Blog

I am having some tough days lately. Not sure why. I seem to be a little bit stressed. But about what? Not sure. That’s the funny thing.
I did switch my hair-loss medicine to Proscar from Propecia. Propecia was just costing me too much and I found out on Yahoo Answers that I could buy a generic Proscar and divide it in 4 pieces and still get the same amount of the main ingredient as in Propecia. So far I have been on it only couple of weeks but I swear that I see a difference. It looks to me that it does not work. I think it is mostly psychological. I think it probably works the same way as Propecia. But somehow, in my concious mind, I feel it does not. I have to wait a couple of months, though, before I switch back.
Other than that, I still have an issue at work. I am having hard time asking for something that I don’t know. Why is that? I guess I don’t want to feel stupid. I guess. Hmm. But I have to work on changing it as it is impairing my productivity. Really, it slows me down.
I think my education is moving along nicely. I am reading at home. I am not getting a chance to read at work since we’re on a new project using Agile, but I’ll get my share.

We had a whole week off, plus monday. It was a great time off from work. I definetely feel ‘recharged’ and ready to work.
On the way to work, I thought about my situation here at Ask. My feeling was that I don’t really want to leave just yet. Maybe I should try to work things out. Maybe things improve. That’s a big maybe, but I’m not in a rush, especially considering my “job hopper” status as some might call me and two, that I want to go to Poland for a 3 week vacation in the summer — important thing for my wife Marta.
But those things should not stop me from pursuing my career. And I do want a dynamic learning environment.
One thing about Markit, which is my current jobs to get is that I will not get a leadership position. But the question is, am I ready for the leadership position? I think I am. But I don’t have a lot of experience and it is tough for me to get it. But if I get a good offer from Markit I will probably take it.
I should also try Goldman Sachs. Just for the record, the average bonus for each of the 30K employes was $650K. Wow! It is also a good working environment over there. I will contact them tomorrow.

I had an interview with Markit today at 3PM. When I first walked into the office, nobody there. But when I looked around, I noticed something positive: high-priced metal-framed chairs.
I first talked to the head of the IT in North America. Vladimir Gilinski. A funny guy, it seems. He is either Polish or Russian, probably Russian. In any case, his English was not that good. He explained how Markit got hold of all of the projects, that they’re growing, from the current 50 people to around 100 by the end of 2007. He asked me to rate myself on different technologies, I gave myself high scores for Core Java, Spring, SQL, HTML/Javascript, not so hight for shell scripting, J2EE, EJB, JMS. He also asked me why I want to leave. I told him that I would like to have a leadership position and a possibility of becoming a manager. He said that there are opportunities, but I did not get the answer I was looking for.
In any case, this position was for a Senior Java Developer with 7-10 years of experience.
After Vlad finished with me, another Vladimir and Tom, technical guys came in. I did OK/good on several things, but I struggled on several others. I had issues with the synchonization block and threading overall. I had issues in defining the difference between HttpSession and SessionBeans. I had difficulties of telling them how to create a Synchronized hashmap. I could not tell the difference between a Hashmap and a Hashtable. I had an issue with defining what difference are between forward and redirect. I did not know what happens when you put a scriplet on a JSP page, what does the compiler do? I had an issue of how the application server know where the stateful session exists. I had an issue of what happens if the server for both the HttpSession and Stateful session bean gets killed.
Now that I think about it, I did not know a lot of stuff. I should be happy that I am considered, or as they said, that I’m in “the pool.” I am not sure and not too hopeful that I will get the job.
But I will try getting it…
I would like to work there. They have a dynamic environment. The guys know what they’re doing — I could learn from them. It looks like a nice environment. And the best thing of all, I would get a chance to work on a lot of different projects, some from scratch and some maintaining.
On the negative side, I don’t think I will become a manager there. It’s almost the same position as in Ask. Do I want that? I should first try getting an offer. If it is a great one (or better than what I have), I will take it. If not, hey, I’ve got some learning to do!
I am going to write a thank you letter and see what happens. All in all, I am happy that I went there.

An interview-preparation day today. 😉
It’s weird because I found out that Markit is looking for a true J2EE developer. I am not really that type, actually. 🙁 The only place that I worked with the full J2EE suite was at Hertz, and I only lasted 6 months over there. 🙁
So what did I do today? I started refreshing my mind about this complex technology. It is complex, I have to say that. Too complex. Hopefully they don’t have it too complex at Markit.
The recruiter told me that they have a fast paced evnvironement and they’re really looking for someone who lives “technology.” I believe I am such a person. They have built a great array of different products at Markit. An amazing amount of different projects. That’s what excited me about this position: the ability to work on different projects.
Will I get the job? I hope so. I really do. I would love to have a change of environment. It would suit me nice. But if I don’t get it, especially if they grill on my limited J2EE knowledge and experience, then I am staying here. Not a big deal.

My son Fabian is making progress. He wants to “talk” more. In the morning today, he talked to my wife for quite some time. When she or I talk to him, he just keeps on talking. Well, it’s not really talking, but baby making “mouth noises.” That’s a lot of fun, actually. And I think he’s making progress.
One other thing Fabian is doing, today, my wife actuall held his hand and he was able, with a little help, pick himself up and sit straight. That’s a good progress!
On the job-search front, nothing happened today. Tomorrow morning, guys from Alden, Michelle and Fred, are supposed to call me to “prep” me up for the interview with Markit. I’m actually excited about this opportunity. It looks like a great, growing company. I am getting into a leadership position — I have to find out what that really means. The company has a lot of different products so I assume that I might get my hands dirty on a lot of things. My concern, or doubt, is that I will be working mostly on the database end. By doing so, I might be missing out on the innovation that is going on in the Java world. And one more thing I have to find out, besides what my tasks will be and how much authority I will have, is what tools they use, continous improvement, whether we can change tools, etc. But so far, I’m excited.
I went to get a present for my wife. She wanted to get a perfume. Yeah, right. I could not pick anything. The Macy’s here in White Plains is crappy. So what did I do? I picked up $75 gift card from Macys and she can pick the perfume she wants (or something else).

Another interesting day.
I am going for an interview at Markit on Friday at 3PM. It’s a financial company with good prospects, I think. They looking for an experienced developer to develop applications and to lead junior people. Perfect fit for me? I think so. I would love to get it. And even though I would like to get a job in the summer, if they want me there, I’ll take it. Provided that it is a good fit and good pay. We’ll see.
Friday we’re leaving at 2:30 and the place is actually walking distance from here. What I’ll do is take my car to Macys or something and change there. Then I can drive there.
What do I expect from the place? I would like to work with smart people, people that know their stuff. And I would like to have some authority. Also, I would like to get a good package, with good benefits. And hopefully they’re using good tools. If that is satisfied, I see no reason not too take it. I don’t think I have to wait till the summer to change jobs.
If everything goes well, I will tell my manager on the first or second day back that I have a new opportunity.
But the bottom line, I’m going to hope that I get it. I should prepare a little bit as well.
Fabian was sick yesterday. He’s caughing a lot. Yesterday, when Marta left to go to a store, he was crying for over an hour. It was hard for me. 🙂 Once she came, he was OK. He really just wants to spend time with her.
It was Marta’s birthday yesterday. I ordered her a nice buquet from 1-800-flowers for $70, delivered on the same day. She loved it. And she was so happy. A good day. I love her a lot.

An interesting turn of events in my job search.
My wife gave my job search an interesting spin. I basically have an offer from Solbright on the table. They want to bring me in. I’m not so sure that it is the best company for me now. Sure, I could be a team leader for them, but it’s a shitty technology they have, a shitty products, and I”m not sure whether they have the talent to succeed.
I emailed the recruiter for this position and I told her my situation. I think she got upset but do I care? I do care about Mike Watson. He would be a great manager to work for. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll go work there in the summer. That’s what I said in the email, anyway.
I emailed Michelle at Alden and told her the same thing: that I would like to suspend my job-searching till the summer. She inquired about the company that I pretty much been setup to interview. Not sure if this is a trick or not. In any case, I told her that I can do that and if it is a great match for both parties, I’ll take the job. Until now, though, I have not been able to setup my interview with them. Markit is the company.
Things are really turning up for the worse here in my company. Today at lunch, all I heard was negative things. The morale is pretty negative. That’s not the way to go.
I would not manage like that…
One possibility for me to last 2 years at this company is to go work for Pronto. I’m considering this. Though, I would have to wait till I get a raise here, maybe a couple of months. We’ll see.
“bona fide” means authentic offer.

More pressure, that’s what I need! Actually, I need to think clearly now that I have so many things coming together.
First of all, they want to hire me at Solbright. I talked to the recruiters today. I voiced my concern that I might not work there. They said that I have to decide. Do I want to do that? And then, I got a call from Amy from Concepts in Staffing. She told me that she had talked to Mike. He is interested in bringing me in. He did say that I have some catching up to do, which is right because I don’t have too much J2EE experience. But he knows that I have a lot of potential. He’s thinks he is close to offering me what I want ($105 or 110). What Amy suggested and that’s what I did, is to come up with pros and cons of me working there. I did compose that and had sent it to her. We’ll see.
While talking to Amy in the morning, I got pulled over by a cop. He said that he was going 40 and I passed him WHILE talking on the phone. He gave me a warning for speeding and a ticket for talking on the phone. At least $110 for that. It’s funny, because when I told that to Amy, she said she will pay for it if I get hired at Solbright. They must be getting a lot of $$$.
At around 4:30, Michelle from Alden Staffing wanted to get in touch with me. The resume she forwarded to Markit got some attention. They want to talk to me on the phone first. I have it scheduled for Monday or Tuesday.
And at around 7, while getting ready to leave, Chris, my manager, asked me what I want to do. Do I want to move away from search? Do I want to stay? I told him that I want to move. He said that he wants to accompany me.
A confluence of things coming together. 🙂 Oh, well. It should be interesting couple of weeks ahead.

Here are the pros and cons for the position at Solbright, which I interviewed for yesterday.
for- team lead position with possibility of becoming a mgr- higher pay (hopefully)- very good mgmt- not satisfied with current work
against- leaving ask.com after 1.5 years- thinking I might get a better position elsewhere- not so exciting work (old tools)

My job search is becoming more and more interesting. It looks to me, though, that the job market is really strong.
I called NaviStaff since they asked me to call them after I applied for one of their postings. They have a contact with Goldman Sachs. He told me that they have a lot of positions with them. He indicated that he might be able to find a lead position without financial experience, but that it might be hard. Getting a regular senior position should not be hard, he said. Within the company, I also talked to a Lehman contact. He sent me a job description, but they’re looking for a tech lead with J2EE and .NET skills. Good luck finding that. This position might be out of my core skills. But we’ll see.
At 1PM I met with Michelle from Alden Staffing. She was impressed with my skills. She said that I can sell myself. “You have it all, huh?,” she said. 🙂 That was kind a nice. They might have something for me. She brought another guy, and he was candid. He said that they might not be able to get me a management position. But he suggested that they might be able to find a company that has room for growth and that I can become that lead officially. Getting a new job then would be no problem.
Tomorrow I’m going for an interview at Solbright. Even though the company is small and not really looking that attractive, I think this might be “the” position for me: java architect with leadership tasks. We’ll see.
Interesting, huh? I think so.
I’m going to NY tomorrow. Not sure whether I should not take the PATH or the bus. I should, probably. At least I would know how long it would take. But what if I don’t get there for 9AM? That’s the risk.