Oct 16, 2006

Iron Sulfide

Do I think you're a fool if you still work at ePrize? No, not at all. This Blog is not meant to insult the finer folks trapped in the purple, red, and green prison in Pleasant Ridge. That'd be like making fun of the cons in Folsom Prison.

Sometimes you just need to shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die. Likewise, sometimes you just need to take a job that's going to pay you lower-than-industry-standard wages to perform an insane amount of work at a breakneck pace. Added benefits include giving up your tedious family and doffing your self worth.

ePrize is a terrific job for kids right out of college. They get a taste of the corporate world (disguised as a "we're just a big happy family" mom & pop shoppe) and get an addition to their nascent resume. They also get some war stories to tell around beers at the local brewpub and maybe enough scratch to get an apartment.

The biggest challenge that these young pups will face is finding the time to update that resume. Often job hunting can be a job in itself.

So, no, I don't think that you're a fool for sticking around. I realize you're busy. I only think that you might deluding yourself if you feel that you've got a career on your hands. It takes a very specific cut of person to fit into the tribe of "lifers" there. Even those folks can make the mistake of resting on their laurels for a moment and find themselves kicked to the curb without ceremony -- or a decent severance package.

2 comments:

Benjamin Caparoon said...

So I see a lot of post from you about ePrize. I was curious why so much hate with this company? I totally dig that you hated it there but why waste so much time blogging about it?

The real reason I am commenting here is because I am in the process of job hunting myself and I was doing research about eprize because of going through the interview process and came across your blog. As a potential employee your blog sounds like you are just a disgruntled employee that is mad about getting fired or something.

Can you be more specific as to when you worked there? Not exact dates if you don't want just maybe the years and about how long you were there. If it has been several years ago don't you think things might have changed?

How many hours did you have to work? Was it because they were a start up company? Back in the day the start ups were booming but there were a lot of hours spent on projects.

One thing that did kind of spook me about the place was the fact that there was a room about the size of my house (1800 sq ft) that was jam packed full of people. I couldn't believe how many people they could fit in there. I didn't know it at the time but that was where all their designers, programmers and ID people sat.

The other thing they told me was about all their processes and guidelines you had to follow as an ID. I liked the idea because were I work now doesn't have any standards at all. But then they tell me that you have about 3 days to complete a 25 page promotion site that includes QA revisions and I thought to myself "Man! When do you eat freaking lunch?" I mean don't get me wrong I am fast at html/css but that is really fast and then they said you will have 4-8 projects at one time. Well that's fine too because I like to keep busy but how much overtime would that take. I am a team player and all but I have a family that I like to spend time with.

They said that if you get overwhelmed with work just let them know and they will give it to others. They have many IDs, not sure how many but enough so that no one works too much overtime. How much is too much?

Anyway, I just thought I'd hit you up for some more detailed info because I don't really want to quit my job if it's really as bad as you say it is. At the same time it looked like I'd be working with some cool people and the projects look like fun. My main concern is the place being like a sweat shop. I don't dig sweat shops. I might have to kill someone if they make me stitch shoes all day long without a lunch break.

Your buddy Vommie

Unknown said...

I think that most all of your questions are answered in other posts here and posts on http://eprize.blogspot.com/

Good luck in your decision.