i just got back to work after having two beers, and there’s more beer and free sushi for din din.

//edit: ahhh i’m really flush right now. work rocks.

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary,

“Employment in the information industry declined by 13,000 in July and by 44,000
over the past 12 months. Telecommunications lost 5,000 jobs in July.”

And an InfoWorld study showed that jobs will continue to decline in 2009.

Time to pick a new profession before I’ve even started?

I took the job with VirtuOz as a content specialist. I leave for Paris for a month in September to train, and then I start somewhere near Redwood City. Exciting…somewhat. The pay is sorta mediocre…I suppose it’s good for the position, but I suppose I had something a little different in mind for myself.

However…I didn’t actually get rejected for the IronPort/Cisco position yet. I was told they would make a decision last week, so I accepted the offer at VirtuOz since I never heard back from IronPort even though I e-mailed them asking if it had been filled yet. Well today, the data analyst (a.k.a. administrative assistant? they have odd job titles) tells me my interviews went well but they have not made any decisions yet. BLAH. Well, I think I finally got over the IronPort job so I’m not being too hopeful but I’d still be in heaven if I got it.

Yay jobs…maybe. Had an interview Sunday in SF with one of the co-founders of VirtuOz, a French company that makes virtual agents (similar to AIM’s SmarterChild. IM “SmarterChild” if you don’t know what I’m talking about.) Just finished up a phone interview with one of their other co-founders and he said he should get back to me with a proposal by the end of the day tomorrow! So that means they want me right?

I interviewed with IronPort, a Cisco company, yesterday and it went well until I met the network manager. Like my last interview at Google with their sr. network engineer, I got owned. Andy, a husky Russian fellow, told me to pick my favorite…e-mail or networking. I picked networking, and got an onslaught of network infrastructure and troubleshooting questions that I was totally unfamiliar with. I’d just sit there for a minute thinking, then he’d wave his hand dismisally and be like that’s okay, and then own me with the answer.

So I really really want the IronPort job because it’d let me work at Cisco, which means free Cisco certification training so I don’t need to keep spending my money on it, and the growth potential would be humongous. On the other hand, working at VirtuOz the pay would likely be a lot less, but the growth potential would be good in that I would be their first team in the US, and if I stuck with the company it would be awesome experience.

I was at Christie’s house today fixing her computer when I got a phone call that went something like this:

Ninfa: Hello, I’m Ninfa Esparza from IronPort calling to schedule an interview for next week, on Monday or Tuesday with Colby Waterland, if possible.
Me: Uh…what’s Colby Waterland?
Ninfa: …that’s the recruiting manager.
Me: Oh…who are you with again, sorry.
Ninfa: IronPort
Me: …uh have you guys contacted me before?
Ninfa: I don’t know, I just know that Mr. Waterland has your resume, so you must have applied to a job here or something.
Me: Oh…(shit)…okay, <schedules interview time>

Pure ownage. So after checking out the IronPort website, I determine that I applied to this job on Cisco’s website. Cisco owns IronPort, but there was no mention of IronPort on the job description (though ironically, if you search “IronPort” it’ll pull up the job description.) I applied to two positions in San Bruno (where IronPort is located) so we’ll see what I’m getting interviewed for…I didn’t wanna seem embarassed any further by asking what position it was. I assume I’m being interviewed as the IT Analyst (Cisco has about 100 openings with that title, it doens’t say  much) but it could also be a Jr. Unix Systems Administrator (or as Christie would call it, Jr. Eunich Systems Administrator.)

Finally got my first job offer, a recruiter found me on Monster.com and needed a laptop tech for Sony. I’m more than qualified so I was offered the job after a 2 minute interview, but unfortunately the pay is only $15/hr and a 1 year contract. I suppose the contract is probably breakable on my end (though I’m just guessing) but I definitely don’t want to work for $15/hr for an entire year. I told the guy I’d get back to him so we’ll see.

I moved the blog to www.timchen.com/blog (well I guess you probably figured that out by now) since I didn’t want potential employers reading through my blog and rejecting me based upon its contents. I changed the theme but I’m too lazy to tweak it right now so that’ll come next. I should also probably update.

//edit: Okay I didn’t feel like studying so I spent the last hour prettying it up, complete with a Web 2.0 logo.

I saw a baby-ish deer on the way home tonight. I was coming up Spring Canyon Road and turning right onto Scripps Ranch Blvd, and on the other side was a damn deer staring at my motorcycle’s headlights…a total WTF moment. I live in the suburbs, and there are deer crossing signs around the neighborhood, but it’s been at least a decade since I’ve last seen or heard of a deer’s presence (the last one I remember ended up as roadkill.) I’ve never seen a coyote around here even though we’re notorious for them, though I saw a baby bobcat when I was younger. Crazy.

Google maps link of my house, go north down Scripps Ranch Blvd and you’ll hit Spring Canyon Road, which is where I saw the baby deer.

I came down to SD to escape the heat, but when I checked around 2ish today it was 91 degrees here, and 92 in Davis. At least it’s nice (but cloudy) at the beach, and my house holds a pretty constant and nice temperature. Still…ugh!

My dad was nice enough to clear out our 3rd storage space garage for my motorcycle, but sadly my joy lasted about 3 hours since as I left Matt’s house tonight, I realized the garage door opener was missing from my jacket, presumably smashed into pieces on the freeway. Oops.

I never knew how to break it to my parents that I had a motorcycle, especially after my mom made me “promise” that I wouldn’t get one until I got married. Right. My dad found out because of the accident report from the drunk driver smashing into me 5 days after I got my Suzuki. My parents pay for my car insurance, and the insurance companied pulled my record since it was renewal time and was like WTF is this accident, and so my dad was like WTF? Though I couldn’t have imagined my dad keeping my motorcycle ownership from my mom, he never brought it up in her presence.

My plan was to just show up in San Diego, and pull my motorcycle out of the truck and be like “hi.”. I finally figured out that my mom knew when my dad mentioned clearing out the garage for my motorcycle in front of my mom, and she didn’t say anything. I guess my mom just figured I would ignore her and do my own thing, like I usually do (sorry Kim for ignoring your advice most of all the time, it’s just how I am.) Parents can be surprising sometimes.