One year ago

was my last day.  I'm not feeling nostalgic at all, but I am missing my friends.  One of the beautiful things, though, about this time off is that I've been able to reconnect with some others from way-back-aways.  Sometimes it's been for a phone conversation, or an email exchange, other times it's been for drinks and dinner.  We've worked with some amazing people over the years and the names I've forgotten... well, LinkedIn sure has helped remind me.

I'm sorry I haven't kept up with the blog but I've been going gangbusters since mid-October.  The most common word out of my mouth re: jobs though is "No.  No thank you," so nothing more exciting than that one flurry which ended in September.  That said, I've written a bunch of draft blog entries which I never finished.  I swear.  It's just because I got too busy.

So, I've had a lot of good intentions, just too many conferences, conventions, meetups, informational interviews, technical networking events, and Thanksgiving.

The last week of October I spent in conventions.  The best one was a virtual reality conference held in Bellevue.  I didn't make it to any of the developer's talks because, well, I don't write software for applications or games, but I did play with all sorts of hardware.  I also won a smart phone at another. The best part are the people I've met.

Networking has not turned out to be so horrible after all.  I've been learning tons about how the outside world here really is more stodgy than I thought "we" were.   What has been fun though, is that I've met theater people, young engineers from Boeing, people doing other things with technology - like fashion - which makes it so much fun.  What is striking though, is how little innovation there is in the realm of game or app or web development.  There's a lot of waste, which, I guess, if you have simple systems, is okay.  You can throw money away...until you run out of it anyways.  This is what just blows my mind.

And so, most of the "data" and analytics interest I've found out here in the wilds is related to marketing data and / or bioinformatics and healthcare.  Minor amounts of network performance, or app performance and little of that is predictive.  Most dashboards people come out with are monitors.  There's little to no forecasting.

And the people I've reconnected with, they confirm what I've only just begun to realize in the past few months:  that the work we did was ginormous.  A couple of people I've been reconnecting with were let go at the C. acquisition.  They've actually had some very interesting experience.  Most importantly, they've acquired the skills to deal with uncertainty more than those of us who were "left behind" have.  One guy talked about how he jumped through several companies after moving from HQ engineering into sales - and found he loved it.  Another woman made her way through contracting work after the 2008 collapse and is now poised to be one of the next gen IT leaders in her organization.  Still, I've met some new people and made some new friends who are teaching me more about how this outside world works.  This learning has been interesting.

Here's what I've learned so far:

1)  Most companies work reactively and there is little understanding about proactive, or planned operational events such as load redistributions / rebalancing; planned growth (how they do this without examining the budget impacts kinda makes me nuts); reboots / restarts to clear memory leaks during off-peak hours; development of overload control processes or mechanisms;

2)  Performance management is NRT (see #1) and forecasting is maybe a week out?  or based upon a 1.5 multiplier or something crazy.  There's no analysis of congestion impacts.

3)  No one seems to have budgetary responsibility, they just throw money at their networks.  Which works, I guess, as long as you don't mind being unable to access the website, the network, or have lots of capital to dispose of.

4)  Predictive analytics (see #2) and forecasting, are just beginning to become a "thing," as are GUIs for the NRT operational effects of load, or code changes.

5)  There's little awareness of network efficiencies to be gained with compression techniques in coding.  Everything is really big and sloppy "out" here.  There are a few innovators, but they're struggling to be heard.

6)  Everyone wants to be a "data scientist" as though that was a thing before.  LOL  There are now masters degrees being offered.  I guess that's a blend of statistics and software, but without the subject matter expertise, you're just a statistician who can write programs, or a programmer who works a lot with statistics.  Me, I'm keeping with the engineer in wireless core performance who can also code and applies statistical tools and machine learning algorithms to explore relationships.  I also practice data visualization as performance art.

7)  I turn down offers to interview with Microsoft, Amazon, or T-Mobile at least once a week, if not more.  If you want big, the big guns are hiring now.

8)  Yep, I'm a few years a head of the curve unless I want to go work with a big boy.  Predictive performance analytics is just a glimmer in the eye of a very few companies.  You can tell by the the Azure or AWS experience that neither Microsoft nor Amazon have that ingrained in their culture - yet.  They might be trying to catch up with themselves, but we know how well that works out - and how long it takes to do.

Readings from the past week

An article from NextAvenue referencing an AARP study just released on job-seekers age 45-70.
One of the most important points was this:

1. Don’t delay starting to look for work after you lose your job. Those who are still unemployed were much more likely than the reemployed to have waited three months or longer before beginning their job search.

“The most popular answer for why people took time off before starting to look for work was that ‘they need a break,’” says Trawinski. But postponing the search for three months or longer worked against them.

AARP's Future of Work@50+ Initiative.
Actually, I didn't find much here, but it's a "good" hyperlink to have because it looks like they are ramping up.  I still prefer NPR's NextAvenue newsletter by far.

A good read to remind oneself that rejections are not bad.  And a couple of other points to remember:
1)  You don't want to get an offer at a place which doesn't "fit" with you, so them thinking you might not work for them is not a bad thing.  That would be like marrying someone who doesn't love you.  If you have the opportunity, nay, the extremely good fortune to be able to job search for a career instead of just another job, then you want that mutually enjoyable dynamic.

2)  If you, like me, haven't interviewed in 25 years, then your skills will be very Very VERY rusty.  These are skills, ergo, learned behavior.  You will need to acquire and develop new skills.  Don't beat yourself up if you're not good at it.  Most of us in tech are socially awkward, if not downright weird.

3)  The strikes against you will add to your length of time.  Save money in your emergency fund accordingly:

• Race
• Sex
• Physical attributes (sorry, but yes, physical attractiveness has a lot to do with employability)
• Age
• Physical abilities

How to Decode Job Descriptions

Jaizus!  This took me three months on my own.  Remember - payscale.com is your friend to help you investigate the increasingly normalization of  job titles.

A 2014 article about job salaries, but which will help you with your decoding.

An article on smart ways to Find Jobs if you're over 50

Living a dream before it curdles

I was at GeekGirlCon this past weekend and it provided me with more than a few moments of reflection.  It was at GeekGirlCon in 2013 that I began to think about a different kind of life.  It was the first convention I'd attended in years.  In a way, it was a "coming out" moment for me in the sense that for the first time in probably over 15 years I was in a room with so many people focused on a single set of topics.

A convention isn't just a random crowd of people, but people gathered together for a purpose, and unlike a fair or a festival, there's an educational, or academic, component.  So, while I've been to plenty of fairs or festivals, or large crowded gatherings, it had been too, too long since I learned something with a focused intensity along with a crowd of others.

GeekGirlCon is that "perfect size" convention for me - not too large, not too small.  There's an entertainment quality to it, but also there's some interesting alternative components to it as well, and that is what moved me.  I saw very smart people who created beautiful works of art in comics; games - board, RPG, and programmed; there were writers' panels; scientific topics; even an introduction to 3-D printing.

This year, I dressed as I usually do - in one of the t-shirts from my collection, although this picture is from my working days.  I wish I had the imagination to have thought of Darth Princess.  She is my hero.

So, it's a fun Con, with a large variety of topics to which I was exposed for the first time.  And the sheer concentration of talent and smarts reminded me of this larger world of possibilities.

What happens when a person hits that point where they've "done it all"?  I still have no answers, but I do know I'm happy not to have spent a miserable year.  This blog is doing better than I expected, I've met some interesting people, I've learned about changes in the world of technology outside of wireless telecommunications, I'm still working on the development of my interview skills, but I think I'm getting better at that and at networking.  And, frankly, those are two life skills we should all keep working at even if we do have a "good job."  I've heard about so many long-term employees who are "surprised" at their lay-off and that just boggles my mind.  Layoffs were such a constant through the 90's and early '00's, that maybe "we" forgot how tenuous that industry is, how untrustworthy a corporation is.  "Needs of the business..." blah blah blah means bottom line - you need to take care of yourself.  And there will be more to come guys.  More to come.

I could smell it in 2013 and by the 2014 GeekGirlCon I was pulled forward even further.  I'd already given my notice, but still had the opportunity to retract it if I wanted.  I gotta say, my ex-boss was willing to let me recant my retirement.  I was terrified at the time.  I'd given three months notice to

ensure there was a healthy time for the transition, but it also played hell on my nerves.  I wanted to stay where I was.  I was comfortable, wasn't ?  I made very good money.  I had an amazing reputation.  I worked with fabulous people.  My work was interesting.  WTF was I thinking?

And then I went to GeekGirlCon again, and I saw possibilities - again.  I spoke with other companies who were rapidly hiring - again.  I met women who were talking about the fallout from GamerGate and pushing them to write their own programs, share their own voices and interest.  I met a few women at the con and we have now been meeting for a full year as CodeSistersSeattle.

Possibilities are not promises.  There are no guarantees.  While at GeekGirlCon 2015 I thought of how angry I would have been this past year if I hadn't left, how even more frustrated.  How I would have trapped myself.  Bottom line:  while getting a job when you're over 50 is tough, I've been running into plenty of young women who have been looking for a year or more or are still under-employed.  It makes me feel like less of a freak and I have a chance to give back, to help someone else.  But the Con re-grounded me in the hopefulness of the possibilities and so, no, I won't be turning away from the ideals I've set for myself.  I'm trying some more outrageous things besides working on my letterpress printing design, cleaning up my four books of poetry, learning python the hard way, investigating the possibility of developing my own game, organizing a women's meetup, volunteering to be a block watch organizer, and writing two blogs.

Bennies pulled

Just got notice that the tt has pulled the med bennies.  Of course, fwiw, I've escalated.  But it's looking as though getting a lay-off package is better than retirement.

Yep.  The new reality - ask for the pack.

Obsolesence

doesn't occur over night.  It creeps up on you, like moss covering the bones that the weevils and maggots have cleaned.  In geologic time, it might seem "quick," but it's a rolling wave and unless you want to be taken under, you need to ride it.  (I'll have to get with Tom to get some stronger surfing metaphors, I only surf the web.)

It's not "getting old" which makes us obsolete, it's being silo-ed, corralled away from the newest tools and trends.  For example, access to Microsoft Excel's "Power" suite of BI tools, like PowerQuery, PowerPivot, and PowerMaps for those of us relegated to the Excel world.  Then there's the fact of the influence and availability of
open source coding solutions like R or Python.  But even training up on these tools - if we don't use them, then we "lose" them.  I can't count how many people I know went for CCNA or CCNE certifications and then never, ever after touched a Cisco box.  Now those are just letters trailing after their names and if they get into an interview someone will ask.  Yes, no matter how glancing your knowledge of a topic, if you claim it, you will be asked to answer even a trivial question.  And you won't know the answer.  Knowledge is nothing more than repetition in my book.  Use it or lose it is the mantra.

So what is the point of certification?  Honestly, my own foray into R certifications and my exposure to the Power tools is why I bring up those points.  Exposure & certs only make you look like you're wall-papering your dining room.  They don't matter.  You have to be able to demonstrate even a small amount of working knowledge.  And this type of working knowledge means you have to work in it.  Now, if your certs are years old, no one's gonna test you on it, but then the relevance will be questionable.  *shrug*  I would think of it more as an award, rather than a skillset at that point.  

However, technologies are changing so rapidly that we do need to gain access to a working knowledge of some of these tools - which means, to me, an integration into daily life.  So, I'm going with Python at the moment and am focusing on that for a scripting language as well as data analysis.  Here in Seattle, it seems to be more a Python kinda town.  I plan on using the Microsoft suite of power tools for the visualizations though.  I did pull down a trial copy of Tableau, but their trials are only 45-90 days.

Other technologies you could gain access to:  Amazon Web Services has a one year introductory account you could set up.  This would give you training and access to their Cloud Services.  They also have training sessions.  You can install Hortonworks Hadoop onto your home machine.  I have a million-and-one resources I could list here in this blog entry.  That's actually been part of my problem - too many options.

Time to focus down now though... focus.. laser like attention... LOL

The Painted Pony Goes Up and Down

The Circle Game - I've begun to notice them in my weeks.  Mondays, nothing.  No emails from recruiters, no calls, and I can't really remember the last time I had a scheduled interview on Monday.

All the activity begins on Tuesdays.  That's when the emails from the various head hunters (my friends not in the IT / telecomm industry do not experience this), the phone calls, the follow ups to begin scheduling interviews or phone screens.  Everything seems to happen Tuesday - Thursday.  Yes, I had a pop-up phone screen this morning, from which I've got an interview with a recruiter on Tuesday. (This time I did ask if the recruiter had a signed contract with the company they were representing for that specific job.  They said yes.  I'm taking the interview.)

Scheduling my interviews 

or

a philosophy in displacement

One of the things I try to do is work my interview schedules for the following week.  I give the most active companies a two day choice, usually a Tu/Th option.  When I have a 2nd company call in, I give them a Wed/Fri.  If a third comes in and I haven't heard from the first served recruiters, I send emails to the effect that my availability has changed.  I give them either morning blocks or afternoon blocks and plan to have a two hour window in between.  Bottom line, when HR / recruiters / schedulers don't get back to you, you need to plan on balancing your schedule with an eye to commute times between locations.  About all you can do is send the email update to the various balls still in the air and let them know that there are fewer and fewer time slots available.

This practice is also good because it keeps you in the habit of reaching out to potential employers for follow-ups.  Anxiety decreases as habit increases.


What I should have done before I got started with all these job submissions... spent time on the site Payscale.

Payscale is my new current favorite for understanding how job titles, job descriptions, and pay relate to rank.  For example, by looking up the following titles, it is clearly evident that one begins a career as an analyst, moves on to a developer role, and then into architecture.  Uhm... I've done a lot of applying for the analyst roles.  hmmmmmmm..... Okay, so I'm an idiot.  No wonder I didn't get a call.

$66k avg salary  BusinessIntelligence (BI) Analyst

$46,061 - $100,577           Business intelligence (BI) analysts help guide and improve the way that businesses' management staff foster collaboration within and between departments. Minimum educational requirements generally include a bachelor's degree in business administration or computer engineering. Additionally, individuals should have at least 1-2 years experience in a supervisory or administrative role within an organization.

$77,286 average salary   Business Intelligence (BI) Developer

$52,288 - $114,228           Business intelligence developers must be data experts, as they work primarily with databases and different types of software. Often abbreviated as BI developer, this job involves developing and fine tuning IT solutions. That can include anything from coding to testing to debugging to designing to implementing newly developed tools. A BI developer spends a lot of time researching and planning solutions for existing problems within the company. BI developers also are responsible for building OLAP, or online analytical processing. They also work with databases, both relational and multidimensional. BI developers are often responsible for managing others in the IT department or in the company.

104,531Kavg salary         Business Intelligence (BI) Architect

$76,005 - $150,217           Business intelligence (BI) architects are in charge of analyzing and implementing business intelligence for their organization. They are responsible for determining platforms and correct functioning for the central data warehouse. They process large amounts of information to draw conclusions based on their intelligence findings, interact with a variety of business professionals, and communicate critical project requirements within their organization. These architects also manage developers, directing their efforts to reach organizational goals in a timely manner. They utilize a personal computer with analytical tools to calculate business data and interpret results. They generally report their progress to the business intelligence director in their organization.

So now, I can say, that if I'd known better I would work on the following in the following order:

1. Get a good LinkedIn picture - one without family or friends or musical instruments.
2. Update the LinkedIn profile & your resume.  Plan on updating these frequently.  
3. Get some good cover letter templates going.
4. Set up a professional Twitter feed.  Make sure your email address is something other than your SexyLion99@hotmail.  Kay?  Use adult names.
5. Get your business cards made.  
6. Ask for references to be added to your LinkedIn profile.  
7. Add contacts to LinkedIn.
8. Begin to daydream
9. Investigate modern job titles and average salaries from Payscale.
10. Begin investigating companies.  When you're investigating a company in LinkedIn, your contacts will show up as shared connections.  You will have much, Much, MUCH better luck reaching through your connections to get your resume forwarded to their HR folks.  Believe me when I say this though, it's easier said than done.  That said, here's a good article to help develop your "ask" and to give you the confidence to ask.

11. Sign up for a series of Meetups & conventions in your area of interest.  You really need to plan on getting out there.  No, you don't have to do it all the time.  I cancel those weeks where I've been heavily interviewing.  It's been a while since I've been out there.  I stopped going after one particularly horrific rooftop networking event.  I began having flashbacks to the cocktail parties of my Southern Ivy League University frat house experience.  ugh.  I can do tech talks for a while, but even that gets tiresome for all the beer and pizza.  Done with that.  There's so much out there, it's been overwhelming.  I'm refocusing on just a few events now.
12. Start adding your profile to other sites like Indeed.  I've given a list of a few other locations as well.  

And a few articles about social media and hiring as an FYI that I tracked down after reading the Jobvite 2015 Recruiter Survey and the sources recruiters use to find candidates.

At Monster, we’ve prioritized social hiring through Twitter,
How Recruiters Creepily Troll Social Media for Job Candidates (Infographic)
Building an effective social network

Hangin' on a lazy Wednesday

Had a four hour interview yesterday, and as much as I tried to not keep today open, two interviews today - a phone screen and a f2f.  The f2f is the response to an inquiry from a company < 50 employees after their recruiter saw my resume on Angel whatever... 

Anyways, the interview is in the afternoon - thank gawd, 'cause not only did I have a bad night's sleep, but those multi-hour interviews just suck you dry.  Reminds me of my b2b conference call days.  Anyways, it was lovely actually being able to wake up late this morning, drink coffee in bed before a leisurely shower.  Chat with my hubbie, then begin prep for the phone screen.

Interestingly enough, one of the things about the phone screen - the recruiter mentioned that "long time employees" salaries are "inflated."  uhm... yeah, their highest offering was the lowest I am willing to look at, but I have nothing to lose with pursuing it.  

Anyways, here's a picture of the lovely late September afternoon at the coffee shop

.

Wildcards (or How I've Taken Up Writing Essays For No Profit and Long Shot Chances)

I've had no interviews this week, but do have one four hour interview scheduled for next week.  Having come out of a "glom" of screenings and interviews, I've been using this time to work on my job submissions and to focus on enjoying this time off...  Well, that and work on my coursera class on Practical Machine Learning. 

One of the things I started doing this week though is applying to some companies I might not shouldn't.  But here's the thing, that seven hour interview (which dropped down to only five) came about because I saw a job I had some of the qualifications for, but only a few, but the company was cool.  So, I figured, "Why the hell not?"  Shit.  I got called in so quick it made my head spin.

We all know I am not a square peg.  In fact, my cubicle doth overfloweth theth cubicle gridth. 

So, why am I applying to square peg jobs?  Be that as it may, this week I started having fun with some of my submissions.  (This is what comes of one positive response to my bad behavior.)  So, I've found some interesting places to submit and research different organizations.  I'm going all out with my cover letters.  I have my "blurbs" done, but the introductions are fully personalized and I continue to expand upon my blurts.

So, onto this list of "Out There" job boards (besides the normal:  Indeed, LinkedIn, Dice, Monster, TelecomCareers, and TheLadders)

AngelList - they have the catch phrase:  "A new way to find a job at a great startup"  You can make a profile with your resume.  Your profile won't show "completed" unless / until you have three references submitted by others to that site / through that site.  Well, I've done mine through LinkedIn, so maybe I'll ask future ones for AngelList (probably not, but whatevahhh....).  Also, your profile won't show complete without your graduation dates.  I've already written to them about that little age revealing piece of information.  That said, I have received one (make that) two inquiries from a founder from my profile posted here.  Unfortunately, it was in New York, so not only did I have to respond that it wouldn't work, I had to go figure out how to modify my profile even further so I wouldn't encourage requests outside of the Seattle area.

PowerToFly - Remote work (i.e., telecommuting), however this is focused on women.  So the only profiles I've seen in here are those with breasts attached.  That said, I have not received any inquiries from this site.  There are not that many jobs either.


Pymetrics - is only in beta.  The initial setup is 12 "games" which are supposed to create a profile of your cognitive, emotional, and social skills which would then be used to "match" you up with companies or a career.  However, they don't have any engineering work outside of Finance Reserch, Product Development, or Marketing.  The company list is small, but the filters are "interesting" in that you can filter on company size as "type" (i.e., privately held, public, non profit).  They have a total of 20 games you can use.  I got tired after the first 12, and because the list of matching "careers" was so limited, I was somewhat disappointed.  That said, I could review my "results" against those other careers which were available.

AnalyticTalent - I only have my resume loaded up here.  I continue to receive an email saying there's a match between myself and Amazon.  I haven't found a way to modify the profile so I could refine my preferences.  It does have a View counter, fwiw, and fwetm (for whatever that means).  Interestingly, the job match hyperlinks to a NY Times classified job description, so maybe they're scraping far and wide.

LinkedIn Connection uhm... insert s(word) here...

So, I am looking at Company JJ these days and trying to work up the courage to ask someone in my network to drop my resume into the queue. I'd unsuccessfully applied there before last spring.  Now, there are even more jobs.  However, last go around I only got one phone screen (positive result, but the hiring manager wasn't interested) out of four applications.  Having someone submit your resume really helps.  I'm paying for LinkedIn Prime (again) to be able to do this kind of search, so I put in my search for connections to people currently working at Company JJ. 

The results come back with 666 (Yes.  Truly.  No joke)  people working at Company JJ for which I have a 2nd connection.  For those who might not know what a "2nd connection" is, that's is someone I'm connected to through a direct friend connection (1st level) I have on my LinkedIn account.  666 2nd connections represents over 25 pages of individuals I'd have to individually click on to see if I recognize a contact I'd feel comfortable enough to ask to submit my resume, or bring it to the attention of someone. 

Wow.  I'm used to 1 or 2, maybe 8 or 10, but it's like everyone I know has a connection to Company JJ... or really?  Here's what happened to my LinkedIn account and how I became a LinkedIn Slut.

My LinkedIn connections grew "organically" for years, so I had about 150-160 people I knew.  I never reached out to people, except to maybe three or four over the years - just to reconnect with friends I missed b/c they left The tt because of lay-off or burnout.  When it was time for me to move on from the tt, I did what I saw others do, and began to put out connection requests to people I knew.  Cool.  That's normal. 

Turns out I really only worked with the same people over a lot of years.  My numbers were in the mid-300s, but I'm shy.  I hesitated to connect with the directors, veeps, etc. of my past, because, well... I'm shy that way.  It's all part of that "I hate job hunting" parcel I have to get over.  Whatever...

But then I'm out and about and making connections through various networking events, conventions, and meetups.  Then there are the recruiters.  Then there's the magical thinking of "the more people in your network, the more 'productive' you look" shit you'll find in the readings online.  And lest we forget, LinkedIn's "magical" 500+ tag on your profile will make you look thinner as well. 

Well, I'm here to say that now I do believe I'll be unconnecting from some of these connections.  Because, really, I can never go ask these people for a favor.  Also, as I'm approaching the 500 mark, I find I don't really want to go over that number.  I don't want to be a 500+ member.  Why?

Why is having a bunch of strangers look at the posts you forward to the list about whatever you post to your LinkedIn account worth having?  I can't say that any of my LinkedIn connections have gotten my resume forwarded, or set me up.  I don't see these people as having much to contribute beyond me hitting that "500+" mark. 

Now, that is not to say that I'll be getting rid of all recruiters.  I've found some of them really do have very good information they post to my LinkedIn stream - including jobs.  But I look at wading through these 25 pages of 2nd connections and I'm only up to page 12 when I decide to do this blog entry - because, well, it's more interesting and less anxiety raising.  Because, yes, out of the first 120 or so 2nd connections, I count 13 of these Second Connections with First Connections I'd even consider pinging to drop my resume.  This is gonna take all day.

Back to LinkedIn...

Collect this information about your work & a bit about working with recruiters, head hunters, and "What I Learned In School Today"

• Budgetary Responsibility - We've worked with $50M projects and more.  This value is "unbelievable" out here in the wilds.  I've modified my resumes, cover letters, etc. to > $10M
• The number of lines / characters you've coded / are responsible for
• The amount of data stored in your database.
• Ingestion rates & file quantities
• # of nodes of responsibility
• # of people who report to you, team size
• Frequency of repetitive tasks (i.e., how often you had to deliver a deliverable & how many of what type) 

In one blog, I saw this idea summarized as:

1. Show How Many
2. Show How Often
3. Show How Much

Whatever can be quantified, quantify it and track it over time.  We get sloppy about doing that without having to update our resume all the time.

Add to the list and I'll update this blog post.

Other items to consider:

• Limit your work experience to no more than 15 years on the official resume
• Use the phrase, 10+ years for extensive work experience
• Staying with a single company for a long period of time is apparently being considered as "stagnation" these days, so plan on creating a "new job" for each time your company was acquired. 
• Show the last grade level you exited a job with, not what you went into that position with.

*************************************************************************************************************************************
Also, I'm continued to be informed that people from you know where with > 25 years are still being denied the you know what benefits.  Check your retirement medical status.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

That said, I had another epiphany today after receiving another polite "No thank you."  If I don't get a job, I can just "sell it" on Etsy.  Yeah, I'm ready to begin thinking about opening an Etsy store.  What have I got to lose?  Add to that, maybe I'll finish writing that novel (those novels?) I have in my drawer.  I'm definitely going out to lunch with friends today.

The "No thank you" came from a consulting firm looking to use me as a contractor (not consultant).  A head hunting firm (HHF) sent them my resume.  The HHF contact did make me aware that there were contractual discussions going on and they weren't going well.  I sniffed "doom" then.



What I've subsequently learned - and which made me pull my resume down from Indeed and Cybercoders (I'd already removed it from Monster after the Insurance Salesman emails) - was that if a recruiting firm has a contract with a company, you can't independently go submit for another job with said company without the possibility that the HHF would get involved (i.e., go for their fee).  Some of these fees can be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

I cannot help but feel this "discussion between the HHF and the Co. impacted my decision.

Do NOT sign any contract nothing that comes through your email.  Yes, I have had people send me various forms of a contract, "letters of representation," etc.  It was very confusing at first.  I receive an email or three a day from various individuals wanting to know:

Hello Andrea,
Hope you are doing well!
We have an opportunity for Sr. Performance Tester with one of our clients in Bellevue, WA
Please see the job details below and let me know if you would be interested in this role. 
If interested, please send me a copy of your resume, your contact details, your availability and a good time to connect with you.

Many of these jobs can be found through Indeed, LinkedIn, or even the company website.  Go that route first.  The last thing you want to do is get tied up between a "third party recruiter" and a company you're truly interested in, especially as many companies specifically do not have contracts with "third party recruiters."

Other firms have contracts with companies like Microsoft, Expedia for temporary, contracted work.  They will always ask you how much you want for your hourly rate.  I'll get into that in another blog post, but for the context of this one - this company will do the background search, the reference checks, the initial phone screen and a face-to-face before they send you to the client.

These contracting companies are not like the pseudo-head-hunting firms which seem to be crawling over my body like maggots on a corpse.  Other friends of mine, in other industries, have maybe received one contact in eight months and she was able to find the job online.

The HHF will ask you if you've interviewed with a company before.  Make sure you're clear if you have because you do not want to jeopardize anything you might have in the hopper.  If you do have previous contact with the company, the HHF will drop you like you have an STD.

I'm too embarrassed

to ask for recommendations / forward my resume to companies - except on rare occasions.  I continue to futz it up.  I think I've only successfully done it twice.  One forward got me a number of job interviews, the other one got me a great informational interview.  It's almost worse than asking people to link with on LinkedIn or for a recommendation.  Those are the Top 3  worst parts of the painful process of job hunting.

Part of the NOT painful process of job hunting - going out to lunch at Marination Ma Kai on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon in Seattle and taking the obligatory skyline shot.

That said, I just finished writing a two page essay / cover letter for a  "dream job" entry for a company I'm interested in.  I've applied before, got turned down.  This time, I'm applying for the position of :

Have a better idea?

These job listings are incomplete. If you don’t see your specialty listed here, but you have years of professional experience, are really talented at what you do, and possess a skillset that would help us create better products and experiences for our customers, apply on the form below. We are happy to be convinced that we need a molecular biologist or a mathematician or an ironworker, but the onus is on you to do so.

Monster.com

I've had three offers to interview for the position of

wait a sec

get this

INSURANCE SALESPERSON

with three different companies all in the course of an hour.  Turn Visibility for my resume OFF on that website.  Do not go to Monster.Com unless you really want to sell insurance.

************* In other news ******************

I got the most lovely "Nope" from one of my long-shot interviews.  I had fun meeting the people, the HR person called me a "breath of fresh air."  Which, yeah, I think maybe I was not so much a "breath of fresh air" as much as a "higher pitch of a voice," but she then went on to compliment me on my directness.  I swami, my head just got big.

They were nice folks and I loved the technical interviews because - well, basically - asking me to make choices about which way to move without budgetary impact knowledge didn't make sense to me.  Then there was the question of questioning which project someone else spent the majority of their time working.  My response, "What's the problem?  Can you tell me what the problem is?"  Yes, I loved that there were several dumbfounding moments I was very satisfied in making.  It felt good to "be back."  LOL

I knew I was a long-shot and the feedback and interview experience was incredibly valuable.  I was basically asked to keep an eye out for other positions in this small company.  Which, sure, would be great, but if this job was a long shot, uhm... well, another email subscription won't hurt.

Anyways, I ran across this interesting article on what to say if you do get a job offer.  This looks like another blog I'll be following.  Nick Corcodilos has a tag "How to say it" which will be very helpful in those conditions like salary negotiations, or job offers, where we have no experience with "the script."

The Job-Offer Sucker Punch

How to Say It

“I’m impressed with your company, and I’m eager to come to work with you. However, I cannot accept this offer without knowing all the terms of employment, including the benefits. I could no more sign an employment agreement without knowing all the terms than your company could sign a business contract without knowing what it was committing to. I’m sure you understand. Could you please provide me with your employee manual, benefits package, and any other documents that would bind me after I start the job? Once I have these, I will promptly respond. I look forward to accepting your offer, and to making a significant contribution to your business. I hope I can count on your help so we can all get to work.”  

You will never get the answer just right

One of the best pieces of advice about job hunting I got was from one of my lab rat friends, Mike.  He said, "You need to have a story to explain why you left."

That is the only question I've found for which everyone, and I mean everyone asks.  After that - all bets are off.  Still, you need to have a few basic scripts.  These are the questions I've come to expect.

That will segue into "What are you looking for?" which is closely related to, "Why did you apply for this job?"  Which brings back my memories of my favorite question to ask people during an interview, "Why the fuck would you want to work here, are you nuts?!"  (I can't remember if I consistently used the f-bomb or not).  And considering I was always the "ringer" thrown into the interview process, I know no one could adequately prepare for me.  Anyways, I was always looking for the aggressive, mean types and everyone is always on their best behavior.

Then there's the salary question.  You will never get the salary question correct, so just plan on having a script and knowing that you will be weeded out at times because you don't fill in the blanks properly.  However, I consistently find that both my own career counselor plus others who help people find work advise against making it easy to give a firm number.  Here is my script - a patchwork cobble from a variety of sources.  I paste this stock answer into fields on forms, use it in the phone screen.

I'd be glad to share not only my current earnings, but my whole salary history. But I think it's a bit too early to get into salary discussions.  I don't believe the immediate salary will be an issue if the fit is right. There are several factors I consider when evaluating the "fit" of a position: the company, challenge, the culture, location & commute impacts, the amount of travel required, the career path, long-term compensation possibilities, vacation and bonuses. So, if the fit is right, I'm confident salary won't be a problem.  However, if you let me know what your range is, I can usually give a nod or no.

You will get pushed, so only when push comes to shove (and there are actually people who have lots of really good articles about how to avoid that shove through negotiating skills, I just am not the best example, so I collapse) use your current salary minus 4 or 5K and then add 10.  Make sure you know your bonus structure too, as well as the historic aspect of your bonus structure.  But that range will place you in the overall hierarchy.  Of course, with the recent changes in the bonus structure, that will look like, well, I dunno.  You're going to have to work out your own "story."

One of my biggest problems is that I've been applying to jobs for which I am too senior, both in experience and in salary.  After talking to Marianne about how I was recently "shoved" into giving a lowball number for a position I was interested & applying for because I was interested - but didn't have all the requisite skills - it was apparent that not only would I not get the job, but I was continuing to shoot myself in the foot by apply for such a position.

After the "never get it right" salary question, are the "never get it right" technical questions.  Yes, I'm continuing to run through the technical interviews, but now I am letting people know they will be disappointed if they want me to take a "40 question multiple choice."  (I've been out of college quite some time, it sounds like 'you' are looking for a recent college graduate.  I don't believe we would be a good fit.") or try to whiteboard syntax perfect code (I'm not a CSE, neither am I a statistician.  I am an engineer who has primarily worked in query language and done statistical analysis as part of the job.").  One of the most recent technical questions I was asked to describe the fields in a PowerPivot.  I've worked with two, three times.  I told 'im I'd only been 'exposed.'  Whatevahh... you give it the Good 'Ole College Try.  Besides, I'm me.  I'm used to humiliating myself.


Anyways, off to read some more job openings.  I only have one phone technical interview this week so far.  Oh, and a call back to another recruiter.

Random readings from the wilderness

Some very interesting comments about resume file names and searchability, plus other ATs / LinkedIn info.  Very much worth a read.  This is item #4.  It also makes the point that - yes - companies are tracking how many times you've applied for jobs with them.  The reading I've been doing says three rejections in phone screens or interviews and you might as well not go back.

In the interest of clarifying which job titles might be "shaking out" for a standard of "data scientist", this blog entry has some great definitions.  Data Science Central is also a good blog to be registered with if you do the kind of work I used to do.  Believe me, you will be asked on occasion who you are reading.

One of the interesting side lines I've been pursuing is performance measurements out here in the wild.  The general IT / web programming has led to the development of performance measurements & testing results

Load Impact
API metrics
VoIP call quality issues
Dynatrace
Continuous Performance in Continuous Integration
Web application performance testing
Soasta white papers on performance engineering

Five hours of interviews

It was down from seven hours.  The CTO didn't segue to the software designers then the VP.  This is never a good sign.  But I'd had five - count 'em -- F-I-V-E b2b interviews.

Everyone asks why I left telecom.

Why I left the perfect job.

The perfect job title.
the big company.

Why am I looking to work at such a small company.

What people don't seem to get is that ennui - that existential boredom - comes from lack of challenge.

I've been there.

I've seen it.

I've eaten it.

I've smelled it.

I've felt that touch before.

I have to move foreward or I'm buried while still alive.

******

The interviews are stacking up.  NEVER do more than one a day.

Send the "regret to inform you, but I'm not pursuing next steps with you" emails early

ALWAYS be the first in an interview to mention it's not a "fit."

***** Friday morning ***

new "NEVER" do again:

Never schedule face to face (f2f) interviews one day after the next.
No more than three f2f interviews a week, and only then if they're separated by a day.
Don't even bother trying to manage a phone screen, tech interview, with a f2f in one day - switching gears between companies & job descriptions really isn't that easy.

Yes, one of the horrible things yesterday is that I forgot I'd spoken to someone on a phone screen - my hiring manager, the one I met yesterday in meat space.  (*i SUCK*)

Interviewing is like a dance performance.  You're all jazzed before hand, but then afterwards..

Prepping for a seven hour interview

Yes.  

Seven

Count them.  S-E-V-E-N  hour interview.  In one day.  One company.  One office.  It's coming up this week.

I have two other phone interviews this week.  Last week I had three, four, including two face to face.  NEVER schedule yourself for two face to face (f2f) in one day.  

Only book one interview, be it phone or in person, per day.  You just can't shift the focus that fast.  You're not in any familiar territory.

Right now, I've got one hiring manager trying to put together a req for a job for me based upon my skills.  Another hiring manager who said I was overqualified for his position has shopped my resume around to THREE other managers in the company.  I've loved everyone I've met there so far.

I continue to get my best call backs from recruiters who've found me via key words on either dice or cybercoders.

I'm excited about the all day interview.  The lineup is seriously intimidating - from a V.P., to "chief data scientist", to CTO... It kind of reminds me of the McCaw days.  I've gone back to look at those old McCaw values.  There was never any touting of hiring "only the best," but "hire and develop great people."  We're all great, in our special ways.  

I wrote in my four page essay that got me this seven hour interview, "I'm not the best.  I'm only damned good."  And really, I am.  I've worked with people so much smarter than I am, those who are so very talented.  I've enjoyed learning from them.  

We took a roadtrip, me 'n Dave 'n our dog named Blue - drove across the mountains to Montana and visited family.  Drove north to Sandpoint, Idaho on roads we've never travelled before.  We're traveling roads we've never gone down before right now.

Done

But there are only 28 out of 70 prints which are "perfect."  This has been a fascinating process, from hand laying the type, learning to cut the block prints and then the printing process itself.  The platen letter press I worked with is one shown in the picture below.  It could easily have taken an 8x11 sheet of paper, much less the 4x6.

I went with the slightly embossed texture, not the perfect "kissed the paper" because, well, this is my very first project and there are so many problems with many of the prints, but I love this texture.  I wanted it in at least one of my prints, in one of my editions.  I wanted the texture, the feel.

Letterpress project for Nettlesting Press

Of course, me being me, I've started a project which is Over The Top.  I've hand set my piece, "As I Lie Here" for a first edition of hand-crafted cards from Nettlesting Press.  There is, of course, finished back to the card and you see the block I'm cutting out for that below.  The upper right is the printed front page layout including the hand-pressed proof of the poem.  

8 point type... I've gotten good setting type, moving type.  Sheesh...  There's only going to be 50 cards.  The poem is below.

As I Lie Here With You

(inspired by the photograph “As I Lie Here With You” by Elise Koncsek)

As I lie here with you

                                       stretched out against

the length of your warm back, it is the bow

of your ear that I love most in this moment.

Its pink shell illumined by first light guarantees

your heart's beat, but is it more graceful

than the climb of the curve from the back

of your neck to the arc of your shoulder?

Could it be more closely remembered

than the texture of your morning scruff

as it rises stiff and rough on the slope

of your jaw  - a promised scrape which

redden my cheeks for hours after the first

of your kisses?

          Morning awaits - a grey,

indistinct door before us.  You will wake,

stand, walk toward the light, away

from me buried in my mourning.

je ne regrette rien

The cycle is swooping back up again and today I feel like I've made another "break-through" in this transition process.  I don't know why I didn't notice this before, maybe I thought it was too far beyond me, but there's this whole industry building up around performance engineering for software development in mainstream IT.  I've got an interview - not because they picked my resume out of the slush pile, but because a friend forwarded my resume to a recruiter, who forwarded me to the hiring manager.  The hiring manager asked to speak to me, so he's read my resume.  I meet with him in the next few days, so I am brushing up on what I don't know based upon the job description.

I sorted the job description into what I knew (and why I applied) and pulled out what I didn't know.  This time though, instead of ignoring the software I didn't know, I went to their websites and viola.  There was some fan-fuckin'-tastic technical documentation about IQA  (Integrated software quality assurance) tools and what that is.  I feel like I hit paydirt.

The best, however, by far is the Dynatrace site.  Not only do they describe what application performance is and how it hits bare metal, but there's an extensive section on cloud KPIs worth reading for those who still aren't impacted by having to get down to the application layer.  That said, I think application performance management and performance testing is going to be part of "everyone's" future.  This site, and others have a lot of very interesting information.

Keyword search guys is "Application Performance" - there's testing and best practices, you want to pay attention to.  Also, you want to watch for "Continuous Integration" these days, folks.

Here's the Microsoft link to their document.

*****************************************************

My favorite pickle guy asked me how the job search was going yesterday.  I sighed, "Have you done much dating before?"

He nodded.  Of course he has, he's a cutie and smart and funny.

"I've had a lot of first  dates.  You know what that's like, right?  How easy those are?"

<insert nod, but confused look here>

"Now, how many second dates come from the first?  Fewer, right?  And then how many third dates come from the second."

<smiles>

"I haven't made it to the one night stand yet."

He got it.