Life has been busy. I guess one could call it a good way. I have been spending quality (pseudo-vacation) time with Heather. When Heather moved down our office was in crunch mode. That means they were working us 10-12 hr days, 6-7 days per week so that we could make sure that we got our product out as promised by management.
In the past two weeks I have taken Heather to Venice Beach, Universal Studios, Disney, and a few other nice sites. We have done genealogy together, played some games, and watched a good bit of Buffy. (She is almost thru season 2, no spoilers folks)
I’ve been putting out applications and resumes just about every day. And in the numbers of 5-10 each time. (Three cheers for the electronic age… rah :-/ )
Sadly however, the software industry is now all about Networking; and I don’t mean Cisco or Novell. It used to be that a resume got a 30 second glance… Then it was 10 seconds electronically to match keywords. Now… Now, your resume seemingly only gets looked at if someone on the hiring team knows you. And only in preparation for your interview.
Which is funny in a way, because one of the things that’s kept me from going whole hog into the Theatre/Film industry is a grand distaste of who you know in place of what you know.
The good news is, that I have a phone interview today. And it’s one I garnered by hand passing a resume at the conference in San Francisco. So it wasn’t a $2K wash. I am familiar with the company, as many readers may reallize that (when I choose to announce it, that) they do to.
The purpose of the software engineering interview is two fold. 1) To do a bulls&*$ check on the resume. “So, I see you say you have 8 years of practical Java experience… Why haven’t you mentioned Sun as a previous employer?” But primarily, it’s a mutual desperation meter. The nature of the questions and the tone can tell one party or the other, who is more desparate for employment.
My interview for TG in ’99 was effectively their CTO going on and on about their technology. in fact, he didn’t really ask me anything other than, “Does this sound interesting to you?”
So, back to today’s phone interview. The potential job is in Alameda. That’s right, near Oakland (Raiders!) where all the nuclear wessels are. (5 geek points each for recognizing the reference)
What I hate to admit folks. And for those who know me really well. I’d almost rather take a Windows development job in L.A. than a Mac Job in the North East bay area. Don’t get me wrong. For the right offer, I’m willing to move. I mean, a six figure salary with the (until recently 6 coloured) fruit in Cupertino (a long goal) would be very hard to pass up. But, I really have grown to love this hazy, smoggy city. We have a beautful church, a nice place to live (which admittedly, they are jacking the rent 10% in September), but most importantly, some very good friends that will be hard to leave behind. Not to say, leaving Pittsburgh was an easy decision either… but that was at the end of 15 years with an eye on California.
So, right now, my two ideal companies have been fairly quiet. Both companies are high in the “Who You Know” department. Fortunately, I have an insider at one of them. This would be a return to my last company doing Java/Windows dev. The other… well, at least I’ve met a colleague who I can commiserate with who is also fighting the, “anyone inside wanna be my friend” battle. Happily, we’re not aimed at the same department; so we might be able to help each other out.
All in all; this one is a cynical day. I stil have the stop watch going… but financially, I don’t _have_ to rush. I don’t want to rush… I want a good job I enjoy.
More posting to come…
