The Week Thus Far

I had a very intriguing interview with a well-known company in the North Bay area this week. They have undergone some huge changes and were recently acquired by a business partner. They have shrunk in size dramatically and are reorganizing. For the past year their IT has been outsourced but that contract is about to expire and they are looking to reestablish their own internal technology positions, including CIO, for which I interviewed. I believe the interview went well and while the position, at least for the near term, would be far more hands-on than what my primary role has been for the past several years, it could be a lot of fun. In my current job it's become more hands-on because we've laid off so many individuals and there's a lot of work that goes with downsizing.

This position would be fun in many regards because it's kind of a start-up mentality, it's a brand most people would recognize, and as far as the public is concerned their issues have gone unnoticed (they've always been privately held). In many aspects I'd be able to build IT from the ground up and work with many new individuals. I think there are huge opportunities for the company and I could certainly contribute. I most immediately see developing their already loyal-base and adding more personality to the company through social networking elements and given their location and the general perception that they're a fairly 'green' product, there are some key elements that could be leveraged. Of course, like any organization, IT shouldn't be the end-all be-all for these developments; it requires a level of commitment from senior management and marketing to make these particular things happen but I think it would be a lot of fun to help put them into place.

When I finished with that interview I had an e-mail from a corporate recruiter for a company in Palo Alto (CA) for a CTO position. I didn't have a chance to call back on it that day but I got a call from them the next morning. This is a much larger company and they are looking for a CTO to head up a 110 person IT shop. Much of the systems are UNIX/Linux-based and it's another well-known brand, though in a much different industry. I'll be talking with them soon.

So, sometimes when it rains it pours, and it certainly seems, at least for me, that lots of things are starting to pop and the volume of open high-level IT positions has increased dramatically.