It no secret that the battle for talent in Silicon
Valley is fierce. Engineers and designers come here from all over the world to cast their
lots with top companies, startups and those in between.

Among them is Ilie Ciorbă, who works for Palo
Alto-based Mixbook. We asked him 5 questions about his work and his
experiences:

1. You’re a native of Moldova, why
did you choose to come to Silicon Valley?

Ciorbă: It really has
to do more with my career than anything else. Moldova didn’t have a design
community strong enough to hold me there, so I decided to move on. Silicon
Valley was the obvious choice, it has an immense talent pool, it is by far the
best place to be as a designer today, the market is unbelievably hot already
and it’s only getting better; when you arrive here for the first time, your
mind gets blown away. We are at the time when designers are given more power
than ever, “beautiful experiences” is Silicon Valley’s new obsession and that’s
exactly what I do. Besides, nothing beats California’s weather.

2. Native Californians may not
understand what Silicon Valley means to the rest of the world. Can you explain to
locals what ‘Silicon Valley’ means beyond our borders?

Ciorbă: People that are
outside the bubble can only see the picture painted by news media, this sort of
like gigantic war-field of faceless tech corporations fighting over the booming
market. They don’t see it fully. It is very different when you are actually
here and you’re part of the thing. Yes, it is the world’s innovation capital,
but there is life behind code and pixels, and it’s magnificent. You come to
realize that there are real people behind every single Google or Apple product
that are just like you, young and inspired, it’s just that they managed to
group together, here.

3. Have you connected with a Moldovan
community here in this country?

Ciorbă: I have
Moldovian friends all over the country that I keep in touch with, unfortunately
none of them live in California. I meet people from my home-country here too,
but it’s always by accident. I think about my presence here as a good chance to
meet new people, those kind of people that I would have never met back in
Moldova. Silicon Valley has a truly diverse community and it’s one of the
things that I really love about this place.

4. Tell us about the work you
do. 

Ciorbă: I’m a User
Interface Designer. I like to think about myself as a modern day craftsman. My
clients approach me with an abstract idea for a product they have in mind and I
take care of the rest. I define what the end user experience is going to be
like, how people will interact with it, how it’s going to work, look, sound and
most importantly how it’s going to *feel*. I’m the link between the cold
robotic world of technology and the fragile world of humans.

I’m currently working at Mixbook,
shaping the future of their services. First thing I did when I got here was to
redesign their brand, which was getting a bit dated, since then, I also worked
on their mobile app — Mosaic, improving on its interface and porting it to
Android. Bigger things ahead.

5. You work for Mixbook, a rising
star in the tech world. For those unfamiliar with the company, tell us about
it.

Ciorbă: Mixbook is an
online platform for social expression that allows customers to create photo
books and scrapbooks with an online editor. We offer our customers to upload
their photos and print them in a  beautiful photo book that we’ll ship to
your door. We help people bring their memories to life. Print isn’t dead, not
for us, not for our customers. Mixbook is a very honest company and a truly
great place to work.

Editor’s Note: Mixbook is located at 409 Sherman Ave. in Palo Alto. The company currently has
openings in engineering and design.