Josh Klein's Cool Tech Job

Josh Klein has expertise in social systems, computer networks, consumer hardware, animal behavior, and publishing and has consulted for companies such as Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle and The United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

What is your current title?
Technology Innovation Strategist, independent consultant based in NYC, but travel pretty extensively, mostly to Europe and the U.S.

If you had to write an ad to fill your job, what would it say?
Mad scientist needed to cross disciplines, stir up trouble, and create the impossible while driving new markets and solving real problems.

What's the coolest thing about your job?
I get to be constantly challenged to learn, discover, innovate, and have fun in new ways and in new disciplines.

What are at least five duties you have as part of your job?
-Email constantly.
-Lots of cocktail parties.
-Use the latest technology platform/package/API/whatever.
-Try to limit face-to-face meetings to three days a week.
-Advise clients about innovation initiatives, craft proposals for their internal teams to deploy, design products, manage external teams, and critique existing programs, i.e., fairly high-level strategy with deep dives into the technologies behind them.
-Play at things that aren't being paid for by clients, for instance designing a computer program that follows up on pending emails from people, designing a cat toilet training regime (to use the human toilet), crafting a proposal for a new kind of VC investment firm, writing a novel... and a bunch of others.

What's the coolest thing you've done so far in your current job?
Started planning a trip to the great Pacific Garbage Patch to recover the plastic using some interesting new technologies.

Does your career ever get dull or routine? How do you rekindle your love for it?
Not usually, but if/when it does I just throw myself in the deep end of something I know nothing about. For instance, fashion. The biggest project I'd done with this was to switch my wardrobe to only contain 9 black t-shirts, 9 black boxers, 9 black pairs of sox, a pair of jeans and two pairs of shoes. Since then I've crafted a proposal that will hopefully have me working with Nick Night to create a new line of high-end clothing specifically for me which can quantify the value of word of mouth to a clothing brand.

Did you ever expect to have the career you have?
Only inasmuch as I expected to someday love what I do.

What was your career path?
University -> first job I could get out of college -> 10 years of deep tech/business skill acquisition -> world domination.

Do you have advice for how people can find their own cool job and live out their passions?
Do lots of different things, get very good at some of them, and then follow the opportunities given to you. Create your own luck. Have fun. Be good.