The ideal candidate would be a passionate, highly motivated programmer with actual job related experience working with Ruby on Rails. Primary duties will include front-end and back-end programming tasks to support a major partner initiative. Secondary duties will include ongoing enhancements to our existing web application and tools to support our sales/support staff as needed.

The candidate will be working in an open, relaxed, creative atmosphere- with a small team of extremely talented developers and designers in a phenomenal loft-style office space (13 foot ceilings, hardwood floors, brick and timber finish, and tons of windows). We hook our design and development staff up with MacBook Pros, big ‘ol flat panels, and all the software they’ll need to create great work.

Find all the nitty-gritty details on the TST Employment page.

The UW - Eau Claire program (which I graduated from) stresses conceptual practices and theories- and does it well, while leaving the mastering of computer applications up to you as a student. (Meaning that you’ll have to spend a lot of time learning the ins-and-outs of Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Flash, etc. yourself to be truly proficient.) Software is an incredible tool, but no matter how tempting it is- never forget the freedom of pencil and paper. The fine art (studio art- such as life drawing, sculpture, photography, etc.) classes that are part of some design programs will encourage you to think about design in different ways using diverse media as your creative vehicle. When you are exploring different programs- take a look at the school’s curriculum and see if studio art classes are part of their design program. They should be!

As far as preparation for the real world goes: get a design internship! Internship experiences during college summers can teach you more about “the industry” than you will ever learn while attending any design school. If you attend college in a smaller city, I highly recommend expanding your internship search to include some large cities (such as Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, LA, etc). Metropolitan areas provide a much larger arena of creative opportunity outside of the classroom. There’s just something about the intensity of urban areas that inspires creativity.

When it comes to landing a job after graduation, there are two things that are of the utmost importance- and where your degree is from is NOT one of them:

1. Your portfolio. The more it rocks, the better! One way to enhance your portfolio while still in school is to start doing freelance design on the side. Even if you’re doing it for a friend for free, or for someone your parents know for cheap- you’re still working on a “real” project for a “real” client- this will give you a huge step-up on your peers when you graduate and are looking for a job. Make sure to think of every project you work on as an opportunity to create a masterpiece… no matter who it’s for, or how much you’re getting paid (or not paid, for that matter).

2. Your communication skills. Effective interaction with your superiors, peers and clients will play as large a role in your success as your actual design prowess. Your ability to listen, relate and then understand and analyze are all extremely important. Remember: graphic design is communication arts.

Yesterday Apple introduced their latest addition to the Mac Pro family- a ridiculously fast 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon-based machine. Of course, like any self-respecting designer would do, I had to cruise on over to the Apple site and customize one for myself.

Apple boasts of 33 million configurations- but I was curious to see how much the new offering would cost with all the bells and whistles. (not that any web designer could ever actually use this configuration to its full potential)

Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeons, 16GB of RAM, four 750GB hard drives, one NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 graphics card, two 30 inch Apple Cinema HD Displays, two 16x SuperDrives, one Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and one AirPort Extreme card later my subtotal stood at an incredible $15,717.00!

Wow. That’s a lot of cake for a computer.

I shared my “research” with my wife, Amanda. A look of pure horror ran across her face… and I spent the rest of the evening assuring her that I am completely happy with my current setup and I am definitely not crazy enough to drop that kind of cash on any computer… (but wow, would it be sweet!)

Keep Your Refund FATTER

While the season was below average by most accounts, good snow was still had. More importantly, fishing season is only weeks away! A little photo memorial to the 06/07 season:

While I was a little disappointed in our will power (or lack thereof), I was ecstatic about our red-hued biting machine. After spending the last 4 years working 70-100 hour weeks, you would have had a hard time convincing me that I would ever have time for a pooch. I came to find out that there is always a way to be a little more efficient. When Jill is on the road, Gabbi comes into work, and when I am late at the office Jill makes sales calls from home. It recently occurred to me that this dog really is the best of both worlds…by the time I leave for work in the morning, I can’t wait to get to the relative peacefulness of my desk and by the time the work day ends, I’ve completely forgotten about the fact that the little brat ate my sandwich when I wasn’t looking last night.

Now that we have a great product in place- it’s time for us to acquire additional clients. Hiring on an intern for the summer will give us the continued push to keep our client base growing. An internship will also provide a great opportunity for a college student interested in sales and marketing to be apart of an agile and fast paced environment.

We have the full job description posted here. If you’re a coach, parent or neighborhood friend pass the word along to an aspiring college student!

“NHL Podcasts are music to the hockey fan’s ears. Official league and team podcasts put you inside the world’s fastest game like never before”

Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design is not just a book about code, nor is it just a book about design theory; instead it is a conceptual hybrid of the two. Andy Clarke fuses code with concept, and then illustrates their fusion with beautiful, real world, examples and screen shots.

As Andy mentions early on, this book is not for CSS beginners, and web designers not familiar with CSS selectors and properties will probably find themselves a bit lost during many of the examples. However, for those of you comfortable with the language and syntax of CSS, this book should be a permanent addition to your web design bookshelf.