Build things and talk about it: My journey finding work in AI and creative technology
My latest gig, the path to it, and a demo of SmartNav
Join in with what I’m building and learning in creative AI ⚡ in this post:
🎉 Big career update!
🌀 The journey that led me to the new gig
🗺️ SmartNav demo video, my final project at Upstatement
Hope you had a wonderful summer solstice last weekend! We’re getting to the halfway point of the year. I find it’s a nice time to both reflect, and look ahead. These words from my friend Johanna resonate. Go outside and feel the warmth and light:
We are here to activate and open during this brief time, simultaneously embodying our joys, fears, accomplishments and grief while still tapping into the peace and beauty that are ever present.
While writing this update I felt a range of emotions all at once. Gratitude of the updates I’ll share. Joy towards close friends recently getting married. Grief and sadness, because I had to miss the celebration while recovering from covid. All of these things at once. And these words gave room for it all to be held.
New role: Creative Technologist at Google Labs
Big Update! I've joined Google Labs as a creative technologist. It's a full time contract role via Magnit. I started a couple weeks ago as the first creative technologist as the program kicks off. I’m continuing my work with AI prototyping, looking at a range of future experiences at Labs.
This is the first time I’m combining my past experiences in creative technology and product management more formally. In the past they’ve existed in two separate worlds. I’d work my day job doing research, product, tech stuff, and then on nights and weekends I’d be an artist, building interactive works and demos. Both worlds are fulfilling, and they certainly helped support each other. Now I’m in a role that really needs both in the same space. Even just in the first couple weeks, I’m bringing more of my full self and skillset, which gets me so amped. The PM’ing skills are useful to create structure to navigate through the ambiguity, and the CT skills are helpful in quickly coming up with a range of ideas and building them out.
How did you get this position?
Can you share the journey of getting the position? I’m struggling to find creative tech jobs that would be versatile and not pigeonhole me. Please share more about how you got the interview and the role, I appreciate it.
Versions of this question came up after I shared my work update. The past issues of this newsletter offer details of my journey in creative tech and AI. Here I’ll share a recap. We’ll begin a couple years ago when my last gig finished up.
Press pause to take some time
Back in 2021 I was laid off from Medium. It had been five years, going into the pandemic too. I was burned out, and really needed some time to chill. I took my severance, moved my things into storage, and moved back home, “taking some time to indulge in rest and curiosity.”
After a couple years of having conversations with friends and past colleagues, hosting creative tech events, and building out ideas, I had a clearer idea of the kind of work I wanted to find. I moved back to San Francisco, and I shared these insights with my network:
I'm exploring full time roles. I'm most interested in work that sings to my creative, tech, and community skills more holistically. This post goes into my superpowers and also includes a summary of my work history below. There are gigs out there I’d love but i'm not aware of, and my hope is this post will help start new conversations. I’m primarily focusing on the SF bay area because it’s a nexus for generative AI.
Do the work I hope to do
I started looking for jobs in product management, since that’s what my last role was. I got a copy of Cracking the PM Interview. After a few conversations the possibility of creative AI prototyping felt more real, so I also got a copy of Cracking the Coding Interview. I started reading one, and then the other. And then I developed a plan to refresh on programming. But this whole process felt roundabout. This isn’t what I wanted to do. What if I just started working on what I wanted to do? What if I tried this for a couple months to see how it went?
Earlier in my career when web browsers became more powerful with more possibilities for web apps, I coded up a bunch of web projects and shared them as blog posts and talks. I started doing that with AI in this newsletter, but I knew I needed to try something different. People don’t really blog now the way they used to. Blogging now is through TikTok style videos. So what if I did that for my prototypes? I’d make a prototype, and then make a quick demo video of it. The videos didn’t get much visibility on TikTok. I’d repost them to LinkedIn. Not too many people saw them, but it started conversations.
My first video was about a multimodal model, and my second was a video about tldr-scale. Then I posted gas me up AI which resonated even more. It showed a more playful and caring use of AI. Not only would people see new ideas with AI applications, they could see my skills in action. Instead of having to prove out what I could do, I could just show it.
What’s something you believe many around you don’t? That creative tech prototyping is a valuable skillset when it comes to understanding how we can use an emerging technology, especially generative AI. While I couldn’t find jobs for it at the time, I had a hunch there would be later, through a combination of expanding my skillset, and more companies and resources moving into the space.
The independent work becomes real
One of the conversations that gained momentum was with Mike at Upstatement. I joined the team for 3 months as an AI Experience Research Engineer. This was a pivotal moment. I brought my independent practice — to explore AI opportunities, build prototypes, and make demo videos — into Upstatement. This made the work even more compelling because demos were guided by Upstatement’s insights and expertise in web design and development in their practice areas. It’s great to explore what’s possible with the tools, and you can also direct this towards valuable problems to solve. I always had a hunch about creative technology and product discovery, and in this collaboration I saw it in action. Mega thanks to Mike, Molly, and Burns for bringing me on and all of our AI jams.
As the contract wrapped up I shared a note in this newsletter and with my network about looking for my next opportunity. A few possibilities bubbled up, and I got a text about this creative technology program at Labs. A buddy introduced me to the program lead, and things started moving.
What helped was having a few portfolio projects, sharing them publicly, and then talking about them. Often with new initiatives companies are looking for people who can work independently — find their own inspiration, motivation, and move things from start to finish. That’s what the portfolio helps illustrate more tangibly. My AI projects page is a straightforward URL that captures my work and interests. When I shared the signal that I’m open to conversations and new opportunities, I shared this URL to friends and anyone expressing interest to move the conversation forward.
AI-Powered Site Navigation: SmartNav Demo Recap
In my last newsletter post I shared my final project with Upstatement:
What if instead of browsing and searching across a site, there was a way to gather all of the relevant information and bring it to you? Sites are no longer static documents, they’re dynamic and updating. What if they could be further generated based on what you’re looking for?
Our goal was to create a prototype to implement these ideas in a real context. More specifically, on MIT pages relevant to new and prospective students. After a design exploration, we settled on two key features: (1) Given a query, search across key documents to synthesize a response and (2) dynamically generate an interface to render the information. These content UI’s are called SmartBlocks.
This past month I recorded a demo video sharing the prototype I made for the project. You can see it here:
Thanks for reading!
🙌 Follow what I’m up to by subscribing here and see my AI projects here. If you know anyone that would find this post interesting, I’d really appreciate it if you forward it to them! And if you’d like to jam more on any of this, you can reply here or on twitter.
🤭 I made a book. It’s called “Feeling Great About My Butt,” and is a book of illustrations and words that find ways to make space for feelings of whimsy, devastation, and growth.
📞 Book an unoffice hours conversation: We could talk about something you’re working on, jam on possibilities for collaboration, share past experiences and stories, draw together / make a zine, or meditate.