Thoughts, Rants, and Musings

[Jibralta]

I have a job interview on Thursday. It was kind of an accident. I doubt I'll take the job. I'm not really prepared. Even though I hate my company, there are definitely perks to working here. I have benefits, 401K, a steady stream of work flowing in, a lot of options if I want to change location. Nothing like an impending job interview to put things into perspective for you haha.

 

The potential employer is much smaller. A "rapidly growing" firm, which is scary in itself. Something that grows quick may need to be pruned back aggressively. I don't know how many projects they are able to win. I don't know what the company culture is like. Are employees happy? Do they stay? My company sucks, but my department is mostly great. I don't want to work with sucky people again. And of course, no company is going to admit that it treats its employees like crap. And it's rude to ask, so...

 

I can't tell what they pay. I have a feeling it could be less than what I earn now. Even if they do offer more, it would still be a risk to leave my current employer.

 

At least I am in a position of power. If they offer more, I can bring that to my current employer and force their hand about my raise. If they don't offer enough, it is still a worthwhile exercise.

 

I say that the interview is an "accident" because I accidentally registered for ZipRecruiter. When I was updating my resume a couple of weeks ago, I checked a former employer's website for the correct spelling of a last name. I noticed that they were hiring. This is a company that I am interested in working for full time. I've only done contract work for them so far. They attempted to hire me twice, and I've attempted to get hired by them twice, but the timing has always been off. While on their website, I noticed they have a position open. There was a button there to check the salary. So, I clicked it and entered my email address. That's when I unwittingly registered for ZipRecruiter. Duh. And of course I never received the salary information.

 

BUT I did start receiving notifications about open jobs. One sleepless night, I got up, uploaded my shiny new resume, and applied to the job I was interested in. And then I applied to one or two other places for good measure. It was as easy as a click. Since then, I've modified my resume again and applied to a couple more places. I think 10 places, total.

 

I don't know if I'll change jobs. It's interesting how applying for jobs when you already have a job puts things into perspective.

 

I'm still not giving up on my raise, though.

[Jibralta]

Just got my 23andMe results. It's quite interesting. It shows me that I (fortunately) do not have (at least some of) the genetic variants for Alzheimers or Parkinsons, but that I may be predisposed towards macular degeneration. Also, my genetic muscle composition is apparently common in elite power athletes. I have not one but TWO copies of the ACTN3 gene, C-variant. I guess this explains why I used to do so well in gymnastics. And why I used to flip over backwards off of the monkey bars in school. Haven't found any close relatives yet, but there's a lot to explore here. This test lumps British and Irish together, and French and German together. In terms of proportion, the results seem to be in line with the Ancestry results. I am of mostly Northwest European decent--but it looks like I do have at least one ancestor of West African decent!

[Jibralta]

Sh*t almost got real during the train ride home on Sunday night. It was around 10PM. My boyfriend and I were on the last leg of a long trip. A girl got on the train. She was sort of heavy-set, inverted-triangle type figure. She was wearing a "HELLO, My name is..." name tag. I noticed her because she paced the train car aggressively before taking a seat diagonally across from me.

 

It was not long before I happened to notice that she was staring at me. Intently. So, I broke eye contact and looked at other things. The girl looked a little bleary-eyed, like she'd had a rough night. But I couldn't tell if she was drunk or high.

 

I looked back. She was still staring. It was very obviously deliberate. I guess I must have looked like an easy target. I leaned over to my boyfriend and said, "What do you think this girl is staring at?" He looked up from his phone and was startled to she her staring intently at him.

 

He smiled and said "Hi." I smiled at her, too. She gave the predictable response of someone who was trying to be a badass: "Is there a problem?" I said, "I don't know." My boyfriend said, "No there isn't. I'm sorry." He is waaaaay better at being diplomatic than I am. I envy that.

 

The girl looked away. The people next to us shifted uncomfortably.

 

I spent the next 20 minutes wondering if I was going to have to fight this girl. How to go about it. She might be carrying mace and just looking for an excuse to use it. Would I be able to function after being maced? How could I coordinate with my boyfriend, tell him to watch out. She didn't look like she was in good shape, but people can be surprisingly strong. She could also be crazy, which equals unpredictable.

 

When the conductor came around to collect tickets, the girl told him that her phone was dead and she'd be getting off at the next station to transfer.

 

There was nothing to do but sit back and wait. When I looked back at her again, I did catch her eye but she didn't attempt to out-stare me. At one point, she got up and found an outlet to charge her phone. I hoped this didn't mean she would be staying. But fortunately, the next station came up and she got off the train.

 

We both breathed a sigh of relief after that!

[thealchemist]

My sister is like that.

 

She would go into public places when she was in a mood and go pick a fight with someone.

 

She would normally carry a knife on her too.

 

Overy aggresive people like that are so dangerious and unpredictable.

[Jibralta]

I was like that to a degree when I was a kid. 15 max. But I grew out of it. And actually, I took deliberate steps to overcome it. It was surprising to see a grown woman act that way. She was youngish, probably in her 20s, but still a grown woman. When you act out as a kid, people hit the reset button for you. But in adulthood, you get to mess with someone maybe once before you get real consequences like a fine or jail time. But some adults still choose the hard way. And carrying a knife is very unfair if your out to pick a fight.

[Jibralta]

I have the interview tomorrow. I'm going right after work, so I'll be in field clothes. This means steel toe boots, some sort of khakis, a thermal, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a jacket. And probably caked-on mud. I hope I can stay out of the mud tomorrow. I've already told the potential employer about my attire and the reason for it. He totally understands. I just have to make sure not to wear the t-shirt with the big picture of a screw on the front and large bold YOU on the back. Will also be sure not to wear the FOR RENT t-shirt. I've learned it's not a good idea to wear the FOR RENT t-shirt to construction sites, in general. On the other hand, the Screw You t-shirt goes over smashingly well.

[Seraphim]

Good luck on your interview!

[Jibralta]

Thank you :)

[dias]

Good luck jibs :)

[Jibralta]

Thank you :)

 

At this point, I don't know what good luck will be--getting the job or not! I don't know if they are going to offer me enough money. I don't know if they pay overtime. There's a lot of I don't knows.

 

Yesterday, while I was in the office, I thought about how nice it was to work where I work, how much I enjoy working with the people in my group, and the group dynamic. Despite the fact that I've heard NOTHING about my raise, I feel like my bosses are making a concerted effort to get me good work. I also appear to be getting on more proposals.

 

Then I started going through my old BIM models, trying to figure out what to bring to the interview. I remembered how much fun it was to create them. I haven't done that in a long time, and I miss it. I thought it might even be worth taking a pay cut to do that again. Then I talked to my boyfriend and he set me straight! What the hell was I thinking?? hahaha.

[Seraphim]

I have to make a decision too whether I want to apply for a job. It is agonizing . For everything you get you have to give up something else . The job is a split shift which would seriously mess with the other things that I do but on the other hand it would be guaranteed hours which I don’t have a present . My husband is really pushing me towards applying but he’s not the one that has to work it . I just don’t know. I mean I could apply and not get it you know .

[Jibralta]

I have to make a decision too whether I want to apply for a job. It is agonizing . For everything you get you have to give up something else . The job is a split shift which would seriously mess with the other things that I do but on the other hand it would be guaranteed hours which I don’t have a present . My husband is really pushing me towards applying but he’s not the one that has to work it . I just don’t know. I mean I could apply and not get it you know .

 

I think you should apply. You don't have to take the job. This very recent of mine has shown me how valuable the process is, just as an exercise to get me thinking.

[Jibralta]

My interview today lasted for 2.5 hours. Long story short: I will probably work for him as a consultant. He hasn't made the offer yet, so it could actually come to nothing. I like the idea of consulting. The moment I walked into the office, I felt pretty certain he wasn't going to be able to pay me what I want. However, he does know a lot, and I have a lot to learn and a lot to offer. So, I think we can reach an agreement.

 

Overall, the interview went pretty well. Not the way I envisioned it, but my imagination really runs away with me sometimes LOL. I didn't envision anything outrageous (and nothing outrageous happened), but my imagination painted a different picture with surprisingly vivid detail. Except the guy looked the way I expected, but I saw a picture of him beforehand haha.

[dias]

Would you trade your current job for a job that you like more but with less money?

[thealchemist]

I hate looking for jobs.

 

I got very ticked off at my last employer and started looking. It was the place I started at right after college, worked there for over 6 years.

 

They promoted someone to a position that had no idea what he was doing and told me to train him for the next year. It was a promotion I had applied for too.

 

The job required 5 years experience and a B.S. in biology or chemistry. I met all of those and the other person didn't. More importantly though I knew the job and he was clueless.

 

So an admin who was totally pissed that I didn't get the job came and told me before anything official happened.

 

So I took every bit of vacation that I couldn't sell back and took two weeks off. Got my resume up to snuff and sent out 150 resumes and did 15 interviews.

 

I cannot tell who the satisfaction I had to give my boss my two weeks notice on my first day back form vacation. He flipped out and started screaming at me.

 

The division I didn't get promoted to was the most lucrative side of the business.

 

The person who took over screwed up so much they lost about 15% of the companie's revenue. They then had to sell the company to their competitor. Who then fired all 1200 workers and closed the science testing facility portion of the company.

 

Now I have a job I love so much that I will be happy to work here for the rest of my life.

 

I got a FIFTY percent pay raise and at 3 years I get almost 5 weeks of PTO.

 

It might be a pain in the @ss to get a new job but if you feel that it is right it very well might be worth it.

[Jibralta]

Would you trade your current job for a job that you like more but with less money?

 

No. I admit the idea is tempting, but it wouldn't be practical. I want to save money. I'm sick of cramming into this tiny-ass apartment.

[Jibralta]

I cannot tell who the satisfaction I had to give my boss my two weeks notice on my first day back form vacation. He flipped out and started screaming at me.

 

Haha serves him right. Good thing you got out of there.

 

If I put things in perspective, I'm not so bad off. When I took this job, it was a 43% pay increase over my former job, and after almost 5 years, I'm now making 28% more than I was when I started, and 83% more than I was making when I left my last job. But I really do think that I'm underpaid for my level of responsibility and my job performance. I've been with this company long enough to see where I stand in comparison to others when it comes to performance.

 

Looking for a job while I am employed is much less stressful than it was when I first got out of grad school and had to find a job, or when I was laid off. But it's still stressful. If my boss hadn't made me update my resume, I would not have applied to any of these jobs. I'd still be procrastinating right now. There are a bunch of finishing touches that I want to put on my resume and my portfolio which I keep putting off.

[Jibralta]

I have come to realize that when an engineer refers to another engineer as "conservative," it's basically a euphemism for "idiot."

[Jibralta]

My boyfriend's aunt brought girl scout cookies to his job, and his dad bought 2 boxes of every variety. They are now floating around their office, making everyone fat. His dad bragged about losing 7.5lbs as he consumed an entire box of peanut butter sandwich cookies.

 

My boyfriend and I are on a diet, so my boyfriend views this cookie invasion as an act of aggression. But of course, he is susceptible, as am I.

 

When I heard that they had every variety, I thought, "Hmmmm. Have I tried all of the varieties? This could be an opportunity to broaden my horizons..." So I asked him to bring me home one cookie of each variety. In the back of my mind, I wondered how I was going to know which variety of cookie I was eating. I would obviously recognize the ones that I knew, but what about the new cookies? Would I ever find out what they were?

 

Well, my boyfriend has solved that problem by taking pictures of all the boxes! And I didn't even have to ask. He just knew :)

[itsallgrand]

That's sweet. He was thinking of you!

[Batya33]

My boyfriend's aunt brought girl scout cookies to his job, and his dad bought 2 boxes of every variety. They are now floating around their office, making everyone fat. His dad bragged about losing 7.5lbs as he consumed an entire box of peanut butter sandwich cookies.

 

My boyfriend and I are on a diet, so my boyfriend views this cookie invasion as an act of aggression. But of course, he is susceptible, as am I.

 

When I heard that they had every variety, I thought, "Hmmmm. Have I tried all of the varieties? This could be an opportunity to broaden my horizons..." So I asked him to bring me home one cookie of each variety. In the back of my mind, I wondered how I was going to know which variety of cookie I was eating. I would obviously recognize the ones that I knew, but what about the new cookies? Would I ever find out what they were?

 

Well, my boyfriend has solved that problem by taking pictures of all the boxes! And I didn't even have to ask. He just knew :)

 

Total keeper.

[Jibralta]

That's sweet. He was thinking of you!

 

Total keeper.

 

I love him :)

And I'm definitely keeping him.

[reinventmyself]

My boyfriend and I are on a diet, so my boyfriend views this cookie invasion as an act of aggression.

 

That made me laugh

[Jibralta]

My interview today lasted for 2.5 hours. Long story short: I will probably work for him as a consultant. He hasn't made the offer yet, so it could actually come to nothing. I like the idea of consulting. The moment I walked into the office, I felt pretty certain he wasn't going to be able to pay me what I want. However, he does know a lot, and I have a lot to learn and a lot to offer. So, I think we can reach an agreement.

 

I heard from this guy on Friday morning. He sent me an email thanking me for the interview (?!). This sort of threw me off, because I was planning to compose the traditional post-interview thank you note and send it off via snail-mail. So much for that.

 

He went on to say that he thought I would be a good fit, and that he would put together a plan of action for us to start working together. This filled me with a huge desire to escape and run away screaming. It also made me happy.

 

I think he's looking for a temp-to-perm person, and I'm really leaning more towards temp-to-temp. During the day, I feel like I can handle a part-time job in addition to my job. But in the middle of the night, I freak out and wonder what the hell I am thinking; I have no free time as it is. Half of me hopes that I'll never hear from him again, and the other half is wondering when he's going to send the plan of action and will probably feel deflated if he doesn't.

 

To make matters worse, ZipRecruiter makes it very easy to apply for jobs (one click!), so I'm clicking all over the place and then freaking myself out every time someone seems to like my resume.

[Jibralta]

That made me laugh

 

Haha good :)