Due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm looking for employment in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[Update: I landed in Technical Writing. I currently manage a team of writers and write at a Silicon Valley chip company on a part-time basis. Until recently the other half of my time was spent writing a developer guide for another client -- until the day they suddenly ceased operations. So now I'm looking for a short-term, half-time writing opportunity, and chasing start-ups.]

I'm driven by a desire to understand and build. My career has progressed from an early interest in electronics and computers through hardware engineering, software engineering, systems engineering, embedded real-time computer consultancy, technical marketing, product management, and most recently program management. I had been with my employer for twelve years and ran my own little company for seven years before that. Blogging for the last two years has tickled a serious interest in writing and resulted in the publication of my book Get Your Head Around Aperture 1.5.

If I'm going to enter full-time employment again, then I'm looking for something interesting and stimulating. I have to be working with other smart, successful people, preferably as part of a focused team. The best position would provide a creative outlet and involve understanding new complex material. My skills for analyzing, simplifying, communicating, and educating (see my Aperture articles for example) make me particularly valuable where problems are badly-defined and even the right questions are hard to come by. It's fun to be immersed in confusion if the resources are there to create something new from it.

Product development? Product management? Strategic marketing? Management consulting? A start-up needing ideas and feedback? A VC or investment firm looking for technical know-how and real-life experience? There are many possibilities.

Alternatively, I might be tempted to grab one of the many product ideas I have and make a go of it. There are plenty of Mac applications and learning books to be written, so all I have to do is pick a winner and execute flawlessly. Meanwhile I'm available for writing assignments and anything else that fits my skill set.

Your site has been such an incredible help I just wanted to say thanks. The descriptions are fantastic, the screenshots nice and clear, the examples so helpful.... I know of extremely few sites as exceptional as yours, and I just wanted to say thanks and keep up the great work. Its already been a great timesaver, and I think your book will probably get me to spend much more time using the ins and outs of Aperture - something the Aperture Help manual never could.

Your writing and information on Aperture is superior to anything else I have seen. My own view is that articles are produced by two camps, one where the article is produced for the sake of fulfilling an obligation, and the second, much rarer, where an article is the byproduct of knowledge and enthusiasm. The second is almost always the best, and definitely where your site belongs.

I'm impressed that you not only have such a grasp on the program in general, but are able to put it out there in such a concise, informative and professional way on your site too. And this quick! Your site is amazing, very impressive. I've learnt a lot already about Aperture just from following your step-by-steps. By the way, love the gallery. Keep up the good work, I've bookmarked your site and will be back!

I stumbled across your page of articles yesterday while trying to do a bit of research into how Aperture has changed with the update to 1.5. Here is wishing that I had found them months ago -- they're very nicely written and thoughtfully laid out. You have articulated very nicely a multitude of things that I have been discovering by trial and error ever since I dived into 1.0, and put them into a easily digested and usable form. You have also explained several items about which I was utterly clueless. Many thanks for your diligence.

I want to thank you for all the work you have done with your blog. It has been a great help to me with Aperture, which is less than intuitive. I love how clean your pages are and how your graphics are big and clear and right on the point. It is a model site, in my opinion.

Thanks for the well thought and beautifully written review of Aperture archiving alternatives. It was exactly what I have been looking for.

Hi. I'm sorry not to know your name, but want to thank you ahead of time for your excellent blog posts. As a new Aperture user, they have been essential to getting a grasp for the software.

What a fabulous bonanza of Aperture tips. God, do I wish I had stumbled across this a month ago when I started importing my older photos. Brown folders, blue folders, Apple's built-in smart albums (no documentation), etc. Confusing! Thanks again. These tips are right on the money!

I stumbled across your site today, and I have to tell you your Aperture articles are fantastic. I've been reading quite a bit about the program these days, and your articles were by far the most direct and easy to understand. And they cover topics that are important. Thanks for that!

Thanks so much for publishing your site. I am an amateur photographer trying to grow out of my amateur title a little bit and find your articles amazingly helpful.