Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Why yes, I work in Europe . . .

It's actually been a bit long since my last post, which is too long than I wanted.  I've finally got myself feeling a bit settled in here in Cologne after my first month of living here.  It's actually a bit hard to believe that more than a month has gone by, and my time here is already shortening.  It's really been great knowing that a lot of people have been reading, and the blog has actually started to see some worldwide traffic, which is also really great!  Please keep commenting, as I enjoy reading the comments.  It's a good way for me to hear from you, and it's always a pleasent surprise to know who is reading!

A lot of people have already asked me how work is going, and I have been hesitant to post on here about it until I had really spent some time there and felt comfortable there.  Working at Hitflip Media Trading, has just been great.  The people are all young, and friendly, it's in the center of the city, and everything is going smoothly.  I don't know exactly how much detail I can go into about what I am doing, but I will try not to be too vague.



One thing that is really difficult for a lot of online companies to deal with, is that the reliability on Google is just so huge.  Especially for a company whose business is solely run online, Google controls the market, and if you are not appearing on search results, or in Google advertisements, your business will surely take a hit for the worse.  So a lot of what I am doing is maintaining and improving the company's services showing up on Google searches.  Besides that, I am also doing some customer service work for Hitflip's UK site, and doing some translations that are still remaining there.  As of now I am the only American working there, and the only other native English speaker is a co-worker from England.  Everyone else in the office is German, but all really helpful with my German, and understanding that I can't speak perfectly.  

Last Thursday was an exciting day for work, as we were hosting Cologne's Internet Marketing Conference 2008.  It was held in a VIP section at the local soccer stadium.  There were a couple hundred people that showed up, and plenty of fun.  I think the idea was for a networking event, but I think that the German idea of networking is mostly just an open bar, and a lot of young people.  I left the stadium at 3am.  It was great fun!  There is a link at the bottom of the post where there are some photos.

There are also links already added to the side column of the blog.  There you will find the three projects that we have at Hitflip.  I am currently doing work for Hitflip UK, and Hitmeister.  Check the pages out to see a bit of what I am doing.  

Sorry I don't have any pics or anything for this post.  I hope to add some to it shortly.  Maybe a shot of my desk or something, we'll see.  

Thanks for reading!  Feel free to leave comments!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to comment because it looked lonely without one. So it sounds like an awesome time which makes me jealous. If you go for scatter-brained (and at times offensive to certain people) rambling I have a blog too. So I'm going to keep reading your posts. Take care!

-Keely

Anonymous said...

The job sounds great although I am sure it is nothing like working for me...I know that I was and always will be your best boss. Keep blogging and new pics please???

Anonymous said...

I love that you were sporting a UNCW sweatshirt!! It looked like so much fun!! As a single girl, I know realize that I MUST go to Germany. LOL - thanks for the update!!

Anonymous said...

Saw you quite alot of pics! Your face was priceless in one! Sounds like a hard job but fun!

Anonymous said...

Hey Andrew!
Whos linkin in there :) You did a lovely explanation of work with/for/because of omnipresent mother google.
It was very nice to meeting you at IMK and all the other old and new faces of Hitflip.
I like your understatement of german networking :)

greetz
hannes
(In fact your german is much better than my english)