Author: SK

Things are picking up in my job search. I was not really looking to get a new job this soon. But hey, I can try and see if I get any offers.
First, I have an interview with Solbright this upcoming Thursday at 9AM. It’s in New York. The one thing I found about this position is that it is for Java Architect. They want somebody who can lead a team and provide technical leadership. I think I”m up for the challenge. A little scared but I think I can handle it.
The second thing, I got 2 more replies from recruiters. Actually, 3. For the first one, which they have an office in White Plains, I am going to meet her tomorrow. I’ll see what this offer is all about. For the remaining ones, I have to call the office and inquire about the positions.
Things are happening. What I should do, I think, is to line up some interviews and pick a job that is best suited for me. Maybe I can schedule 2 interviews in one day. Maybe. In any case, I should really pick a job that is going to be an upgrade to my current one. I don’t want to move just to move.
I am having fun and that’s a good thing.

Kind of a hectic day today, but a good weekend.
On the weekend, we had a Breakfast party at my Toastmasters club. My wife and my son attended. He was one of the main attractions it seemed. But Fabian was good. He scratched himself a little bit and he was loud at that time, but overall, he was great.
I am improving at a good pace. It’s not revolutionary. Just a step by step. But that’s good. I had remained confident. I delivered a strong message. I did miss on the few points I wanted to make. But I did not have any notes with me and I did not write it out so I did not remember everything. But I got to the gist of it and I think that’s good enough.
Today, I had sent out 4 or 5 resumes. One guy, I think it’s a job here at White Plains, called back right away. I did not get a chance to talk to him. Then Emily from Concepts in Staffing called. She asked me whether I can go for an interview if the client asks for it. I did say yes, in the morning. But then at 12PM, the account manager sent me an email that she wants to talk to me before the send out my resume to the client, Solbright. I called her maybe 40 minutes later but she was not available. I tried several times more with no luck. I’ll call her tomorrow morning. I wonder what she wants.
I still have to call Eric at RHT. And Orlando at not sure where. But to work with so many recruiters… do I want that? I don’t know. I want a position that is challenging. I don’t want to move just to move. I want an upgrade in the position. I have been here at Ask (or IAC Search and Media) for year and a half. It used to be better. Things are slow. At least for the past 6 months where I have been on the same search project. I like to build new projects. I like new challenges. I like to lead other people. I don’t get that here. I need to look for other opportunities. Therefore, if something opens up, I’ll take it. Even now.

Things are starting to happen in my job search. I sent two resumes yesterday and I got two replies from head hunters. One head huner, Emily from Concepts in Staffing, seems reallly nice. I told her what I want. She sent me two offers. One for a small company but an established one; and the other from a 3-person startup. Whoa. I told her I need more details about the second one and I am interested in the first. Anyway, things are starting to happen. We’ll see. I have a few more good offers I want to apply for.
Tomorrow is a breakfast mtg at Toastmasters. I am the president and I need to prepare an opening. What am I going to talk about? I need to thank Karen for organizing, I need to congratulate everyone for bringing up the meeting quality, and I need to outline the goals.
A busy day at work. Really busy. A day flies by for days like today.
A new word I learned: “mate”. Which means kumpel, a friend.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, I had nothing to do. Today, I was swamped right from the start. But one thing did not change: it’s boring stuff. I’m sure now, the longer I stay on the search project, the less I like it and more I want to move out. I am going to become more agressive doing that.
I want a management position. I want to be a manager by the end of 2007. Can I do that here? I don’t think so. Do I want to do it here? Not really. So? I have to find a new job!
I am looking over the different offers every day now, and I will apply to any good ones that I see. My strategy is different this time. I don’t want any job. I want a management job, which is going to be har. Or I want a senior software engineer position with the possibility of moving into mgmt. Or at least a senior position with exciting work.
Like I said before, the market is good now and I should find something fairly soon. But my plan is to be out by the summer. Preferably, right after my summer vacation in Poland.
What did I learn today? I worked with Maven and moved the configuration in it from ivy to maven.

Not a good day today. It went down without a task. I don’t have anything to do. It’s frustrating. I am really going to have a hard time sticking with this company till the summer. Really. This is frustrating. That’s definetely not what I was looking for.
On the positive side, things on the job market are becoming better and better. A lot of companies are hiring. Software developers are in demand. I should have an easy time finding a good job.
But I’m looking for a management position. And that’s harder. Because I don’t have any management experience! It’s like looking for a job for the first time.
It is something that I want to do. I got good support for my Toastmasters group, where I’m the president now. They said that I would be a good manager. I know I will. That’s why I want to become one.
I should start sending out my resume more often. I’m going to contact the guy at CareerDevelopers. I’ll send my resume to them and see what happens. They got me a job at Hertz. 🙂 Maybe I should not be talking to them? The job lasted for only 6 months. But now I’ll tell them I’m looking for at least 100K. We’ll see what happens. I am ready to move on, that’s for sure.

Something different at work today: Chris, our manager, got mad. He got mad because his idea of a “brown bag” lunch is not working. He wants everyone to eat while having the meeting. But what really happens is that people don’t bring food to the meeting, but instead go for lunch afterwords. He got upset and called a meeting right after we came from lunch. 🙂
I felt relaxed during the meeting. I spoke twice, actually. I told him, that at least for me, 12PM is not convenient. I told him that we should reschedule it to 1PM or have the regular 30-min meetings. Nobody else spoke.
The other thing he was upset was that some project feature was sitting and not being worked on. A valid concern. Sure.
But the meeting showed that either he’s under a lot of pressure, or he’s just losing it. I don’t like the way he manages. He does not fetch any feedback from us. He complaigned that we’re not being talkative during the meeting. He has a valid point, but that’s just the way it is. He needs to prepare better.

I found a really nice tool: a web-enabled timing device: SlimTimer.com. It’s a really cool way to time tasks, etc. I’m going to use it for one thing: to time the amount of time I spend on the internet, practicing dev, and read leisure. I am going to measure how much time I use inappropriately at work. This tool also has reports, so it should be interesting to see.
As far as my career, I think it might be best to stay here at Ask till the summer. I don’t really like my work any more. But on the other hand, I had stayed for only 6 months at my old job. I am here at ask for 1.5 years now, if I stay till the summer, it will be 2 years. I think it’s OK to leave then.
The market is just getting stronger for software developers. I am trying to find a management job and it is hard. It’s like looking for a job for the first time. Even though it’s hard, I think I should upload my resume and put in my objective that I am looking for a management position. If I get replies, I might be willing to go.

My wife went to her aunt’s funeral this morning. I got to work an hour late.
I am noticing that I’m not working on the things that I am supposed to. Well, not to the point of my liking. I have a goal to practice for half to an hour of new technology. What did I do today? I installed the new version of Eclipse and I wanted to install the Ajax toolking for Eclipse. I guess I can count that towards the goal.
But I also did something else. I spent too much time researching my personal stuff. Even though I did all of my tasks, which is good, I need to spend more time practicing.
I wanted to write a blog about “Practicing to becoming a Craftsman” and I did not. Too many things to do not enough time. I am going to write that.
My wife caught me watching some porn today. 🙁 Oh, well. I am a man after all. She does not want me watching it. I can understand her. I don’t want to do it myself anyway. I have to change that. I am giving my son $11 + $12 for watching it twice. Every time I do it, I increase it by a dollar. My way of dealing with this issue. I think it’s going to work.

Good, busy day today. I went to the doctor today. He gave me the results from my physical a year ago. Yeah, last time I’ve been to the doctor was a year ago. But he said that everything is fine. I’m healthy. That’s good.
The second thing I went for, and this was the reason I went was that I needed a Propecia subscription. He gave me 3 refillls (I guess 4 in total) for a 90ct, which is cheaper for me to buy. But after I came from the doctor, dough!, I did some research. First, propecia comes out of the patent protection in 2013. It takes 17 years for a patent to expire, since the day it first appears. I thought it was 7 years. Oh well. But another thing that I found out today was that the active ingredient in propecia is already out of patent protection, there’s already a generic version. What do I do now? I think I have to go back to the doctor. 🙂
My son Fabian also went to the doctor today. For a shot. I wonder how he feels. Last time he got a shot he was tired. He went to sleep right away. We’ll see how he’ll be today. Hopefully, it will not be too bad. Fabian is 3 months now. He moves his legs so much. He wants to walk already! Oh, and he smiles so much. He is getting more beatiful by day. And my wife is just so crazy about him.

I had a productive day today, I think. I did almost everything that I wanted to do. I completed a major portion of the task I’m working on. In the morning, I read for an hour — dev material. And I also tried out JSF technology. I must say that I’m impressed with JSF. It makes things simple, simple validation. It allows to create OO components, instead of controllers/actions/etc. I should try more JSF examples.
One thing I’m nore sure, and this is worrying me a little. I have not received a reply from the company I sent my resume for. The offer was for a Java Architect in Montvalle, NJ. It’s very close. And the offer was to eventually move into a management role. That’s exactly what I’m looking for. On the downside, they’re using Struts and converting into Struts projects… Why? I would probably try to convince them to use JSF. 😉 I emailed the guy — recruiter — today and asked what the status is and whether I’m still in the running. No reply. Oh, well, I know I’m supposed to look only passively, but on the other hand, if I don’t receive a reply, I’m wondering what’s happening…
The job market is strong and only going to get stronger as months pass by. I know that sooner or later my resume will get accepted and I’ll go for an interview, and get a job. It would be nice if it was around the summer time. So why am I looking now? Not sure. 🙂 If something excellent shows up, why not?