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10 worst jobs

Tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs

Soon America's most bright-eyed graduates will enter the workforce and make their workaday homes in cubes at Google, MySpace, or Amazon.com. And they will suffer not just the indignity of having to work for a living, but also the dispiriting realization that a job at a cool company isn't always that hot. These employers, and the others hiring for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs, listed below, will look spiffy on a resume someday, but for now the only good these jobs promise the world is the pleasant feeling you and I can share knowing we're not the ones stuck in them. More »

Feature

7:00 PM on Tue May 20 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
113,896 views, 54 comments

Latest by YouDeserveBetter: Hey CarissaPhrixus, I think you got your greater-than/less-thans mixed up. Don't you mean "less than" 25? I don't think there are any women over 25 working there, is there? Oh yeah, only those that have been hand touched... I mean, more »

10 worst jobs

Part-time guide, Mahalo

Part-time guide, Mahalo
Key responsibility: "Help our users by handcrafting and curating search results." More »
10 worst workspaces

Tech's worst workspace: Mozilla

What's so bad about Mozilla's Toronto workspace? Besides the fluorescent lighting, the colorless white walls and the folding tables, the worst thing about Mozilla's Toronto workspace is how we're sure management would improve it. With corporate graffiti, company logos and too many colors. That was management's trick at Facebook and look where readers ranked it in our poll on tech's ten worst workspaces — as tech's second-worst workspace, just after Mozilla. Check out the full list, below. More »

12:20 PM on Mon May 19 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
2,686 views, 3 comments

Latest by Moonshine Mike: the only thing i would need is a window to stare out occasionally. why does the office need to be different? people are writing code hopefully. Not some sort of tribal bonding sessions. That's for Gawker types. more »

10 worst workspaces

Rank tech's 10 worst workspaces

After reviewing our post "The 10 worst workspaces in tech," commenter AdmNaismith described Facebook's office, pictured above, as "foggy, dank, dim, and utterly depressing." Commenter mothra1 hated Yahoo's New York offices more: "They suck! Lifeless and impersonal. Kinda like the douchebags who still actually work there." Meanwhile, Adobe apologist BlairHapjo told us we "clearly didn't get past Adobe's lobby," and the rest of the office features "Aeron chairs, real offices (with doors!), big picture windows." For us, the worst offices we found on Office Snapshots and elsewhere were the the ones that try too hard to seem Internet-hip, like Jajah and Google. Now it's time to settle the disputes. Below, vote for your least favorite and help us rank tech's 10 most dismal places to work: More »

6:00 AM on Fri May 16 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
4,844 views, 6 comments

Latest by Monster Chalk: Facebook = Sweat Shop Mozilla = Suicide more »

careers

Mahalo's real talent hunt

Jason Calacanis is, a bit pathetically, trying to find a host for videoblog Mahalo Daily after the short-lived run of Veronica Belmont. More vital to the company's future is its search for a "seasoned systems engineer." In a Craigslist ad, Mahalo's recruiters call for candidates with experience in "massively scalable architectures." By "massively scalable architectures," Mahalo means a website which runs MediaWiki software and serves a paltry 8 million pageviews a month.

3:40 PM on Tue May 13 2008
By Owen Thomas
521 views, 3 comments

Latest by vulturesquadron: @ClosingTag: You're hired! more »

cubicle culture

The 10 worst workspaces in tech

We've toured the top 10 workspaces in tech. Now, we've gone back to Office Snapshots to find the 10 worst. What makes them so bad? Some offend with exposed fluorescent lights, gray cubicles and a dystopian corporate sheen. But others, with their pseudo-hip graffiti, kindergarten toys and plastic decorations — all in a desperate attempt to seem "Internet-y" — come off even worse. We'll start with Yahoo's New York digs. More »

6:00 PM on Thu May 8 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
176,549 views, 38 comments

Latest by Danny Mann: i'm not sure it counts as "tech" although it is a website, costar's corporate hq offices in bethesda are pretty horrible. you know you're in trouble when "$.25 soda/water" is a selling point in the interview process... more »

10 worst workspaces

Mahalo

Mahalo
Mahalo founder and CEO Jason Calacanis not only pays his "guides" between $30,000 and $35,000 a year, he also houses them in what appears to be a poorly lit, post-apocalyptic strip mall. (Photos by Conrad)


Next: Google

7:59 AM on Thu May 8 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
17,502 views, 1 comment

Latest by Tator Tot: Following Jason on Twitter is annoying, I had to cancel all of the useless alerts I received from him every 10 minutes. more »

online video

Behind the scenes at the Mahalo Daily Idol auditions

Bonny Pierzina broadcasted from live behind the scenes in Santa Monica for the Mahalo Daily Idol auditions via Justin.tv, and I've been assured that archives will be made available. The three judge panel of Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis, DiggNation co-host Alex Albrecht and cantankerous vlogger Loren Feldman voted Valleywag favorite Sarah Atwood on to the second round — glad to hear they didn't hold our endorsement against her. Audition wrap-up from the judges after the jump. More »

12:23 PM on Sat Apr 19 2008
By Jackson West
1,191 views, 7 comments

Latest by sggrf: How the hell cares about Mahalo Daily? Mahalo has to prove they deserve to exist before anyone spends any real time watching anything they put out. more »

online video

Sarah Atwood has my vote for Mahalo Daily Idol

The clock is ticking down to Saturday's open casting call to fill the role of Mahalo Daily host. The job, formerly held by Veronica Belmont, is to serve as the pretty face for Jason Calacanis's site that's trying to cash in on top search terms. I'll go ahead and endorse Nerdtainment's Sarah Atwood. Am I just offering my recommendation because she put me in her audition video? Of course! But I do have other, less narcissistic reasons. More »

10:00 AM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Jackson West
1,401 views, 5 comments

Latest by Fidel on the Roof: @Peteski: She's banking on it. more »

clips

Jason Calacanis on bulldogs and steak knives -- the two-minute version

Crack videoblogger Robert Scoble heads to Mahalo to interview bulldog entrepreneur and blog blowhard Jason Calacanis. Scoble rolls 24 interminable minutes of virtual tape as Calacanis talks about the math of buying monitors and comfy chairs and how the backend of Mahalo works. Forget that. We trimmed the video down to the most important bits: bulldogs and Glengarry Glen Ross-inspired steak knives.

6:00 AM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Jordan Golson
716 views, 3 comments

caption contest

"Icy Hot Stuntaz -- Revolutions"

We hear Mahalo's "guides" — the editors who update the online directory's search-engine-friendly pages — only make between $30,000 to $35,000 a year, and their employer only grosses about $9,000 per month. But Sean Percival, Juan Aguilar and Mike Rhodes would you like to know they are nevertheless in possession of bling. Or something. Please tell us what. Best caption becomes the post's title. (Photo by sean percival)

4:00 PM on Wed Apr 9 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,998 views, 51 comments

online video

Kevin Rose's ex-girlfriend Posh Suicide eyes Mahalo Daily gig

A tipster tells us we're off in picking iJustine as the new host for Jason Calacanis's little-watched Mahalo Daily videoblog, previously known solely for featuring former CNET personality Veronica Belmont. "iJustine for Mahalo Daily? Really?" he writes.
She totally blew the screen test for Big Brother today. She choked, and they had her re-shoot. She may still have a shot, since the casting guys were interested in her 10k followers. Seriously though, I think she's a lost cause for Mahalo Daily.
So if iJustine's out, who's in? More »

4:40 PM on Mon Apr 7 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
3,677 views, 15 comments

Latest by Scopitone: @mercury888: You're an ass more »

mine is faster

Mahalo employee can afford a binary-tagged Audi A6

We reported — and CEO Jason Calacanis didn't really deny — that Mahalo grosses about $9,000 a month. But don't worry about Mahalo employees. Here, for example, is Mahalo employee Sean Percival's Audi A6. It costs between $43,725 and $57,075 . Obviously, Percival is not a Mahalo guide. Surprisingly, Percival is a Mahalo guide. They only make $30,000 to $35,000, we hear. By the way, if this handy binary to text conversion tool is correct, Percival writes 011000100110000101100100 code. (Photo by Eric Rice)

10:20 AM on Mon Apr 7 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
3,040 views, 24 comments

Latest by andyfox1979: discussing the salaries of sub-executive level people is bad form, IMO. Driving cars like these is also obnoxious on a sub-executive level salary. @seanpercival: The bling picture might have been funny in 2002. Faux bling pictures are two steps away from real more »

rumormonger

Tipster: Mahalo revenues are around $9,000 a month

At Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis's Dim Sum 2.0 dinner in New York a couple weeks back, I was just within earshot when Calacanis told someone nearby that Mahalo was already profitable. A pleasant surprise, he said. Later, I asked him directly if Mahalo was profitable. "Not yet," he told me. Now a tipster tells us Mahalo isn't even close — with 4 million unique visitors a month on 8 million pageviews, the site's monthly gross is $9,000. More »

9:20 AM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
3,663 views, 27 comments

exits

Veronica Belmont soft-quits Mahalo Daily, Jason Calacanis

Mahalo Daily host Veronica Belmont — the videoblogger whom Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis once dubbed a "Rojas-level hire" , in a comparison to Engadget cofounder Peter Rojas — has announced she's "moving on to new projects." She'll host the show for a few more weeks and then later contribute as a correspondent. "This came out of nowhere," a Mahalo source tells us. Considering Belmont's working conditions, it shouldn't have been a surprise. Interviewed in the video clip below, Belmont — who lives in San Francisco — says she spends two weeks each month in Santa Monica. How did Belmont like the commute? "It's not optimal, but it gets the job done." Not anymore. But there is a winner here. More »

11:40 AM on Wed Apr 2 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
4,444 views, 7 comments

Latest by Peteski: I'm gonna start caring about the dating habits of tech grrls once the Zoloft wears off, I swear. more »

mahalo

Calacanis reveals journalist roots with extra-clever math

Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis is an entrepreneur now, but back in the 1990s, he ran a publication called Silicon Alley Reporter. And sometimes, his journalist roots show. Like during this recent interview with The Deal when Calacanis explained who uses Mahalo. Seems 80 percent come from one place and 80 percent from another. Watch for when reporter Mary Kathleen Flynn nods in a big way, as if to say, "Makes perfect sense to me."
When people come to the site, I think its it's probably 80 percent the use case of Wikipedia and 80 percent the use case of a traditional search engine like Yahoo or Google.
Below, Calacanis explains the perfect sense of his figuring. Those prone to motion sickness should proceed with caution. More »

2:20 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
865 views, 11 comments

Latest by matto: Star-bellied Sneeches 4 LYFE YO more »

great moments in hr

Calacanis interview technique: "I try to scare people"

Eyeing the $30,000 to $35,000 salary TechCrunch's Duncan Riley says Mahalo pays its workers? Better be prepared for a rough-and-tumble job interview. That's Jason Calacanis's style, he told The Deal. How else do you think he got "all the money"?
I try to scare people in the interview. It's basically my technique. I tell them this is going to be hard. You're going to suffer, but we're going to make great stuff. I try to create an entity where people who are not passionate get expelled by the system.

11:40 AM on Thu Mar 27 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,915 views, 26 comments

Latest by microserfin: Although his delivery of the message sucks his tactic is actually good. If any of you have run a company you will agree. Essentially he is filtering through the noise or candidates that come from the culture of entitlement the more »

spam

Mahalo walking fine, spammy line with Google

Last week, a 43-page internal Google document detailing guidelines for the company's search result "quality raters" was leaked online. It details exactly what qualifies as Web spam, and as SEO pro Aaron Wall points out, much of Mahalo fits the bill. Content copied and pasted from other sites? Check. Lots of AdSense ads and affiliate links? Check. Mostly links to other sites? Check. Anything left after that stuff is removed? Not really. Google doesn't differentiate between human-curated link farming and automated link farming. And a pagerank demotion for the domain would also affect the "how to" content Mahalo shifted its focus to, leaving founder Jason Calacanis and his investors to depend on traffic generated by Veronica Belmont obsessives.

3:00 PM on Fri Mar 21 2008
By Jackson West
1,297 views, 13 comments

Latest by ZukeZuke: Yeah, I just don't get the Mahalo thing. Everyone and their mother knows to Google... Although Veronica sure is nice to watch. Cute, and she actually knows/gets tech and gaming. I miss her being on CNET. That more »