Bay Blogger Thursday
[Ed. Note: Friend of SFist Irina offered to let us run her interview with Mark Jen, who we wrote about when he was sacked by Google for publishing information about the company online. He's right back on his feet, and working at Plaxo. So this week we'll take a step back and just be readers ourselves. Cheers.]
You’d think a job at Google would be the most exciting thing for a 22-year-old techie. But getting fired from Google turned out to be even more high profile. Google didn’t like what Jen wrote about the company on his blog and, of course, Jen’s fiasco at Google created tons of activity in the blogosphere. Recovering from the shock of what happened, Jen—newly employed—talks about his experience.
What did your parents say when you got fired from Google?
They were surprised. They said, “You made some mistakes and hopefully you'll learn from them.”
Were you trying to show off your new job at Google when you wrote about it?
[laughs] There is a cool factor there, but what I was actually interested in is connecting with my friends and family and keeping them updated on what I'm thinking and doing. Ergo, posts about Ikea, etc.
Are you getting sick of the whole Google thing?
No, it's something that happened and it's interesting, so I'm interested in talking about it. Also, I hope people who read about it won't make the mistake that I did.
What was your mistake?
Not being sensitive to corporate culture. I didn’t look around to see how the company was operating.
Why write about work?
For me, my job closely parallels my passions -- technology -- whether it be blogging or tagging or services like Technorati. There's a huge overlap between what I’m interested in and what I'm working on. And working at an exciting company, it kind of mashes into one thing. I like to blog about technology. this is a natural overlap.
Did you have a weird feeling in your stomach when you were making those posts?
I had made some misconceptions at the culture at Google. What I didn’t know was that they didn’t like people being open with the community at large. I really didn't have any sort of anxiety about the posts. I didn't really think it was a big deal, plus I didn't think anyone was going to read it.
Really?
Well, yeah, that was a big lesson I learned. I wasn't sensitive to the media at the time. My experience with blogs has been a personal experience, as in you read the blogs of your friends or your family, and that's about the circulation. I didn't actually know that blogging was becoming a huge movement and there was a huge community coming around it. But now I know.
What have you learned from your experience at Google?
There's a lot of knowledge that I've gained about how information travels through the blogosphere. The experienced bloggers were able to give me some perspective on that.
Like what?
Information traveling through the blogosphere is a very interesting dynamic. The biggest lesson there is to recognize the power of your words when you put them online. Information lives there forever and it travels really, really fast. Also, being employed at a corporation, there are sensitivities you should be attuned to.
And your new employer?
Plaxo is a very firm believers that blogging should be allowed, but you should have a conversation with your employers and appropriate PR people.
Why did you choose Plaxo?
I was looking to work for an awesome team. The people at Plaxo are talented and passionate. I was looking for a great environment and Plaxo has an open and transparent environment.
How is Plaxo in terms of blogging?
Plaxo recognizes the value of the value of employees connecting with the community. There are rules—you can't talk about sensitive or confidential information. But as far as personal feelings on things, that’s ok.
What is sensitive information?
Product plans, dates for releases, business practices, deals—all that stuff and more is covered as sensitive information.
Is there anything in writing about blogging?
I'm not sure. I haven’t seen anything in writing. That said, I've had very lengthy discussions with management here about blogging, what is appropriate and what isn't appropriate, how the company communicates with the community at large -- there's been a lot of work in that space.
Was getting fired humbling?
In some ways, yes. I didn't expect to be separated from my employer.
What was the most painful thing you read about yourself online after Google let you go?
People thought that I have a problem with my mental capacity. They said I was retarded or something. I’d like to think it was not true.
Have you been contacted by any fancy news media?
My name was mentioned in The New York Times and The Washington Post. But I don’t keep track. I did a very short interview with the NBC affiliate in San Jose and talked to some people on the radio.
Were you surprised at all the attention?
Yes. It's interesting.
Scary interesting or good interesting?
A little bit of both.
Irina Slutsky, contributing.