I think that some of the biggest innovation yet to come in the Internet space is going to be in the form of payment processing. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if one day in the future we pay for almost everything by logging into our Facebook/Google/Amazon accounts. That still seems pretty far off though. The lag in easy online payments can probably be attributed to the need for extremely high levels of security. As soon as it’s ridiculously simple to send a friend money to chip in for a group gift, it’s also going to be ridiculously simple for a hacker to take you for all you’re worth. In the meantime there are some companies that are working to develop transitional solutions for payment processing. San Francisco’s Square is one of them. They have developed a software platform that allows anyone to accept credit card payments. It all started when a glass artist was unable to make a sale because he couldn’t accept credit cards. Now, all you need is an iPhone/iPad or an Android device to do just that.

Fair and Square

Not only does Square allow nearly anyone to accept payments, but they also allow you to do it anywhere. Their tagline is”0 to $60 in under 10 seconds.” They’re not quite there yet, but they’re working on it. Ideally, all you have to do is download an app, set up an account, and get your hands on one of their Square readers—a small device that plugs into the headphone jack of a phone and accepts credit card swipes. This is an amazing solution for a lot of people. I think of farmers’ markets as the ideal place for Square, but you probably have a different idea. What’s also cool is that customers can get their receipts via e-mail instead of having little pieces of paper that they crumple up and put in their pockets. If you like what Square is doing and you want to help move us forward towards better forms of payment, then take a look at jobs at Square. Right now they have positions in Software Development/Engineering, Customer Service, Design, Information Technology, and Research/Risk Analysis, and quite a few of them seem well suited for new grads.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• SquareUp.com
• Jobs at Square
• About Square
• Square’s Features

Would you ever use Square?

We've identified Square as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• California
• customer service
• design
• finance
• information technology
• mobile
• research
• software development
• web development

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