A few changes

I've decided to start a web development blog. I think I'll host it on my site and build it from scratch. I'll probably start tonight.

I sat down with the recruiters last Friday and they, of course, are trying to convince me to stay. This Saturday is my 90 day mark, the halfway point. I'm having serious doubts about being able to finish out this contract. To add insult to injury I've turned down countless opportunities (not actual job offers but recruiters that call with potential jobs). Today I got red in the face and felt like I was about to blow at the absurdity I've been facing. Just a few minutes ago I got that, all too familiar, anxiety.

I actually heard one of the developers say "As long as it works in one browser, who cares?". This website is already 28 days overdue and changes are still being made by the powers that be. I think it's time to find a new recruiter, and consequently a new job. I've been trying to talk myself out of that but I'm not sure I'll be able to stand this place for another three months.

I've gotten calls about jobs that pay between $40 and $50 an hour, that's between $83,000 and $100,000 per year. It's very tempting. What I'm worried about is how this will look on my résumé. I don't want to seem flaky. I have good reasons for not staying at those jobs and I'm sure I can convey that during an interview. What I don't want is for them to judge me based on my resume and then not even get to the interview step. Also, if I start missing days at work because I'm interviewing I'll most likely get fired. I don't want to end up out of a job because I was looking for a job.

This is tough.

-Crash

Further Explanation

So I told you guys I'd update you today after my interview. It didn't go particularly well. I did fine on the PHP and HTML/CSS/JS portions of the 3 person interview but the SQL didn't go so well. Oh well. If I get it, great. If I don't, no skin off my nose. I went to visit some of my former co-workers after my interview. It was good times. It's nice to see your friends after a long time.

I also said I'd update you guys on the family situation. It's fairly amusing, really. I've been grooming my uncle to become the father he's failed to be so far. Out of a cosmic twist of fate (and some luck) the airline didn't allow my cousin to fly alone. This meant here was no way his mom could keep him if he wasn't there! Now he's spending Christmas here, I'm taking him to my house and we'll spend Christmas with my family.

My uncle is very lax with just about everything, from dealing with his kids to dealing with his wife. As I've told you guys before she's very Type-A so she's very bossy and controlling. After my outburst, my uncle saw the need to curb her attitude and set limits to how she deals with his son, mainly after his oldest son and I sat him down and talked to him. I'm also teaching him to say no to his son. He needs to learn both responsibility and accountability. He has things he's charged with doing around the house and he needs to do them before he can go out with his friends and such. The alternative is staying home until he completes those chores. My uncle has never put his foot down so I'm surprised my cousin is actually dealing with it fairly well. I'm also surprised he accepted me putting my foot down considering I'm not his father and he could easily dismiss me.

Hopefully everything I've tried to instill in my uncle will stick after he comes back from his trip to Colombia (again) only when he comes back he'll be with his wife so we'll see if somehow she can nullify everything I've done. As a people-watcher, I'm fascinated by this situation and the way it plays out. As a human being I'm appalled by the goings-on. As a family member I'm drawn to fix it.

You can't fix the world...

One Step Closer to My M3

I've been out looking at cars the past 2 weeks and I found the one I want. The car is a 2004 BMW M3. 6 speed manual, all the options except navi and parking sensors, completely stock, Titanium Silver, 62,000 miles. The car is in GREAT condition and I test drove it...I should've taken a change of clothes because I had FAR too much fun driving it.

My aunt got the loan for the car, she has far better credit than I do, and she got approved tonight but I'll be paying the monthly dues for the loan. If all goes well I should be able to register the car sometime next week and I'll be driving my M3! It's been so mentally draining to go car shopping on such short notice. My rental runs out on the 21st. I could always call my insurance company and try to extend it though.

On an unrelated note, a recruiter called me last week and I'll be going on an interview tomorrow morning. The position pays $40/hr which is quite a bit more than I'm making right now. The other good part is that the position is a stone's throw from where I was planning on moving. We'll see how it all works out. I have to do some homework on the company, see what they're about and formulate some questions for the interview. Hopefully I'll impress.

I'll need to fill you guys in on the family situation. Maybe I'll write about that tomorrow when I tell you about the interview. Hopefully I won't forget to post.

Nonsense Galore

This morning started off as any other but quickly changed. As I'm passing the parking lot this morning I see a construction crew in front of the entrance. I had to go around to the side entrance to the parking lot. I sit at my desk ready to start the morning. A little before 10am all internet functions cease. The whole company is unable to access the internet...at an e-commerce company. This is quite a problem. As it turns out, the construction crew was tearing up the street and had to cut some cables. They cut our fiberoptic line.

We were completely unable to do ANYTHING. Even testing on our development servers couldn't be done due to the need for images from the live servers. We all got in trouble, of course, because we weren't doing anything useful. Go figure. Somewhere around 2-3pm we got minimal connectivity through a satellite connection but everything crawled and productivity was at a stand-still.

On the bright side my phone interview went really well and they're looking to move forward. I was told by multiple people that I should accept the contract job offer and if the perm job turns out then I simply decline the contract job. Chances are if the perm job turns out it will be before I start the contract job anyway. And if it doesn't turn out I will have already accepted the contract job instead of losing out. There you have it, folks! That's my plan and we'll see what happens. I'll keep you all updated.

Jobs, Interviews, and Recruiters! Oh My!

I got the job I interviewed for! The recruiter called me this morning. I'm sure he was expecting much more enthusiasm from me but I also got a call from another recruiter saying I landed a phone interview at another company. This job would be permanent, not contract like the first one. If I get this one it'd be great. I'd be letting down the first recruiter but I'm not here to get jobs to make others feel better. I'm out to get paid and get paid well. Job stability would really be a plus and a contract job would mean I'd be looking for a new job as soon as I start, pretty much.

What do you guys think? I'll list the pros of each job are and you tell me what your thoughts are.

Contract:
I already got the job, I just have to accept
It's 30 minutes from home (perm is an hour or so)
I'd be well compensated (roughly $10K more than I make now)
I'd be focussing on new features to an already working system
Telecommuting would be allowed at will

Permanent:
Compensation should be about $2K more than the contract job, minimum (~$12-15K more than I make now)
Permanent means unless I get fired or laid off I've got job stability (contract is 3-6 months)
Larger company (or so it seems) means I'll be working as part of a team (I'd be the sole developer, pretty much, at the contract job)

Interview

It seems the phone interview went well enough to get me a personal interview on Wednesday. Let's see what happens then. I need to get a haircut on Wednesday before the interview...my hair is totally getting out of control and I can't show up like this. The scary part is that he didn't like one of my answers to his questions on Friday. It seems he's a fan of HTML Tables for layout and positioning. I don't have a problem with tables when they're being used for data, but using them for positioning is a rookie thing to do. That being said, if I get the job I won't walk in there and start tearing tables apart and replacing them, I'll work within my established parameters and get the job done.

Enough work talk. I woke up this morning and wasn't in as much pain as I expected to be. If it didn't cost so much money I'd go skiing next weekend again. Oh well, sometime soon I'll go again, just not yet.

Wish me luck on Wednesday. Let's hope I can wow them!