Trader Interactive

Talented product leaders, come say hi! This is an exciting team, growing product portfolio, and an industry ready for you to make an impact. Let’s build cool stuff. LinkedIn, do your thing 👇 #hiring #productleadership

Self-deprecation as an art form is underappreciated. When you are willing to honestly examine yourself -- even in a tongue-in-cheek manner like this ad does -- it makes you feel authentic. Putting on a bulletproof veneer only works in the short term: initially, it makes you seem strong. Over time, it makes you look arrogant and unrealistic. The trap is taking it too far; then you look like a sad sack with no confidence. But, when peppered in at just the right ratio, it makes you feel real and accessible, and creates a visible vulnerability that draws others to you. Those in your orbit are made better by it, because they realize it's okay to be imperfect, and especially in your presence. You aren't going to demand their best at all times, and that's a freeing bit of knowledge. The really difficult part here is in just letting it happen naturally. If you're forcing it, you lose the authenticity. But, if you just open up and honestly reveal the holes in your armor or facade to others, it has an amazing effect on relationships at all levels. Your family and friends seek you out more. Your colleagues trust you to be an advocate for them. Your boss is willing to share their own vulnerabilities with you behind closed doors. Being real with others requires that you be honest about your own warts, because those imperfections are the character that make you even more enjoyable to be around. Kudos to the City of Oslo for this ad. This is fantastic, and such a refreshing change of pace from the influencer culture we live in today.

Getting Ready for the Ford Pro Squads at the Expo We are at the Ford Pro Expo in Lake Lanier Georgia. It’s getting ready to start, so here’s a quick peek at all of the exhibitors prior to opening up. #commercialtrucktrader #traderinteractive #ford #fordpro

Beautiful Setting for the Ford Pro Truck Expo It’s always a pleasure representing Commercial Truck Trader at the Ford Pro Truck Expo in Lake Lanier, Georgia. Beyond the opportunity to connect with dealers, vendors, and OEM representatives from across the region, the setting itself is incredible. This morning’s sunrise over the lake, along with an unexpected encounter with a deer during an early morning walk, was a great reminder that some business events offer more than just networking opportunities. Looking forward to another great day of conversations, partnerships, and helping commercial dealers and Ford Pro reps drive stronger results. #FordPro #Ford #CommercialTruckTrader #TraderInteractive

The Dale Carnegie course can make big differences in your ability to interact with your customers, coworkers, and anyone you encounter. There’s still time to sign up for the next class happening this week!

I love the context of this juxtaposed to where we are today with the rise of AI, because it reinforces one of the things I've been saying: in terms of software engineering, specifically, AI is not a human replacement but rather a natural evolution of software development. The model for revolutionary change in software engineering has been to continually abstract away more and more of the "tribal knowledge" aspects: - We abstracted away 0s and 1s with Assemblers - We abstracted away assembly language with higher-level languages and compilers - We abstracted away memory management with modern languages like Java and C# And now we have largely abstracted away the nuance of individual programming languages entirely. AI has made them merely off-the-shelf tools that can be quickly implemented at scale, without the engineer needing to be an expert in any particular one. They still need to understand how they all function, but they don't need to know how to write a control loop in Typescript versus Python, for example. The nuance in engineering now is knowing the difference between a typical vibe-coding prompt ("build me an app that does X") and a truly architectural discussion that results in enterprise-grade applications, features and solutions.

It's so refreshing when, amid all the scam messages from hacked accounts on here promising high-paying roles if you would just let them review your resume (for a fee, of course), you get those messages from real people about real jobs. Remember: if something about it feels off, you're best bet is trusting your gut.

As of today, I have been unemployed and #OpenToWork for 2 months. What I've learned in this go-around is wild. When I was laid off late in 2011, you generally heard back from every place to which you applied. That courtesy was there. It was still a very manual, time-intensive process to apply, even on sites like Monster.com and Dice, so applicant counts were usually fairly low. When I was laid off at the beginning of 2023, I heard back from about 60 percent of the jobs I applied to, even a lot of the LinkedIn "Easy Apply" jobs. This time around, I have heard back from 24 of 73 jobs to which I applied. That's 1 out of 3. And this is where we start to see the cracks in AI implementations in Applicant Tracking Systems. The reality is the vast majority of applicants never get seen by human eyes. ATSs are programmed to weed out a lot of candidates. In theory, that sounds great. But in practice, applying for a job ultimately boils down to "how do the ATSs think this week, and what can I do to get past the outer wall?" That's not a good practice. If there was a published, agreed-upon format for resumes that everyone adhered to, that would be an effective way to work. But since every person is different, every career path is different, every job description is different, and every industry is different, it becomes problematic, and a lot of highly-skilled people are being overlooked because they didn't catch lightning in a bottle with how their resume is formatted this week. And God forbid you ask someone to help you rework your resume. If you ask 10 people, you will get at least 9 wildly different results, because they are all guessing just as much as you are. Compound all of that with the fact that somewhere in the vicinity of 80,000 highly skilled tech professionals have been laid off in the last 3 months or so, and it's created a perfect storm. There are too many applicants to even hope that every resume would be viewed by a human, and the ATSs are whittling out 90 percent of the qualified people while passing along underqualified people just because those resumes behaved well with how that particular ATS was created to work. None of this is to vilify AI. But it is a clear reminder that we are still a long way off from removing the human-in-the-loop, and that maybe we should double-check the resumes the ATSs are throwing out. Some of the best engineers I've hired had terribly formatted and/or written resumes, but I -- the human in the loop -- saw the potential anyway.

Demand for RVs is high. The budget? Not so much. Welcome to the 2026 affordability gap. 🚐 I’ve been diving into the Kampgrounds of America, Inc. 2026 Outdoor Hospitality Report alongside our own RV Trader Q1 marketplace data, and the disconnect is wild. 52M households in the US are out there camping, and our site traffic is buzzing - but that "add to cart" moment is taking longer than usual. As someone sitting at the intersection of marketplace data and OEM partnerships, here is my take: The "Trapped Intent" is real. People are sold on the lifestyle; they’re just waiting for the math to make sense. Here is how I’m seeing the smartest brands pivot their media and messaging right now: 1. Stop selling the sunset, start selling the solution. Everyone knows camping is great for mental health (KOA data proves it). But in 2026, the most impactful ads aren't just pretty pictures - they’re focusing on payment transparency and rate buydowns. If the "how much a month" isn't clear, the buyer stays on the sidelines. 2. Embrace the "Value Migration." Our used unit leads are up 33%. This isn't a bad thing! It’s a signal. The most successful partners are using this to highlight Certified Pre-Owned programs or entry-level units that fit a tighter budget. 3. The 2026 Unlock: Brand-led Education. Go RVing handles the "Why" - now brands need to own the "How." When we replace technical intimidation with brand-led education, we convert the leads everyone else is leaving behind. What does it all mean? February was a "set-up month." We have a highly engaged, intentional audience waiting for the right signal. The win in 2026 isn't about finding new customers - it’s about using better data and smarter messaging to make the ones we already have feel confident enough to take the next step. #RVIndustry #MarketplaceInsights #Partnerships #DigitalStrategy #RVTrader #2026Outlook