originally posted november 20, 2002

I HAVE A JOB

Dozens of resumes passed around, dozens of hands shaken, thousands of miles traveled, and it all comes down to one fact. I HAVE A JOB.

I will be working for a small Pittsburgh-based software company called CombineNet, which makes software for things like business modeling and supply-chain management. It's a company with around 30 employees but some big-name customers. I'll also get to work with languages like Perl and Java that I am genuinely interested in, plus I know the CTO already: he's my professor for my AI class. I start in January, so I need to find a place to live in Pittsburgh sometime soon.

The destination came from a field of just two offers, but it was the result of a choice between a small local company and a large multinational. The parameters of each offer were almost exactly the same, the decision was exclusively mine. It was the hardest decision that I've ever had to make, much more difficult than the choice about which college I would attend.

The job search started this summer, as a botched interview request in Tokyo left me with little to do in Japan for 6 1/2 weeks besides study, learn Japanese, associate with other students, and have fun. After that, it was a steady stream of resume submissions both on-line and in person. Carnegie Mellon's Career Center has an on-line job search system run by MonsterTrak which, when it works, works fantastically well. Even as early as September, I was getting confirmation letters regarding companies I had just barely heard of. The annual Technical Opportunities Conference provided a gigantic mass of companies for me to schmooze with. One thing unifies MonsterTrak and the TOC: neither one got me a job offer.

It's strange but true: despite passing around around 100 paper resumes and many more copies electronically, the two offers I had to weigh were from a company where I had interned previously and a company I met through a much smaller job fair, @pgh.cafe. Frankly, I think the whole job search was unique and exciting the first time around, but I definitely don't think it was an experience to remember.

In addition to many interviews in the Career Center on campus, I talked to companies on Long Island, in Boston, and near Washington, DC. My efforts earned me the usual stress that accompanies long road travel as well as hundreds of dollars in reimbursements due to me. Among the tips I learned: read your e-mail. By missing a few pertinent details, including the site of the interview and the hotel where I was supposed to stay, I nearly forfeited the little chance I had with one company.

In the end, I feel happy with my choice. I'm glad that the job search is over, so now I can focus on more important things like graduating.

virtuality and reality

This semester so far has also seen some blends of the virtual world and the real world.

First off: on October 5, 2002, former IRC pal Tasha gave birth to a daughter, Madeline. I've never met either one in person, and I likely will never meet them. Still, I bought the daughter a gift, and got a thank-you card in return. It's weird when receiving mail from people whose voices you'll never hear.

I've been a user on Everything2 since 1999, when it was known as just "Everything." In that time, I've amassed over 5000 experience points from over 300 write-ups in its massive directory, but I have never actually met another user in person. That will change on New Year's Eve, when I travel to the New York City Noder Compound for a blowout party to end all parties. People will be coming in from as far as San Francisco to attend. I have been warned about the doings that might transpire already, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. It shall be fun.

What's more frightening than a compound born out of community on a web site? An entire town from that same web site. After New Year's, tens of users will converge on an uninhabited town in Kansas to plan the unimaginable: a new town, formed entirely from within a community of people who read each other's writings. Will Everything, Kansas work? Perhaps, but I don't think I'll be a resident. There will not be a need for software engineers in the new American frontier.

class by class

Before I actually start work, I need to graduate.

15-381: Artificial Intelligence

I have homework to do, so I should do it. The class is not too demanding, and everyone really got into the last homework assignment where we pitted checkers programs against each other for valuable homework grades.

15-393: Software Engineering for IT

This is going to be tough. I'm practically in charge of getting a team of five overworked students to take time out for a prototype. The final exam is right after Thanksgiving, as opposed to during the official final exam period. Everyone wants this project to work, but I don't know how, if at all, we're going to get it to work on time.

15-491: Dependable and Survivable Systems

Also falls into the "Oh crap, we need to do work now" category. Despite the lack of a final exam, my partner and I have much to do to improve our project. Fortunately, in a class with only eight students, good feedback is seldom hard to find.

70-364: Business Law

For a class that I enjoy so much, I'm not doing well at all. The course material is interesting and certainly in line with expectations, but it is hard to plan out reading and studying for the quizzes. Lecture is interesting, but I was hurt on recent quizzes as I missed class due to interview schedules. That shouldn't happen for the remaining two (!) classes.

in memoriam

Two passings of note mark a somber end to this update.

My family's cat, Gully, died recently at the elderly age of 16. My family has found a replacement cute kitten, so far unnamed (as far as I know; suggestions have ranged from "Smokey" to "Optimus Prime") that I will see for the first time at Thanksgiving.

Also, Josephine "Kine" Lazowy passed away on November 12. Kine was not related to me by blood, but took care of my father and his siblings when they were kids. Feisty to the end, she was an incredible 98 years young.

Back to November 2002, or to the year 2002.