Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2003/02/25/culture-yes-technology-no/
I had an interview this morning. It was for a Perl development job, which is different, but related to, my usual work as a Systems Administrator. The coders sit together in an open space, their desks built of doors, in Tellme fashion. That and the right combination of Dilbert strips taped on a cubicle support column gave me a good feel. I was introduced to a pair of easy-going would-be colleagues, who told me about their somewhat unconventional development methodology, and prepared to give me a technical challenge and a whiteboard to solve it on.
I was a little nervous, to be sure, and I usually write code sitting at a terminal, with access to reference doumentation. I conjured a passable, though not impressive, solution to the problem. The “elegant” answer was indeed quite pretty. They asked what I knew of database programming, and I had to admit that, while I once got really freaky with Bugzilla, I’m hardly an expert on database programming.
I know the hiring manager from school, which is a plus. He came back and said that the guys liked me, and ordinarily, at this point, this is where he said he’d say he’d give me a call; Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the technical prowess that they wanted. He asked how I felt about doing QA, which was the only other position he saw coming along. I offered that I didn’t know much about QA, I’d be most concerned with whether I was qualified to do that work.
I appreciated his straightforward refusal.
Back in the car, I started arguing with myself over the verdict, but my rationalizations could not overcome the simple fact that in this economy, they are better off holding out for someone who is not only a good culture fit, but is also better up-to-speed on the work that needs to be done. It is not enough that we both know that I could do the work, the fact stands that someone else out there can do it better, and she also needs a job.
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Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2003/02/25/moving-along/
I got an e-mail from Linn the other day. She was layed off a month ago. She bought me a bowl of pho for lunch. Bless her! Well, fair enough, I suppose, as I’d already offered to help her move on Tuesday. She’s ditching her apartment to live at a friend’s place for a while. Fair enough.
The other day, Brian asked about my “exit strategy” – not that he wanted to throw me out or anything, but he felt uncomfortable not paying the landlady extra rent if I stayed for long. I told him my plan of moving from place to place, a month at a time, so as not to wear out my welcome. I figured I should be out by March.
March is a week away.
Michael had offered me his guest bedroom in Oakland. I contacted him about that, and it turns out that he’s taking March off to travel, and could use a house sitter. What’s more, he’s meeting Duncan, who put me up in London, and then Duncan will be coming back to stay in the guest room in April. So, there’s a very clean month in a room with a pre-determined exit strategy.
I can, if need be, go on a couple more months in this vein, but as the weather gets warm, if things remain desperate, a midwestern spring may call to me.
Speaking of desperate, I’ve taken to calling the EDD to discover the status of my appeal. Ordinarily I’d be content to wait for the mail, but the mail has been notably flakey lately. I’ve tried twice today, but both times the system told me that there were too many folks on hold and I had to call back later.
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Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2003/02/25/the-art-of-the-deal/
So, I was reading the paper, and a comic made me chuckle. “Let’s share this with my friends,” I decided, and hopped on the Internet to find the electronic version. Alas, out of fear that the ability to read comics on the Internet would destroy their business model, the syndicator has rigged it up so that you can only view comics between two weeks and four weeks in age.
So, anyway, if you read this two weeks from now, you’ll be able to find the comic that made me giggle here.
Otherwise, I’ll tell you that the Devil is standing in the bookstore reviewing a copy of _Chicken Soup for the Soul_, and he confesses to an employee that, “It’s not exactly what I was expecting. I thought it was about the art of the deal.”
Business books are big here in the Silicon Valley. Maybe a few of us can contribute to web syndication. Speaking of which, I have an RSS feed up.
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Link:
https://dannyman.toldme.com/2003/02/26/insane-zipper-pants/
I and some other friends I met once before, though none of us remember each other, helped Linn move today. I got to back the 25′ truck up to the parking garage, THAT was fun. It all went pretty well, and though we were pressed for time and kept hitting little snags like missing padlocks, and Linn was too cheap to get us a dolly, things went pretty smooth and we met the deadlines to drop her stuff off in public storage.
She paid for dinner. My tummy is filled with pollo parmagiana, and I had a glass of wine. The one waitress looked really really nice. But what I really dug was this skinny young FoB gal who came in with her boyfriend, wearing the most insane pair of pants. You know how girls used to have zippers down by the ankles to help them get the tight pants on? That always struck me as inexplicably wonderful, probably because the fashion came out at just the right week in my puberty. Anyway, this gal had zippers up the back of each leg that went clear up to her the bottom of her butt pockets.
Now, I have no idea how practical that is, or why she really chose it, but her jeans struck me as insanely witty. Just plain too extreme! Wonderful! And it was all the nicer that while she was a skinny immigrant-lookin’ type, she still had a little chubby booty so at least the zippers were leading the eye to something worthwhile.
The glass of wine, which, as it was the house wine, cost a mere $4, made me miss France, where a good evening could be had hanging out at the hostel with a $2 bottle of wine. On the way home I dropped by Safeway and grabbed some bread, some hummus and pita bread, and a $3 bottle of “private reserve” from San Jose. The wine comes with a twist-off cap, and looks like peach apple juice, and tastes like a port with tequila in it. Fantastically ill! I dig it!
Pita and hummus and an abominable bottle of wine, a good night cap consistent with that girl’s insane zipper pants, and the struggle to move Linn’s stuff, in which we came together and triumphed!
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