Back in the early days of the Internet—when I was a teenage webmaster—one of the best ways to get people to your site was through things called webrings. You and other webmasters who had similar sites would agree to send each other traffic through a simple interface that each webmaster posted on his or her site. Browser who used the webring would get a random walk across a small corner of the Internet. As the Internet has evolved and Google has gotten really good at giving us what we’re looking for, randomness has fallen out of the online experience. StumbleUpon is a San Francisco based company that is bringing randomness back. They’re a social network and “discovery engine that finds the best of the web, recommended just for you.” When you click the “Stumble” button, you’ll never quite know where you’re going to end up, but it will be relevant to your interests and recommended by the greater StumbleUpon audience.

Stumble Your Way to a Job

Job searching is actually a lot like using StumbleUpon. You often find yourself wandering around the Internet hoping that you happen upon something interesting. That’s probably not the best approach when you’re trying to get something done, but if you’re feeling short on creativity, it can really help. As I’ve wandered my way through the Inc. 500, I’ve noticed more familiar names than I’ve seen in past years. More and more web startups are becoming real businesses, and that means extreme revenue growth like StumbleUpon’s 2036% three-year growth to $5.9 million. StumbleUpon is actually a familiar name, as they were one of the biggest traffic sources to One Day, One Job when it first launched. StumbleUpon can send massive amounts of web traffic, and that’s how they make money. Some of the sites that they recommend are sponsored, so webmasters can use StumbleUpon as a cheap source of traffic. If you are a proponent of randomness on the web, you should check out StumbleUpon’s Jobs. Their current offerings that might be suitable for new grads include Business Intelligence Analyst, Front End Developer, Research Engineer, and Visual & Interactive Designer. Check them out and see if you like what you StumbleUpon—if you don’t, you can always submit a general application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• StumbleUpon.com
• Jobs at StumbleUpon
• About StumbleUpon
• StumbleUpon’s Blog
• Management at StumbleUpon
• StumbleUpon in the News

Do you use StumbleUpon?

We've identified StumbleUpon as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• analyst
• California
• design
• engineering
• social media
• social networking
• software development
• web development

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