Mixsonian Larry

2000

AOL Interview 2

I waited and waited. Two weeks later I had not heard back from AOL had about given up when another person from AOL called. Apparently resumes got passed around to the different hiring managers within AOL and the new person said they were interested in me for a position as a technical project manager. After talking on the phone, they said they were interested in me and would be in touch.  Yeah, I had heard that line before but the following day the secretary called and set for me to come in for an interview and the interview was set up for the following Thursday. 

From:     Barb@aol.com
To:       LMixson@pec.com
Sent:     Tuesday, February 22, 2000 4:21 PM
Subject:  Re: Interview Thursday Feb 24 - 10:00
 
Larry,
 
Don't worry.  If you have already filled out an application, it will still be on file and it will not be necessary to repeat that exercise again.
 
I will tell HR that it is not necessary for them to come out for your interview since you have already spoken to them.
 
Thanks.  Have a great day.
 
Barbara
America On Line, Internet Services

Thursday came and I gave some excuse to get off work for the day and drove out to the AOL campus. AOL’s headquarters was located off of route 28 three miles north of the Dulles Airport. At the time AOL had four building on their “campus”, there was the main AOL headquarters building which they simply called HQ. Adjacent to the HQ building were three other buildings called CC1, CC2  and CC3 which later I learned the CC stood for  “Creative Center”.   After seeing CC1 I could understand why it was called a creative center, large open concept floor filled perhaps a hundred cubicles, it was like a giant rat maze of cubicles, with brightly colored fabric walls. Artwork hung on the walls and large colorful mules on the walls of the hall. Cubicles were divided into different sections each with a theme and a center common area with couches and coffee tables. In one area was a ping pong table.  Ok, interesting, even pretty, but cubicles just the same, if I got the job I would miss having my own office. My first interview was in the CC2 building which was a nice building but not as “creative” as CC1 but still impressive.

For the second interview I was told to go to the Datacenter building which they explained was across the street from the HQ building. I had not noticed the Datacenter building, or DC1 as it was called, on my first visit as it was a low building and had high embankment around it so that it was mostly not visible from the road. I pull into the driveway and park in one of the parking spaces marked for visitors and go into a very small lobby.  There was no receptionist but there was a window with a security guard behind it, so I go up to him and tell him I’m there for an interview and give him Barbara’s name.  He tells me to sign in the logbook on the counter and calls Barbara and tells her I’m there for an interview. I sign the logbook and he tells me that Barbara would be right out to get me and hands me a temporary visitor’s badge which I pin on the shoulder of my coat. Barbara came out a view minutes later, greets me and takes me back into the building. Unlike the Creative Center buildings, DC1 had narrow halls, with regular walled offices although there was a small area that had perhaps a dozen cubicles.  Barbara desk was at the end of a hall outside a row of offices. Barbara was a really nice woman, reminding me of my mother, even having the same name.  After checking and verifying some paperwork Barbara explains that I will talk to two of the hiring managers and took me to the first, a man named Josh.  Josh greets me and I have a seat in a chair in front of his desk.

Josh started by giving me more details about the group I was interviewing for. The group was called Internet Services and they provided such services as computer hosting, server management, database management to other groups within AOL and would be providing such services to all the different Time Warner divisions. Time Warner divisions? I asked. Josh explained, Yes, AOL was in the process of acquiring Time Warner and Time Warner had dozens of different divisions, many of which used internet services from different companies. One of the cost savings of the merger was that AOL would provide internet services to all the Time Warner divisions.  This was a big effort which was why AOL was hiring people in their Internet Services group. While most of the AOL Internet Services group were technical staff, they needed project managers to coordinate all the different projects.  Josh’s was the manager of three or four people that interfaced between the technical staff and their “customers” with the customers being the other groups within AOL and the to be Time Warner groups. I really liked Josh, a few years older than me, he just seemed to be a real nice guy, “I could work for him.”, I thought Although I wasn’t all that interested in customer project management, I would do it if they offered me the job.

Josh seemed very positive about me and when done called Barbara who came in a moment and took me to the next person I was to interview with, Brayton.

Unlike Josh who was quite laid back, Brayton was quite intense. Brayton was a short man, five or six years older than me, and was slightly chubby, like a boy that had not lost his baby fat. At six foot two, I was almost a foot taller that Brayton, later someone said we looked like Mutt and Jeff from the comic strip. Brayton managed a group of technical project managers, while Josh’s team managed the customers, Brayton’s team managed the technical aspects of the projects.  Brayton went into more detail about computers, hosting, networking and so on, asking me questions about my experience and knowledge. I didn’t get as good as vibe from Brayton, but I did like the more technical aspects of the job. After wrapping up he called Barbara to come take me to the next person to interview with.

Barbara led me back to her desk telling me to have a seat for a moment, that she would call the next person to see if they were available. After talking on the phone for a moment, she said I would talk to the VP next and led me to his office. I took this a good sign.

The VP was a man named Carlton, perhaps a few years older than Brayton and Josh. Carlton ask me to have a seat and we talked for a few minutes about why I was looking for a job, what I thought about AOL and what Josh and Brayton had told me about the job. After telling him my thoughts, we talked about salary some, and he said he thought they would make an offer. I was quite excited. He called Barbara who then came and walked me out to the lobby. On the way she said both Josh and Brayton had good things to say about me and that she would be in touch.

Updated: 05-03-2024

Job Offer