Q & A and I go flying off on a tangent - August 5, 2008

... I personally really like your posts about working at Rudius, because I love reading about startups. e.g. How did you get your job there? I've wondered for a while and readers still don't know.

I could have sworn I'd written about this before but maybe not.

The short answer is that I wrote a bunch of short stories on the writing forum. The stories were good enough that Donika noticed them and offered to help me with my writing. I'm not sure what happened then. I assume that when Tucker started to form what would later become Rudius, he asked her for recommendations for editors and since she'd been reading my work for over a year, she recommended me. What I do know is that Tucker messaged me one day asking me about my writing and since he was going to be in LA in a few weeks anyway, we planned to meet up. I was hired the night we met.

The longer answer is that I fell into this job through dumb luck because I really like to write. When I started submitting stories to the messageboard it wasn't because I wanted a job or I wanted to impress anyone. I just really wanted some feedback on my writing and since my blog at the time had exactly zero readers, this was a way to get someone, anyone to read my shit.

You can look at this in any number of ways. I involved myself and became a valued member of a community. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I networked my way into knowing the right people.

But that's all after the fact analysis. At the time, I was in school and planning on going to law school. I thought writing was cool and I definitely admired Tucker for what he had managed to do, but honestly didn't think I could do it. I didn't even know where to start.

And things could have gone a number of ways. I probably have a dozen accounts on websites from that time. I was posting my stories everywhere, heelpress, lit.org, I would sign up for whatever writing community I could find. The reason I was successful on the messageboard was because I liked the people and I was getting the most readers and the best feedback there. Had things gone differently, I could be writing this on the forums at heelpress right now, talking about how I'm a law student.

How's that for an answer?

1. I wrote short stories.
2. ???
3. Tucker hired me.

The short answer makes me look clueless and the long answer makes me look lucky.

I'm going to tangent off here because, you know, my blog my rules.

The three best jobs I've had I got without a resume. In chronological order: The first was the first IT job I had at a community college. I walked into the office and said "I really want to work in computers. How do I get a job here?" I didn't even realize that I was talking to the head of the IT department. He laughed and hired me on the spot.

The second was another IT job. A friend of mine recommended me to his boss and had me 90% hired based solely on what he said BEFORE he called me to ask if I'd be interested in a job. I didn't even know there was an opening. Why'd he do that? Because we used to hang out every weekend and talk shop and trade book recommendations.

The third is Rudius.

When I left that IT job, the one my friend had gotten for me, he asked me what I was looking for. I gave him some flippant answer like "serendipity" which sounds corny but I couldn't really wrap my head around what I was looking for at the time. I just knew I was violently unhappy with my life and the only way I knew how to fix it was to throw out everything that wasn't working and start over.

It turns out that serendipity was exactly what I was looking for. My life had pretty much stagnated. Working a job, going to the same happy hours, going to the same parties every week, hanging out with the same friends on the weekends. I thought that's what you did, you simply lined up all the elements of your life then let it run like some perpetual motion machine. Ok, I've got cool friends and a stable job and I party on the weekends. Now what?

What I needed was things to be messy. I needed to be outside my comfort zone. I needed new experiences and I needed to force myself to meet new people. I lost any real sense of self in that routine. I expected all those elements to give me meaning, not realizing that it's the other way around. The person you are gives the elements of your life meaning. Had I had hobbies when I was working that last IT job, I probably wouldn't be writing this now. I'd have a nice quiet stable life. But balance has never been my strong suit.

If there's a point to this, to how I got my job at Rudius, to the little tangent I just went off on. It's that I'm probably the last person to ask for career advice (not that anyone asked). Ryan Holiday, he's a good one to ask because he knows what he's doing. I didn't get involved in IT because I thought it was a stable field with growth potential. I didn't get involved in IT because we were right in the middle of the Tech Boom and I thought it would make me rich. I started working in IT because I like working with computers. And I got my job at Rudius because I like to write. If I wasn't doing this I wouldn't be ruthlessly stalking some industry weighing the pros and cons of being X. I'd probably be leading some sort of budget tours through South America for because I really like to travel.

There are literally opportunities everywhere but you have to be open to them. Go out, try a bunch of things, find the things you enjoying doing and get insanely involved with them. Be the kind of person you'd want to hang out with. That's when doors start opening.

Posted by Ben Corman at 3:22 PM

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Comments

"There are literally opportunities everywhere but you have to be open to them."
Good quote.

Ben, it looks like serendipity did a good number on you.
Here's hoping that it does the same to the readers who are still trying to figure out what the hell the want to do.

Posted by: Mel at August 5, 2008 06:04 PM

Great post, Ben.

Posted by: Ilan Bouchard at August 5, 2008 06:31 PM

A fantastic post, Ben. Thanks very much for sharing.

Posted by: Andrew McMillen at August 6, 2008 02:45 AM

there's a scientology ad at the bottom of this blog post. fyi. kinda creepy.

Posted by: julian at August 7, 2008 06:35 PM

I think I stopped them from displaying. I'm sort of curious as to what keywords were triggering them. I'm pretty sure my readers (or at least I'd hope) are smart enough to avoid scientology.

Posted by: Ben Corman at August 7, 2008 07:43 PM