I completely forgot about my one year anniversary last week! On November 19, 2006 I started Ring Nokia and since then a lot has happened. I went to Spain for the first time in my life, the UK and now I’m living in Finland of all places.
In that one year a lot of my goals have changed as well. At first I wanted to be the number one Nokia blogger, the source that aggregated what awesome things people around the world were doing with their devices. That drive only lasted a few weeks; it quickly became obvious that I wanted to change things. The S60 operating system wasn’t what I thought it would be; devices were not what I was expecting them to be.
Meeting more and more Nokia people around the Dallas Campus and at various trade shows let me express the ideas floating around in my head to people, these ideas sparked conversations, and after a year these conversations have lead to several new friendships.
My goal now is to break through, to get into the company, to connect each and every one of you guys with the people inside who can change things. I’ve been applying for jobs at breakneck speeds, my friends and long time readers who follow me on Jaiku know this, but I want to tell all of you as well.
I successfully managed to get a short term, 1 month contract job at Nokia. It has nothing to do with devices, nor software, nor services. Simply put, it is my task to do a few edits to some videos internally and get them out on to the net. These videos are highly similar to Google’s Tech Talks or TED, by that I mean influential people talking to Nokia employees in an auditorium. The speeches given inside that room were only beneficial to the guys who could attend that meeting; it is now my responsibility to make those lectures and words of wisdom accessible to the world.
This means that there is money currently in my bank account that has come from Nokia. It is important that you know this because it affects our relationship of writer to reader. My goal, to repeat, is to get inside Nokia. I can tell you that the dream I have has not impacted my writing, but that is for you to decide.
The N82, N95, E61i, these are all just devices. When you get the chance to meet some of the people I have, who get the internet, get hardware, understand the future, then you realize that the energy and philosophy of the employees within a company are what impacts the devices that get released to the market. Without those people there is no Nokia and I want to be a part of that team. I hope you can understand why I have this dream.
I’m actively interviewing, I just got turned down from a job today actually, but I’m not a quitter. I made it this far and I’m not going home with my tail between my legs.
If any of this information makes you uncomfortable, then I can highly recommend to you these bloggers who have been, and still are, my personal inspiration and who have been on the net much longer than I have:
- Ewan, Rafe and Steve from All About Symbian
- Darla Mack
- Eldar from Mobile-Review
- Eric from Phone Scoop
- Michael from Mobile Burn
- Michael from My-Symbian
- The team at Bright Hand
Most importantly I want to thank my team at IntoMobile. Without them I wouldn’t be able to be in Finland and do what I’m doing now. They’ve given me an opportunity that has completely changed my life and for that they commend my respect and praise.
[About the picture: I don’t know who Justin is, but his parents rock!]