A photo of Jason Clarke from the waist up, smiling at the camera wearing a brown corduroy sport coat and blue sweater

Hi, I’m Jason Clarke. I’m a family guy, writer, and digital strategist based in Orono, Maine. More about me →

Ideas & Ethics

  • You can’t “hire perfectly” anyway, so stop having 6 rounds of candidate interviews.

    In supporting friends and former colleagues who are job hunting for tech industry roles over the past several months, I’ve heard multiple stories of people enduring 3, 4, and sometimes 6 rounds of interviews. This misguided attempt at “hiring perfectly” has to stop. As a friend once told me, “we’re not doing brain surgery” in…

    You can’t “hire perfectly” anyway, so stop having 6 rounds of candidate interviews.

  • Practice Makes Progress

    “Practice makes progress” As a lifelong perfectionist (and as someone living with OCD – yes that was diagnosed by a psychologist, not TikTok) this phrase hit me hard when my excellent career coach Martha Schmidt shared this with me earlier today. Many of you are probably well familiar with this advice by now. For me,…

    Practice Makes Progress

  • Season 22

    Twenty-one years ago today, I posted for the first time on this blog. A lot has happened: My wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last year; we have two nearly adult children; I’ve moved twice; changed jobs a few times; traveled quite a bit, and seen much joy and heartache. In terms of…

  • Movement Creates Motivation

    Each year since 2021, I’ve chosen a mantra to help focus my mind for the year. In 2022, it was “I have no enemies”, inspired by a dharma talk by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. This mantra was largely inspired by the atmosphere of vitriol and tribalism in communities, the media, and the world. It…

  • The new news cycle

    If you saw an interesting story on network or cable news yesterday… …It was on Facebook yesterday; …It was on Twitter a few days ago; …But it was on Reddit at least a week ago.

  • Trying out a public revision process

    With the launch of this latest version of my site (roughly my fifth iteration since 2006), I’m experimenting with two new features I’d love to see on other blogs: a changelog and a roadmap. Yes, it might seem strange to have these two software and/or enterprise-oriented features on a tiny personal site, but why not?…

    Trying out a public revision process

  • Local banks should hire a “startup advocate”

    A recent crowdsource-driven funding contest promoted by a local bank in my area got me thinking about how banks in particular can find themselves on the sidelines of the entrepreneurship/startup movement as the costs to starting a business drop and as new and creative fundraising options become available. One way that banks can become more active participants…

    Local banks should hire a “startup advocate”

  • Newspaper ignores users, YouTube terms for ad revenue gains

    Continuing its history of ethically-questionable advertising policies, my local paper, the Bangor Daily News, is now trying a new tactic: Taking videos from YouTube, embedding them on the News site, and then running their own full :30 second pre-roll ads in front of the videos. This grab for advertising revenue is not only an annoyance…

  • Wilson’s Miner’s “When We Build”

    If you make anything – websites, cars, fasteners, jewlery, anything – I think you’ll really love watching designer Wilson Miner’s talk on the art and process of building. It’s been a great source of inspiration for me. Wilson Miner – When We Build from Build on Vimeo.

    Wilson’s Miner’s “When We Build”

  • Mike Daisey and this American denial

    Two things are really bothering me about today’s news that monolougist Mike Daisey fabricated portions of his hit performance piece “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.” Let me get something out of the way out front: I’ve known Mike since about 1996. He was an advisor/supporter of my high school’s speech & debate…

    Mike Daisey and this American denial