Jessica Uelmen - Udacity Project Manager
mindrobots
Posts: 6,506
What's up with that????
I received an email from her (well a bulk mailing from Udacity signed by Jessica) - I was stunned and surprised. We'll miss Jessica and wish her the best of luck.
OK, enough of the mushy stuff! Now that there's an opening, can I have her job??
I received an email from her (well a bulk mailing from Udacity signed by Jessica) - I was stunned and surprised. We'll miss Jessica and wish her the best of luck.
OK, enough of the mushy stuff! Now that there's an opening, can I have her job??
Comments
Looks like she started there in June...
We will miss her, but I think Parallax will miss here more.
No more cool videos. Sad.
Old Gaelic expression??
After reviewing the forum rules and policies, I'll refrain from commenting.
All the best wishes for Jessica.
Project Manager II, Marketing - Delta Dental
Or has she left also?
Her last forum post was May 21
Emily Kurze's LinkedIn profile say she is Marketing and PR Manager at the Linux Professional Institute - since Jan 2014.
Her last forum post was Oct 2013...
Steve, we could do videos for Parallax! That should cause an INCREDIBLE increase in demand for AUDIO product overviews!!
Yes Jessica is no longer with us - she had a great opportunity down in Silicon Valley and she took it! We wish her well :thumb:
And although he's not known by many of you, our video production guy is Robert - he's been the magic behind the camera for like almost a year now.
You've seen his work before - he's just an "un-sung" hero...
-MattG
Ray
Of many DJs they say "He has a great face for radio".
http://www.parallax.com/company/employment-opportunities
People may leave for a variety of reasons. Primarily, they could be ready for the next step in their careers. While a small company as our own can provide a wider experience where you write your own story, the opportunities for managing and leading departments can be limited until we have new business growth. In general, the turnover was in middle management positions. Engineers, technical staff, manufacturing, sales and marketing teams have remained.
Some of our may also have changes in their lives that relate to completion of degrees, relationships and relocation that are cause for them making changes. Many of these situations I could foresee for quite some time and in the spirit of open communication they were no surprise.
Our delays with Propeller 2 have discouraged some, too. With so much support invested in our R&D it's entirely reasonable that our team expects completion of this project.
We have very positive relationships with former teammates. Wanting the best for them individually can sometimes mean supporting changes that aren't good for Parallax if they take a new position elsewhere.
I might add everybody in Parallax is having amazing professional growth right now. Within minutes of somebody leaving, our team reviews and allocates their work duties to make it as seamless as possible. Neither me or any other manager could make this process work much better - it's a kind of internal motivation that a business can't buy or create, but something natural to our environment. Some of the mostly-internal changes this summer include automation of our projections for procurement and purchasing, streamlining of engineering-to-manufacturing, retirement of hardware and relocation of web sites to big servers, a new product plan (we will share by October), collaboration with OnSemi over Propeller 2, and complete upgrades to our business tools.
From a business standpoint, July and August revenue may be the highest we've recorded. We invest everything back into the team, products, equipment and R&D. Our team is too small right now and some of the positions I'd expect to open would be in IT, technical support, manufacturing and engineering. We'll be more specific about these needs once we finish our internal planning efforts for products and staff (October).
Ken Gracey
Nope. She personally contacted all of her colleagues and peers in May while she was still employed to let them know about her changes and who'd be handling what aspect of her responsibilities in Parallax.
We didn't announce it to our customer base because it's nothing to talk about. For a high-profile person like Jessica such news is only received sadly and can't help a business. Friends of mine, like you, learned of her change indirectly anyway.
Ken Gracey
It takes a lot of nuts to fill a whole bag. I'm just not sure which bag you're talking about - your own stash or the nuts at Parallax?
We don't deal with visa issues anymore. Until our government makes rationale policies to bring more workers into our country I'm not fighting with them or paying immigration attorneys anymore. We spent ten years moving one staff through the process of J-1, H1-B, green card, etc.
For this reason, contract employment is the way to go for nuts like you.
Ken Gracey
@Gordon, I've got loads of work for you when you surface again. Just let me know when you're ready! Drop me a message and I'll send you the scope of work!
Unfortunately, no.
We used to do this but it involves some hassles you couldn't imagine. First of all, we have problems with a sales tax nexus. This is a big one - we need to report and pay sales tax in the state where the employee resides. If it's a big state, like New York or Massachusetts, all customers in that state must now pay tax for their internet orders from Parallax. If the employee no longer works for Parallax then we also need to eliminate the "nexus". This can easily take five years to untangle as states refuse to let go of a revenue stream.
Next, there's the issue of health insurance. We end up with a variety of plans and exceptions along the way, often costing much more.
Finally, remote employees tend to fit more of a contractor model.
My suggestion is that if anybody wants to work at Parallax they start by doing a specific contract project. If the project progresses and it makes sense, move to Rocklin.
Ken Gracey
You think they'd let us off the hook that easily? Nope!
States that don't have sales tax have another creative way: they'll ask us to report corporate income tax made in their state once we've established nexus through an employee relationship. In other words, report sales to the New Hampshire tax authorities and they'll come up with their own "taxable income". Same deal - it'll take years to extricate your neck from their jaws if the employment relationship ever ends.
In Parallax I'm parked by three accountants. Next to being a sales person and a buyer in Parallax, I've learned the most about business operations by working with them. While we're not entirely accounting-driven in our decisions, I feel that I understand the cost/benefit of everything I do much better than if I didn't have access to them.
Ken Gracey
Thanks for sharing the gory details. I think I'm glad I don't own my own company!
Now, what kinds of contracting positions do you have available?
Don't read into it too much, Heater. In prior efforts to fabricate we didn't have the same workflow and relationships underway. I'm doing my best to see that Chip's project management style is complimented by using a very capable company for the final steps.
I almost noted that it could be easier to do business inside of the EU when it comes to remote employees (unless they're in France) but it can't be that difficult. Since the USA had the banking collapse in 2007/2008 and a recession, all jurisdictions have become more capable at collection "what's theirs" when it comes to tax revenue. So I'd certainly say that it's become more expensive to function across state lines because of the recession and subsequent changes to hold onto their dwindling taxes. Because I love my country these realities are a real nuisance.
Ken Gracey
Some us have faces MADE for radio...
I know I do!!
I'm sorry to hear the news about Jessica and wish her well in her career. She'll be missed.