Digital Dave

I’m going to start writing a little about my little adventure toward employment.  This includes each step through the process, introduction, face-to-face interview, etc.  I’m also doing this during the process so I don’t forget the details.

I found this company through the Career and Employment Center early on in the year while looking for a C++ position. But due to my dedication toward entering the game industry (applying to jobs, going to the game developers conference), I failed to actually meet this company at our career fair. Once I realized the extremely difficult nature of finding an internship in the game industry, I simply had to find something, game related or not. I did some research, enjoyed what I saw, and thought I could make an impact — so I passed on my information in an effort to get an internship.I was contacted and was on the verge of proceeding into an discussion when the position slipped right out from under me — somebody else got the position. Hard lesson learned, which is ultimately why I’m going after any company that I feel like I could make an impact this time. And as early as I can.

So I got back in touch with them last month and they gave me an opportunity to prove my worth. Today I drove out to Shawnee to complete an in-house exam. The first major barrier.

The place is phenomenal. Both the company and the area. I’ve never been to Shawnee, but I enjoyed what I saw. The few people I met at the company were extremely friendly, and the building has an extremely nice atmosphere. Heck, they also gave me a $10 gift card for Starbucks in return for taking their exam, which I promptly went across the street to get myself a nice Frappuccino with.

I still need to figure out who designed that building. I’m sure my girlfriend would appreciate what they’ve done with it as an Interior Designer.

So what do they do? Simply put, they built and continue to improve a document management system based on customer feedback. The system allows you to put documents in the system, link particular information between documents, and find/send documents with ease. This has turned out extremely well for them as they’ve grown a LOT recently. Apparently, they found a good niche and tackled it head first. We’re talking $5 million back in 2001 to a projected $67 million this year. They focus heavily on the customer while also putting great emphasize with taking care of their own employees… As they have a 98% staff retention rate… Not bad.

So how did the exam go? I was confident as hell taking it… But once I started the 3-hour drive back home I started to analyze things that I did… Yeah, a couple oops. Some were blatantly obvious, but that’s the love of a pencil and paper with no compiler to smack you in the face. And only one thing on the exam really tripped me up. I might discuss problems in a future post.

Overall, I highly recommend that you scout this place out if you’re looking for a good place to work in the Kansas area.