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Presentation made during Electronic Media Fest at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC 2004 about my career trajectory from library school to startup to corporate america during the evolution of User Experience as a discipline.
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COPYRIGHT Wachovia CONFIDENTIAL
Innies, Outies & Other Tales from the TrenchesSamantha Bailey, Vice President, Information Architecture
For the Record
•I’m a librarian who works in digital spaces
•Currently: VP, Information Architecture for Wachovia
•Pioneer in IA: First employee of Argus Associates, spent 5 years there developing their operation & methodology
•MILS from University of Michigan, 1996
http://www.mcphee.com/amusements/current/11247.html
The Librarian Action Figure is a joke (sort of) but finding the right career path isn’t…
Today’s Talk
•An abbreviated look at my career path & an overview of Information Architecture as a “Career”
•Reflections on working inside a large company vs. a small company
•Reflections on working as an internal employee vs. an external consultant (an innie vs. an outie)
•Free Advice (caveat emptor)
I promise!
My smooth-sailing, trouble-free, straight forward, sky-rocketing trajectory to wild success or not.
•College: Philosophy Major/ Women’s Studies Minor
•Borders Books clerk (desperate for cash)•Planned Parenthood (planning to get a Masters in Public Health and do Good Works)
•Library Studies (planning to get a Masters in Library Science and do Good Works)
•Reference Librarian (Abject Failure)
•Information Architect (!!!) for entrepreneurial start-up
•Dot-bomb statistic (company collapsed in 2001)
•Unemployed (humbling)
•VP at Wachovia (got to work on Wachovia.com redesign) (!!!)
•Next????
What is Information Architecture?•Art & Science of organizing information to make it more findable, manageable & usable
•Popularized by Rosenfeld & Morville text “Information Architecture for the WWW”
•Enables me to apply my background in classification, information retrieval and vocabulary control to the web
•Exciting mix of new & old
Want to learn more?
•Asilomar Institute for Information Architecture (http://aifia.org) (job board)
•SIG IA Listserv (http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIA/)
•Monthly “IA Cocktail Hour”
A few things I’ve learned along the way…small company vs. big company
My small co experience…PROS CONS
Great for learning & skill building—wear many hats
May be hard to specialize—wear many hats
Can be more entrepreneurial, try new things
Will likely have to do “scut” work
Great environment for self starters
May not get a lot of direction
Fewer politics, Less bureaucracy
May not develop critical political savvy
Terrific sense of belonging & “family”
Fewer resources, lower budgets, less stability
My BIG CO experience…PROS CONS
Benefits, benefits, benefits
Bureaucracy is the price tag for all that security…
Resources Access to those resources
Mergers & Acquisitions
Mergers & Acquisitions
Room for growth, lateral transitions, regional & national relocation
Less empowerment
Stability Stagnation
A few things I’ve learned along the way…innie vs. outie
What’s an innie?
InniesPROS CONS
Get to eat your own dog-food
Have to eat your own dog food
Build industry subject matter expertise
Don’t find actuarial tables scintillating? Too bad!
Long-term relationship building critical
No respite from annoying colleagues
Get to see projects all the way through to Launch
Have to live with projects after the honeymoon wears offOften less respected in your own organization than consultants
OutiesPROS CONS
Consultants are gods Everyone hates consultants (see: Dilbert)
Time is more valued by your colleagues
Billable Hours
Outsider perspective Outsider status limits trust, access to info
Don’t have to eat your own dog food.
May not see your projects launch
Project ends & you get to go home
Less depth
Always a new project Frenetic pace
Travel Travel
FREE Advice!
• Be open to learning from all corners— “humble” jobs have value too
• Persistence always pays
• Seek a variety of settings and approaches—versatility is marketable
• Focus your attention on doing the job at hand to the very best of your abilities rather than longing for the desired next step
• Spend 80% of your time doing your job and 20% of your time managing your career—networking, self promotion
• Your career path will probably be very different from your plans & expectations
COPYRIGHT Wachovia CONFIDENTIAL
