A couple years ago, I got a job as a community person for a finch startup, mostly through luck, as the existing community manager was a friend of a friend of my girlfriend. They took a chance on me, despite no relevant professional experience, because I showed I had the skills through years of blogging and doing a podcast. (The podcast is now defunct, but I'm still blogging.)
It wasn't a great experience, and six months later I inherited the entire community role after my boss was unceremoniously fired after getting a better offer. I did my best, but chafed at the unethical tasks I was asked to do, like importing directories of email addresses of our target audience into our mailing list, and using that number as our "total users" for fundraising presentations. After another six months, and being verbally berated by the CTO, I quit/was fired.
Currently, I'm working as a web producer for a publishing company, and while it's an okay job, the only challenging part is dealing with. I want to get back into a tech-focused company, where I can be challenged by interesting stuff, and solve problems instead of putting ads in people's faces. I"m not sure what I should be working on doing. My skills are primarily writing, HTML and CSS, and some social media/community management/email newsletter stuff. I don't necessarily know if I want to go back into that community role, unless I know the company is operating completely above-board, but I'm not sure what else I'm qualified for. Front-End UI/UX might be an option, especially if I can pick up some jQuery to add to my skills.
What course of action would you suggest, HN?
(Also, I'm keeping the name of the startup I worked for quiet, as they have a tendency to threaten former---and current---employees with lawsuits if they piss off the founder. I think my non-disparagement clause expired, but just to be safe...)