My time at Google is nearing an end and it seems that while my department want to keep me on, Google believes that because of the economic climate that all contractors are to be let go rather than kept on, regardless of how good they do they’re job.
It’s a shame, over the past six months I’ve seen a number of great individuals leave because of this rule and while it doesn’t make sense, I’m not angry about it.
You see Google will never be short of money, they literally have a hose pipe of funds being pumped into them through advertising and it’s amazing how far they’ve come. So I guess the reason behind this is to uphold a sort of facade to the rest of the world that while they’re doing bad, a company as unlikely to be touched by the recession as Google is also doing bad too.
But hey, this is just a new opportunity. I’ve learnt a lot at Google, my Actionscript skills have advanced, I’ve picked up Python (through using Google App Engine which is a really nice environment, especially on a Mac), I’ve worked on designing campaign components for huge clients and I’ve had the pleasure of working with some great people. All this has taught me a lot about the design and development industry and with this knowledge I’ve been able to find ample amounts of interest in my work.
Recently I’ve been going to interviews here and there, but I’ve tried my best to stay away from agencies. I understand how some people feel about agencies, but at the end of the day they’re just doing they’re job and you can’t be mad at them for that. I do, however, question the commission agencies take from me, and although they say “we’re not taking the money from you, rather the creative agency”, at the end of the day that’s money that I could be getting. I’ve come to realise that a lot of them charge between £20-60 on top of your daily rate, that’s a lot!
So it’s been my mission to make sure I get in with as many marketing, advertising and creative (design and build) agencies as possible so I could by-pass these agencies. But there may be times where I’ll have to take a gig through them and while I won’t be happy that they’re cutting almost £60 off my rate, I will be happy knowing that I’m working (and therefore earning), networking and also learning new skills. And I believe that’s what it’s all about: self-improvement.
