Scott Porad

Children feel many intense emotions, but there are two feelings that nearly all of us share and can remember as adults: the eager, nervous excitement of the first day of school and the jubilant emancipation of the last.

Today, was the last day of school for my kids, and I drive my kids to school every day, then head in to my office.  The drive takes about 15-20 minutes, and in order to avoid fights between them about what we’re going to listen to on the ride I have previously declared myself The Absolute Dictator of the Radio.  I introduced them to Alice Cooper today.

As I watched this video I noted just how bad Alice Cooper is: not only does he pop a balloon, the chaotic and climatic ending is punctuated with bubbles!

…continue reading INME: School’s Out

I’ve liked Minus the Bear for awhile now…just something catchy about their sound.  I was pleased to find out they’ll be playing a music festival north of Seattle this summer.

You may not like Zappa, and you may think Stairway to Heaven has jumped the shark, but trust me, this is worth a listen.

A friend of mine sent a message to an handful of friends today:

I got my first phone interview lined up and I’ve never done this before. I would love some pro-tips on making it successful.

I’m not sure if these are actually pro-tips, but here’s what I offered:

1. Have a piece of paper and pen in front of you.

…continue reading Phone Interview Tips

I really enjoyed reading Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and a central part of that book is Miller learning about the structure of a story.  In the book, Miller attends Robert McKee’s “Story” seminar in LA where he learns the essential structure of a story: a story is about a character who wants something and must overcome obstacles to get it.

I reminded of all that today when I saw this in my son’s 2nd grade classroom:
…continue reading How to Write a Story in Elementary School

I had coffee with a friend who recently entered the staffing agency business.  His company has several hundred developers on staff, and each of these have been technically vetted.  So, the idea is that a company can easily increase its engineering resources by calling up and saying, “Hey, we have a new project and need <insert some number> engineers next week.”  Yes, you will pay a higher rate for the resources, but you’ll get them when you need them, and don’t have to incur the ongoing cost of full-time employees after the project is over.

Naturally, he was asking if Rover could use his services.  Yes, we are hiring, but no, we are already working with some recruiters, and are not going to add any more at this time.  (Hint: recruiters, don’t call…I’m not going to hire you right now.)

The conventional wisdom is that startups and young companies don’t want to hire through staffing agencies because of the higher costs.  In part, that’s true, but it’s not the real reason.  Most companies would gladly pay an extra cost for great developers immediately.

…continue reading Technical Questions Staffing Agency Recruiters Should Ask Prospective Clients

In this week’s I Need More Ears, we have a special guest appearance from Toby McKes.  He shared this story with me, and it was so amazing, that I asked if I could share it with you:

About 10 years ago, C89.5 started playing this song…it was a mashup before mashups were a thing.  And, it was the most glorious mashup my young ears had heard.  It was the instrumental from “Let’s Groove” by EW&F, with the vocals from an Elton John song I had never heard called “Are You Ready for Love”.

They played it all summer and I fell in love with it, so I called the station and asked who it was by, but they didn’t know.  They told me that it arrived in one day at the studio in a blank envelope containing a CDR that said “Elton John” on it.

…continue reading INME Friday: Toby Finds His Love

A little bubble gum never hurt anybody on a sunny spring day…enjoy!