospect something for nothing. We all like to get things for free. An article that would be of interest and value, information that you received online etc. and transferred to the prospect with a note “just thought you might be interested in this” indicates that you are thinking of them and wish to be a resource.
8. Periodically tape-record a random sampling of your cold calls. Listen to the tape and assess your tone and voice. How did you sound? Would you want to speak with a person who sounds like you? What about your words? Were they clear and benefits oriented. Taping gives you the opportunity to self-correct your presentation. Call yourself and leave a voicemail; listen to it. Would you call yourself?
9. Pace yourself. Prospecting is a very time-consuming and arduous task. Allocate a specific amount of time each day (week?) and keep to the schedule. It is always easy to put something ahead of the prospecting activity but make an appointment with yourself and don’t break it. Having a specific schedule helps break up the day too. This is something you set up just for yourself.
10. Last but definitely not least, maintain a good sense of humor. Make the prospect smile and you’re halfway there! The person on the other line has been waiting for your call…
How to quit, the right way!
I wrote a post titled, “Quitting your job, the right way…” last year and I thought it was worth reposting here:
There comes a time in most employment relationships when it is time to move on. Gone are the days of lifetime employment. Unless you get fired you will need to quit. My suggestion? Do it with class. Sit down with your manager and let him know that you are leaving and offer a minimum of two weeks notice. Regardless of how much you would like to slam down your resignation letter on his desk and walk out, consider that it is likely that your next job won’t be your last and that future employers might want to talk to your current boss. If you handle it right it is very likely that your current boss will provide positive references for the rest of your career. Handle it wrong and at best you won’t be able to get a reference and worst you might get a negative reference. On the other hand, I highly recommend employers providing a minimum of two weeks notice to employees regardless of the reason for termination. Get a release in exchange for the severance payment of course.
Penelope Trunk suggests the following:
- Go before things get bad. Lynne Prodger recently left her accounting job. “I’ve been really good about quitting jobs amicably,” she says. “I realized I was hitting a point where I was going to start acting out.” Like Prodger, you need to know yourself and be honest about how you’re feeling on the job so you don’t let your emotions get out of hand.
- Make a good first step. “The very first person that you should tell you’re leaving is your boss,” says Alexandra Levit , author of “They Don’t Teach Corporate in College.” “Your boss will be insulted to hear it from someone else.” Also, get your story right the first time and tell the same, optimistic plan to everyone. Prodger, for example, explained that she wanted to give freelancing a try, which shows positive vision for her career.
- Leave the door open a crack. If you’ve done good work, there is no reason you couldn’t come back later, when things for you and for the company might have changed. Especially as you begin to specialize in your career and lay down roots, the pool of possible companies gets smaller. So don’t close any doors definitively.
- Beware of the exit interview. “If you trash the company during an exit interview, it will follow you everywhere. In fact, don’t even bother to do one,” says David Perry , a recruiter and author of “Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters.” “Just leave on good terms and let them know you had a wonderful time.” Even if you didn’t.
- Resignation letter. Try to get out of it if you can. But if you really need to write one for legal reasons, make it short and gracious. You are not the president of the United States. The world does not need a public record of why you quit or what your aspirations are. Just a simple end date and a thank you will be fine.
- Trust that the company can continue without you. “People think the world is going to end if they quit their job,” says Prodger. “In my last job, everyone who quit thought everything would go wrong, but it’s easily fixed and everyone’s replaceable.”
- Set yourself up for a good reference. Perry is adamant that any negative parting will haunt your job hunts forever. “You want to be sure the trail you leave is a positive one,” he says. And although the law discourages past employers from dissing you to future employers, Perry says a recruiter can circumvent this hurdle. “I have never, in my 20 years of recruiting, had someone not answer questions about references.”
- Manage the in-between time carefully. “Burn no bridges,” warns Brendon Connelly , author of the popular blog Slacker Manager. Sometimes quitting a job is as loaded as dumping a lover. “I have quit a few jobs and there has been tension because it’s always been for something else,” says Connelly. “You need to lay the groundwork ahead of time for the transition.” Tie up loose ends at the old job and get your files organized to pass on to someone else. “You don’t want to give the old people the shaft.”
Architel’s Expansion Confirmed!
Scott and I sat down with the owners of the INFOMART and came to an agreement that will almost double the size of our space here in the building by July 10th! The expansion will be used for a) reception space, b) open offices, c) conference rooms and d) a new server buildout room. This should allow us to grow our data center footprint by around 50% and open up two more client access colocation facilities. Perhaps we will have an open house in the Fall, feel free to come by and check out our progress!
SPAM can be legal when done right (i.e. outsource your spam)
Did you know it is legal to SPAM if you follow the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003? We don’t recommend our clients attempt these methods themselves, but instead we suggest they outsource their spam to a third party who specializes in spam (of course there are better ways to reach your customers than spam, but that is a topic for another time). Businesses must follow certain criteria, including:
Unsubscribe Compliance
- A visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism is present in all emails.
- Consumer opt-out requests are honored within 10 days.
- Opt-out lists also known as suppression lists are only used for compliance purposes.
Content Compliance
- Accurate from lines (including “friendly froms”)
- Relevant subject lines (relative to offer in body content and not deceptive)
- A legitimate physical address of the publisher and/or advertiser is present.
- A label is present if the content is adult.
Sending Behavior Compliance
- A message can not be sent through an open relay
- A message can not be sent to a harvested email address
- A message can not contain a false header
Note that falsifying header information is a serious violation of the CAN-SPAM Act and generally is an indicator of criminal or malicious intent which can bring the attention of other law enforcement agencies besides the FTC, including but not limited to the FBI, DOJ and US Postal Inspectors.
If you don’t follow these rules you may not go to jail for sending a few hundred emails, but you may get your company blacklisted by a spam blocking system like SORBS. Once you get listed it takes time to get off the list. The hard part is that you ARE in fact spamming so it is difficult to explain why you should be taken off one or more of the lists. How do you get listed? In most cases you have PISSED someone off by not providing a way to unsubscribe. If you simply followed CAN-SPAM Act most of your problems would go away.
The only safe way to ‘SPAM’ is to outsource it to someone who specializes in helping businesses send out bulk emails that follow all of the CAN-SPAM Act rules like Constant Contact. And no, your spam filter doesn’t allow YOU to spam…
Our hiring process?
Until Jennifer came on the scene our hiring process was all over the map. If you fell victim to our incompetence, please accept my apology. For those of you who are considering a job at Architel, let me detail the process so you will know what to expect:
Step One: Phone Interview
Architel’s recruiter will obtain a) pertinent information related to candidate including salary requirements, skill level and basic legal demographic data, b) understanding of candidates goals and c) a time that works for the candidate to come in for an interview.
Step Two: First Interview
- Candidate goes to main office 2022 and Recruiter is notified that candidate is waiting. Candidate is offered a drink and asked to complete an application (Recruiter should keep applications in kitchen for now).
- Recruiter should give candidate tour of office a) show and explain NOC, b) show expansion space, c) show data center and d) bring them to conference room to meet for around 5-10 minutes so recruiter can ask additional questions.
- Candidate should then meet with a tier three engineer or above who should spend 10-15 minutes with candidate. Engineer should start with easy questions and get progressively more difficult. Recruiter should have already give engineer an idea of what level the candidate is at (i.e. high, medium or low). Engineer should then go get recruiter and provide a couple of sentences (i.e. I like him, strong in networking, needs work on Exchange, I rank him between Joe and Jason).
- Optionally (Recruiter may decide to have a second engineer interview candidate) Repeat above.
- Candidate then should meet with Jason Smedley who should spend 10-15 minutes with candidate. Engineer should start with easy questions and get progressively more difficult. Recruiter should have already give tech an idea of what level the candidate is at (i.e. high, medium or low). Engineer should then go get recruiter and provide a couple of sentences (i.e. I like him, strong in networking, needs work on Exchange, I rank him between Joe and Jason).
Step Three: Report and Decision
- Recruiter should then provide report to manager who will decipher report and decide whether or not to proceed with candidate.
- Recruiter should contact candidate and either schedule second interview or let them know why we are not moving forward at this time.
Step Four: Second Interview
- Recruiter should have candidate meet with one final engineer who should spend 10-15 minutes with candidate. Engineer should start with easy questions and get progressively more difficult. Recruiter should have already give tech an idea of what level the candidate is at (i.e. high, medium or low). Engineer should then go get recruiter and provide a couple of sentences (i.e. I like him, strong in networking, needs work on Exchange, I rank him between Joe and Jason).
- Recruiter should then have candidate meet with Scott Ryan (preferably) or Alexander Muse who, having the report in their hands, make an offer (i.e. selling the candidate on coming to work for Architel). If for some reason Scott or Alexander have a problem with candidate they may not extend an offer.
- Recruiter then prepares a written offer and coordinates a start date.
Step Five: Start
- Recruiter should turn over paperwork and contact info to Project Manager who should create a new hire project in Basecamp (i.e. using the templates provided).
In search of career growth?
Jennifer Donica , May 14, 2008
During my talent search here at Architel I have spoken to loads of individuals who are seeking new employment. All of which I ask, what decision criteria will you use to decide whether you will accept your next job offer? 9 out of 10 times the first thing the job seeker says is growth. That is a pretty good answer, right? Well, I started thinking about all of this growth or lack thereof. If people accept a new job for growth then they are obviously leaving their current job due to the lack of growth. If you are not climbing the corporate latter who is at fault? Is your employer aware that you are seeking career growth? You are probably saying yes, but if you have not informed your manager of your career goals then chances are, they do not know. And, if they do know, why are you not receiving the growth you desire? Are you qualified? Is there zero room to grow? Are your development expectations obtainable?
Often times hard work gets notice and is cause for a promotion; i.e. career growth, but this is not always this case. Make your career goals known to the appropriate people. Get on track. Set a goal; foresee your career growth and do all that is necessary to obtain it. If you do this, and are still not getting the promotion/growth you desire and now deserve then yes, it may be time to explore other options. Actually, it IS time to explore other options. Just be certain that you are considering all factors here. Make sure your company is aware of the growth you are seeking and have that it is, indeed, obtainable. In return, do all it takes to get there. It’s easy to point the finger, but if you actually cover your ground, you may just get the career growth you are seeking.
