Stuff I’ve done since Friday:
Writing perl unit tests which need to simulate a web browser with cookie support connecting to a server from multiple network interfaces is challenging. Why would I need to do that? Well, when you work for a company whose business is providing controlled internet access to hotels, these sorts of things come up.
I’m not asking for help — I already know how to approach the problem. I’m just stating a fact. You know, in case anybody was curious about what I’m working on these days.
My first day at the new job went pretty much as I expected. Filled with introductions, paperwork, mile-high system overviews, and the tedious configuration of a new workstation. The drive to/from the office was a little stressful, since it was raining. It took about an hour for the ~25 mile commute. I’m going to try to start leaving earlier and see if I can beat the rush.
I’ve got a desktop PC running Debian Linux, which I’m configuring to run as a test server. It will be handling a bunch of Apache/Perl stuff. I’m currently bringing in my laptop from home to act as a client, though I’m not really using it much yet. [...]
Received in my email this morning:
Dougal,
Please find attached the formal offer. Sign a copy and bring it with you
on Dec 6th, but for now just indicate your acceptance via email and I’ll
start the paperwork rolling. Let me know if you have any questions.
I’ll be a Senior Software Engineer for a small-but-growing tech company that survived the dot-com bust. From what I know so far, my primary responsibility will be to refactor a largish web application written in perl. And, of course, “any other duties as deemed appropriate and necessary by management.”
Like most of my other employment in the past, the job lead came to me via my personal network. [...]
After much deliberation, I decided to decline that job offer from Emory University. The lure of a permanent job, with lower out-of-pocket tax and health insurance expenses was pretty strong. But their salary budget and our monthly bills budget just weren’t quite aligned at this time. The salary they were offering was in a sort of “grey zone” for our household budget. We probably could have gotten by, but only barely, and only with the help of extra part-time income that Susan and I would add to it with side projects and such. [...]
No, I’m not talking about the weather, though it is a wet day here.
Instead, I’m referring to work opportunities. I find myself in the rare, enviable position of having several different full-time and contract job possibilities. I had given up on hearing back from Emory University, since it had been several weeks since my last communication with them. But last week, I received a phone call from them saying that they were ready to make an offer. I met with them earlier this week to negotiate salary. I’m still debating whether to accept the offer or not, since it’s lower than I had hoped for, and is in the borderline area for being able to pay all our monthly bills.
On top of that, I’ve had two fellow web developers — Brent Ashley and fellow WordPress developer Alex King — send some contract work references my way (thanks, guys!). [...]
WordPress Ãœbermensch Matt Mullenweg has accepted a job at CNET Networks. Getting a job with a big-time tech media company would be cool enough on its own. But part of Matt’s paid duties will be to continue working on WordPress. I had the honor of being one of Matt’s references while he was in talks with CNET, so I got to talk to one of the folks there for a while about Matt, his work, and about WordPress in general. I definitely came away with the impression that CNET groks the value of open source projects that are actively maintained.
Matt has now taken another step in his quest for world domination. [...]
Remember that telephone interview I had, and how I was hoping to get a call back for a second interview? I had just about given up hope of hearing back from them. But I had voicemail earlier today letting me know that they would like to meet with me for a second interview. Woot!
It’s scheduled for the middle of next week. They’ve asked me to provide all sorts of examples of my work (flowcharts, object diagrams, server-side and client-side programming examples, etc.), so I’m going to be pretty busy getting my materials together over the next few days. [...]
I just had a phone interview for a job position at a local university. The position is “Senior Applications Developer/Analyst”. I was a bit concerned that my experience with some of the technologies listed in the job description is limited. However, I have a lot of coding experience in a variety of different languages and platforms, and I can pick up new technologies very quickly.
They broke the interview into sections. The first few questions were oriented towards project management in general. How would I go about starting a project, what kind of documents would I use, what are the benefits of using a source control system, etc. [...]
