Ending Joblessness (Update 2)

So, when last we spoke about my future work situation, I was regaling you with tales of interviews gone awry. Maybe not “awry”, but certainly not “well”.

Here’s another one.

One of the places I applied with decided that they were interested enough in me after an initial phone call that they wanted to fly me out to Chicago for the weekend to conduct an interview. On landing in Chicago, I received an email from another company also wanting to set up an interview. The company that was flying me out wanted me on Friday morning, so I had Friday afternoon free to try to fit in another interview, so I said I was interested and set up an interview for that afternoon.

This was a breakthrough for me, because this was a video game developer. Not a large one, mind you, but a video game developer. There used to be two big game developers in Chicago: Midway (obviously), and an EA office. Quick, name the last Midway game you played. Chances are pretty good that the last Midway game you played required quarters, so Midway is not doing well these days. EA, on the other hand, is HUGE, yet, for some reason, decided to close their Chicago office. So refugees from those two offices have branched out to start their own companies.

My interview was not with one of those companies. My interview was with a developer of mobile phone games. Not quite as prestigious, but still.

My morning interview ran later than I expected, so I basically had to run from my interview to the train, then run from the train to the next interview. In a balmy Chicago August. In slacks and a long sleeve shirt. Carrying my MacBook Pro (why?). Obviously, by the time I got to that interview I was A) out of breath, and B) sweating like crazy, but C) on time. I don’t know what the interviewer must’ve thought, but he offered me a drink several times. I wasn’t thirsty, just sweaty.

We started talking and I found out a bit about them and they a bit about me. The bits about them were not encouraging – never had I.T. support, no infrastructure, no phone system, no experience, no benefits, antiquated systems, etc. Some of it was cool though – everyone seemed nice, their office looked like an abandoned factory turned into a studio apartment, turned into an office. And there were pretty cool projects that they needed done. But I could see that the money wouldn’t be there and there were no benefits. “Options?” you’re saying, “It is a software company after all.” I didn’t even ask.  And the job would’ve been challenging for about 3 months, then there would’ve been nothing for me to do but sit around and wait for someone to have problems. So it would’ve been, basically, a couple of years off from working to play around with this small mobile phone game company. And all this would’ve been fine, and understandable for a company of less than 30, but when the economy is collapsing around us (maybe), mobile phone games are not something people are going to be spending a bunch of money on. Certainly not enough for me to stake two years on.

I hope they do well, I really do, but I’m not at a place in my career where it would make sense for me. Maybe someday, but likely they’re going to need to find some fresh out of college kid who wants to take on a few projects and can afford to get canned when the company needs to shed employees.

Imaginary Conversations

For a long time I’ve enjoyed imaginary conversations between politicians. I usually wish they weren’t imaginary. How cool would it be to have a very long, very open, televised conversation between major  figures? What if we got to watch our next president have a serious conversation with Putin or Ahmadinejad or even us?

Lately there have been lots of them showing up wherein an imaginary conversation takes place between Sarah Palin and some other world leader. Here are a few of my favorites (and select quotes).

• Palin and Kissinger: “Everybody always thinks I’m a greeter at Wal-Mart — it’s the combination of my glasses and spunk.”
• Palin and Sarkozy: “Todd, I told you she was arty. You look arty, Carly. Whaddaya play? Do you know any Jim Croce?”

This one isn’t Palin, but it’s definitely worth reading:

• Obama and Bartlett: “I didn’t expect you to be getting beat by John McCain and a Lancôme rep who thinks “The Flintstones” was based on a true story…”

The problem with our current situation is that the people who are reading these columns get the joke, and the people who aren’t reading them won’t. It’s the same problem the Daily Show has.

I really really really hope that America is done letting itself be the punchline in a global joke.

Thanks, of course, go to Mego for sharing.

Ending Joblessness (Update)

I spent a good amount of my short time in Chicago interviewing for jobs. That was my goal well before departing, so I’m glad I was able to make that work out.

Here’s one such story:

Upon arriving in Chicago I got a phone call from one company that I applied with wanting to schedule a phone interview. They didn’t know that I was in Chicago and could’ve done it in-person, but the phone interview was good. Mostly a lot of predictable form questions that I have come to expect and have pretty good answers for – “How do you like to solve problems?”, etc. This interview, I thought, went well, despite the fact that I had to jump off of my train mid-route and conduct this interview on the side of the road in Roger’s Park. I must have done pretty well, because the cheery HR woman on the other end asked me if I would do a second interview with the I.T. Manager.

The I.T. Manager called me a couple of days later read through a list of technical questions for an hour. Seriously. “What’s the difference between SATA and IDE?”, “Can you give me an example of a MAC address?”, “What is an IP address?”, etc. This bothered me for a couple of reasons, which I’ll get into later.

After this awkward exchange of information, I was asked for a third, on-site interview.

When I applied for this job, I knew that it wasn’t especially close to my home in Chicago. Going to the on-site interview gave me a whole new understanding of “long commute”. I missed rush-hour, but it still took me almost an hour of driving to get there. I had to take three highways. One of them was a toll-way.

I got there a little early and started doing some math on the back of an envelope (literally). That commute was going to be about 30 miles each way, at about 22 MPG, or 2.7 galons. At $4.50/gal, it’d be $12.15 per day for gas, plus $1.60 for the tolls, or $13.75 per day for the commute. Twenty days in a month at $13.75 is $275 per month and $3,300 per year. Plus 2-3 hours per day of my time.

Going into the interview, I knew I was going to be asking them for A LOT more money than I would be if it was going to be a short commute.

This interview was a little more loose and informal, but I was still being asked the kinds of questions that a brand-new HR person reading “Interviewing for Dummies” would come up with. And this was with the I.T. Manager. Who would be my boss. My requested salary was “within the range” of what they were willing to pay, I was told, but I still had my doubts about the job.

When I got home, I emailed the cheery HR woman and told her that I wasn’t interested. Here’s what bothered me:

1. The company claims that it is doing things to help the environment and reduce their impact, but any employees who live in the nearest large metropolitain area have to commute ~30 miles to get there.
2. The commute was unreasonable. No way am I driving >2 hours per day to get to a job…at least not for very long.
3. The working environment was dead. Cubicles too tall to see over, no noise, no fun, a boring office park in the middle of ticky-tacky little boxes, all the same.
4. Not to insult anyone, but the interviews were awkward, long, and impersonal. The interview questions might as well have been a web form. They revealed nothing about me and guarantee that you will only get even more people like your current I.T. staff.

I can do better.

Oh yeah, and the reason being quizzed about I.T. stuff bothers me? I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life working with computers and the last 5 in a verifiable, professional, hands-on way. Being treated like I’m lying on my resume makes me wonder how I’m going to be treated at work. I don’t mind being asked a few higher level questions by someone who knows what they’re asking, but an hour long vocational-school level test of minutiae is not appropriate in my opinion. For a great discussion on the topic, see this Slashdot forum.

Ending Joblessness

Today I have the first of several interviews to try to find some form of employment for when I am finally, completely moved to Chicago.

As almost all of my “dress” clothes are folded up in boxes waiting to be unpacked, and I have no printer, and I don’t really know my way around yet, presenting myself as an organized, professional person is something of a challenge.

Today I am meeting with a recruiter who came highly recommended by a friend of a friend. This should be good, because being new in town means that I don’t know the market well and even if he doesn’t have anything that fits me right now, he will probably have some good information about what I can / should expect.

I seem to be doing okay, though, since I have another interview this afternoon and another one tomorrow morning. The one this afternoon is with a payroll processing company in BFE suburbs, which would suck for commuting, but the company seems like a casual place to work. Tomorrow I am meeting with three people from a local university to see if their IS department would be a good fit.

…crossing my fingers…

2 down, 6 to go

We were supposed to have gotten through three interviews today, but the 9:00am one canceled. No big deal, I hadn’t had enough coffee yet anyway. We’ll deal with that on Monday.

The 10:00 was pretty good. Good experience, certified Apple specialist, nice guy. A little shy and might have trouble taking the lead on projects. Capable of conversation, though, which was nice. Probably would be good at the job once he got comfortable. That might take a while, though, as my workplace transcends the concept of “casual” and sometimes runs right into “clubhouse”.

The 2:00 was less good. Good experience, certified specialist, nice guy, but not on it. Maybe he was nervous, I think he was just too sheltered. Certifications aren’t much good if you can’t communicate what you’ve learned. He seemed to be having trouble with that. Also, literally, black socks and sandals. Remember Gary? One of the nerds from “Homer Goes to College”?

Monday we have six. Six interviews in one day. It’s going to be a long day.

If anyone who has applied is reading this, please go read as much of “Brazen Careerist” and “RandsInRepose” as you can. I promise it will help. Also, LifeHacker. Just search for “interview”, “resume”, that kind of thing.

Also, good job finding me.

IT Manager Seeks Same

We’re now interviewing candidates to take over my position when I leave.

Of the 71 responses we’ve gotten to our solicitation for resumes, only 8 had any experience with Mac OS X. All of which we are calling in for interviews. And three of them asked where to send their resume.

This gives me some hope that the simple fact that I do have quite a bit of experience managing Macs means that I will be considered for some positions that others have no shot at. Hopefully, anyway.

So, I’m reading stacks of resumes, dozens of cover letters (though less than I expected), and learning a lot about people and the hiring process. I’ve hired people before, but it’s been a while. And those were graphics technicians, which are quite different from IT guys. Graphics technicians are a kind of hip nerdy, IT guys (apparently) are not hip nerds.

I consider myself a nerd. I don’t deny that. But I can speak in public (thanks to debate), dress myself (thanks to brian), hold a conversation (thanks to public school), relate to others (again, thanks to public school), make jokes (thanks to Matt Groening), and (despite what my girlfriend says) deliver information beyond what is solicited. I interview well.

Which is apparently not a common characteristic.

As this decision is made, I will keep you, my faithful reader, abreast of the situation.