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I hope that I’m making the right decision. I got an offer from Media6Degrees for the same salary as I have at NBC, but with a 10k bonus and a free health care plan. I accepted it verbally and in email. Then I told my manager about it. He wanted me to stay, but did not offer anything. Then I got pulled by his manager. She said a lot of good things about me. First of all, she said that I am a key person on the team. She said that everybody likes working with me. She said that I approach every project with complete professionalism. She also said that she’s going to do everything she can to keep me. I told her the details. When I was leaving, she said that they can do $15k more. I talked to my wife and I have decided to stay here. Mainly because we’ve started doing some interesting work. Mainly because I have established myself here. And mainly because I think there is room for growth. There is still some details to be worked out. I hope that the increase will become official and that I will start seeing it during my next pay period.

Rod/Brian,

I want to thank you for taking the time to interview me yesterday for the Senior Java Developer position.

What really impressed me about Media6Deegrees were the agile development cycle  (short iterations, TDD, scrum), nice open atmosphere, and the ability to work on different types of projects. I also love the fact that it’s a very dynamic place.

With such a strong technical environment, it’s a great place to work for any software engineer, myself included. 🙂

But why should you hire me?

I hope I was able to present a glimpse of what I bring to the table. There is much more of me! Let me just reiterate some of the things that I strive to do.

I deliver quality. I deliver quantity. Making sure that projects are on time and developed using best practices is my number one goal. Always. I have a proven track record of “getting things done.”

Every place I’ve been to, I’ve made it better: I’ve made others better; I’ve made the development cycle better. How? I bring constant emphasis on quality, on improving things. I bring that constant learning focus. I constantly try to make the things that I work on better.

I enjoy working on different projects. I enjoy working in a dynamic place. I know Media6Degrees is such a place. I am also certain that my experience, skills and passion for learning would prove beneficial. I look forward to hearing a decision from you soon.

Sincerely,
Stanley Kubasek

For some reason, I have more allergies when I stay at home. When I go to work and come back, my allergies are under control. However, when I stay at home a the whole day, it’s really bad. I just hope the allergy season goes by very quickly. But so far, it’s only been last Sunday and today that are fairly tough. I hope it’s going to be like that. But from my experience, it gets worse.

I have an interview tomorrow. I am not really preparing. I know my stuff. I know enough to get a job. If I get it, then great. I might be a good fit. If not, than who cares. I still have a job. It’s better to go to a place that they really want you.

I have an interview on Monday! That’s big. I have reasons to stay here at NBC, but I also have reasons to leave. We’ll see what happens. I want to make sure that where I end up is the right place for me. I don’t want to go to “just another” place. But I will worry about this after they try to hire me. Until then, I need to prepare myself. I’ll do my best and if that’s good enough for Media6Degrees then we’ll talk. If not, I will continue doing my best here at NBC. I will continue making the best improvements that I can. I will continue to challenge others.

I’m at this point again. I got drawned into another interview. And after a phone interview, they want me to come in.

The question is, do I want to work there? Do I want to work at Media6Degrees? We’ll see. I initially felt excited, so that’s a good sign. They seem to have a very good development process. That’s another good point.

The only negative I see is that we’re starting some real dev work here at NBC. It really seems very interesting. I think this might mean something very big. But will it work out? Who knows. We might have to scrap the project. We might have to kill it because some requirements change.

I am finally starting some real Java development. Oh, boy, am I excited. Really. I am jumping for joy. It’s still premature to hail it as a big movement, or as a big victory, but I think we’re starting to go in a right direction. I love it. I hope that things will move into that direction. I really hope things will go in that direction.

On another front, I have a phone interview setup at Media6, or something like that. I am hesitant. I don’t really care if I get it or not. I will try to do my best during the phone interview, but whether I get the onsite interview or not, I will not care. But we’ll see how it goes. The company is interesting. It’s growing. It’s has a focus on quality, which I love. I loved the job description. But it’s a distraction now.

One company that I would love to get in is Google. I really need to spend some quality time and prepare. Really invest some time in mastering algorithms and data structures. It’s for my own good, so I should do it anyway. Perhaps I should talk to the google person that contacted me. Dov, a guy I worked with at Ask actually got hired by Google! It’s not like he was my friend, but I had a good relationship with him. We’ll see. Perhaps I will reach out to him and ask for a recommendation. I would love to work at Google, and I will try to get in, somehow. That’s the company for me! 🙂

I have finally started doing some real Java development today. I am excited. I think that I this might be something of a real change in terms of how we develop here. It might turn out to be really interesting. We’ll see. I have to say that I am getting bored with the Velocity type of development.

However, I thing I’m rusty. I am trying to develop a simple Web Services/JPA/Spring application but I don’t have real experience developing a Web services app. I am struggling a bit. I would love to set it up as a Glassfish/JEE6 app. It would make life much simpler. Maybe I should talk to my manager. They suggested Spring. I think it’s fine, but it’s working around a really good standard. I think it would just be simpler to develop it in Java EE 6.

I will know more as more days pass. It should be really interesting. This has the potential for me to make me stick around for longer. I hope that’s the case.

I have my EMS review today with Ben, my current manager. He generally had very good things to say about me. He said that I strive to perfection. That I do more than is asked from me. That I’m good to work with. When I asked him what he expects from me, he said to continue doing the same thing.

That’s very good. I thought there might be some criticism from him, but he restrained from it.

It tells me that I should continue doing what I’m doing. That is: delivering on time and delivering quality. That’s my mantra. That’s how I have been developing and that’s what has made me successful. I will continue doing that.

One negative is that we’re probably not get a raise. One or two percent is probably what we’ll get. That sucks. But on the other hand, it’s somewhat to be expected.

There are few things that I need to do differently. I need to focus more of my time on doing side projects. On working with dev more. I need to really perfect my JEE skills. I need to master my Algorithm skills. I need to get better at my ORM skills. And web services. I need to try more. I need to practice more. Only then I will be very confident when I go for an interview.

But it might be better for me to stick around for another 6 months to year to see what happens. If we get move Java development in house, I will most likely stay.

Interviewing people is not bad. It’s actually pretty cool. I get to review some of my knowledge. I get to learn from others. I think that’s the key. Am I learning from people. If I do, then I think they’re good to hire.

The job market seems to be picking up, but there are a lot of guys looking. That’s the way it looks. Will it pickup soon? It looks like it might. I am getting some interest lately. It’s on and off. There have been times in the past year where there was a lot of activity, then it cooled off, now it seems like it’s picking up again.

It’s hard to say. I hope it does. I hope it does really soon. It’s not like something is happening for me here. No, everything is cool.

My relationship with my wife is getting better. I am focusing more on her. I do what she asks me to do. I don’t try to argue. I try to be nice to her. She seems to be responding really well to this. She’s trying to control herself a bit more. I am starting to like it more and more. I think our bond is only going to grow stronger. I have to keep doing what I’ve started. If it’s working, then I need to do more.

Discipline. I have to work at it. I have to get better. I start on a wrong note and I get distracted. I have too little time to do all of the things that I want. I need to. Staying disciplined is something I have to do if I want to accomplish my goals. Really, that’s the only way to go.

I am good at waking up at 5 am. But I have to be reasonable. I am on a team with my wife. So when we have to do something and that means that I will go to bed late, then so be it. It’s more important that I do what she needs than my time waking up at 5 and doing stuff for myself. It’s hard. I know. But I am doing what is right.

I should not be too hesitant in not waking up when I am really tired as well. No reason to be tired all week if I did not go to sleep for a few nights at a right time.

I just need to be reasonable. Especially now that we have Victor. It’s all cool. I am doing well and I should be proud of myself.