Nerdcore 4 Life

I like my job. It’s 2 minutes from where I live(and I like where I live), it doesn’t take up a huge amount of time and I’m pretty good at it. It’s a teaching job and truthfully there are very few people who can teach technical things. In fact, I could be pretty bad at it and still be pretty good at it if you know what I mean.

But, much as I like it, it’s time for a change. My job is fun but not challenging, I’ve never come across a real ‘problem’ to be solved. It’s doesn’t have a huge amount of corporate bullshit, but it does have some and that’s more than I like. I had to be ‘counseled’ yesterday because I filled out too many Attendance Change Forms. I filled out 2 in 6 months. Because I clicked an ‘A’ instead of a ‘P’. Twice.

And while not working too many hours has been enjoyable I’m not sure it’s the healthiest thing for me right now. Basically it’s a great job to retire to, not from.

But looking for programming jobs, even with a Masters in CS, has been spotty. The interview process is almost always tough(as it should be). But that means that even if they love you they suspect you. “Why is this guy doing well, am I missing something?” And if you have a few years break from programming it’s very easy to assume “Yes I am, lets get the next guy.”

And even if the interview does go well I don’t have any code to give as a sample and my contacts/references are from years ago. My last programming boss was in another state!

And then even when I get passed all that, it’s still a pain in the ass. I applied at a game company, they didn’t contact me for 6 months. Then after I passed their programming test I had to wait a month for a phone interview! Then I had 2 more phone interview(a month apart) before waiting 2 months to come in and take a grueling programming test in their offices(which was kind of fun actually).

After that they told me no about 2 weeks later, then 2 months later said everyone I had interviewed with had left the company and would I like to start the process again. Hm…..fuck your mother. But at least I never expected anything from them.

I actually received a job offer from one company(at the money I asked for, which I didn’t expect) but then the paperwork kept taking forever to go through. I assumed that is was some bullshit with the recruiter but it turned out they were losing money and were about to instigate a hiring freeze. I had already quit! They emailed me 6 months later and said they were hiring again. Once more…fuck your mother.

It’s just stressful and work and for what. What do I get for it? Another job. A longer commute. Especially in California, where every 10 ft takes about 20 minutes. Will I make more money? Sure, but it will still be less than I want and more than they think I’m worth. So essentially I’m killing myself looking for a job so I can have the privilege of putting up with their bullshit.

Fuckem, I’m going mobile. There’s a unique oppourtunity now to make money selling apps for mobile phones. It’s a new market, it’s not entirly settled what people want(that means you can still strike it big). It’s growing every day, especially as Apple slashes prices, Android comes out on over 20 phones this year and Palm releases it’s WebOS. And all the marketing, purchasing and distribution is in place already. All I have to do is code.