One More Shot

I asked Shutterstock for one more shot.

Seven months earlier, I had interviewed there and left with an offer for a project-management job. It was a good company and a real opportunity. I turned it down because I wanted more responsibility.

Reality Check gave me that responsibility. I became CTO, joined the executive team, and got deep into the infrastructure and operations of a hosting business. I learned plenty. I also started to see that the growth I had expected was probably not coming.

Now Shutterstock had an opening for Director of Systems Operations. That sounded much closer to the work I wanted to do. The company also had product roles open, and I was curious about those too.

So I wrote back.

There was no clever pitch. I reminded them that we had already spent time together, explained what I had done since, and asked whether they would be willing to interview me again.

Going back felt slightly awkward. I had passed once. The easy move would have been to pretend the door was closed and look somewhere else.

There was also a risk that they remembered the earlier no more clearly than the earlier interview. I could not control that. I could make the case that the seven months between conversations had made me a better fit for the harder job.

But I liked the people. I liked the business. Shutterstock was already public-facing in a way most infrastructure companies were not, and it had the scale to make systems work matter every day.

Pride is a stupid reason not to send an email.

I sent it.