So ... it appears we're not moving to Lakewood.

[unixronin]

Short version:  The Americorps program in Lakewood contacted us about a week and a half ago and offered us both places in a program teaching small businesses about computer security.  I, meanwhile, had just two days earlier interviewed with Yahoo, and had been told to expect an interview with UBS (think Gnomes of Zurich) within 48 hours.  So we said, "Can we have a couple of days to think this over?  I just had an interview with Yahoo and I'd like to find out how it went before we decide."

"Sure," they said.  "But we probably need to know by August 4th."  So on August 3rd, three busiiness days later, we sent mail back accepting the Lakewood offer, only to hear nothing for five more days and then learn that because we'd asked for time to consider instead of accepting right there and then on the phone, they'd gone off -- after telling us we had time to think it over -- and interviewed some more people and given the positions to someone else.

Yahoo, meanwhile, had decided (it appears) that I don't have enough NAS experience (which is to say, none), and UBS are still sitting on their gnomish hands in Connecticut and haven't interviewed anyone for the position I've been presented for there (for which, if you believe the recruiter, I'm an excellent match).

You know the job market is bad when it's an employer's market even for subsistence-level volunteer work.

And yet....  and yet the fellow geeks I know in Silicon Valley seem to be getting hired left, right and center.  (Mostly by Yahoo, ironically.  paeyl just got hired for the job I interviewed for.)  This makes me feel like an abject failure.  There is no future in being a polymath.  If there's a sweet spot between "You're overqualified for this position"/"This job pays $amount-you-can't-support-a-family-on" and "You don't have enough experience in $specific-field for us" in this economy, I have yet to find it.

Comments

ARRRGH!

[felinecanine.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about that. Is it possible that Americorps in Lakewood or in other locations might still have suitable positions available?

I also wonder if paeyl's soon to be ex-$COMPANY is hiring. You might want to look into it.

Re: ARRRGH!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

There are other programs. We've been referred to another program in Washington (though nowhere near so well-suited), and we're in contact with programs in Vermont and New Hampshire, but for the most part they're all literate-warm-body positions except for the public-speaking/outreach/raise-funding ones I'd feel totally lost in. The most technical task any of them is likely to demand me to do is send email.

But then, at this point I have so little confidence left in my ability to ever get a tech job again that I don't know if that really makes a difference. If it wasn't that my medical issues won't allow me to be on my feet all day, I'd be looking seriously at Home Depot and the like. I understand HD checkers make $18 an hour.

I don't know if $(paeyl_employer)-- is hiring or not. I assume so. I could probably make good money making book against them ever hiring me.

Existing possibilities

[aalauber.livejournal.com]

i don't know if $COMPANY{paeyl}-- is hiring for my positon or not. they dunno what they're doing about it yet. i did mention to my manager that i knew a guy that could prolly do the job, but wasn't local and perhaps didn't interview very well ;).

however, there is someone in a similar position to you that has worked at $COMPANY{paeyl}-- before. so while i wish i could offer you a basket of strong hope, all i got is this tantalizing whiff. sorry :/

i do keep my eye out for you. don't forget to keep up on craigslist postings :)

for that matter, there MUST be open positions in other fields besides tech that you could do? there are jobs to be had, at almost anytime. the trick is always presenting yourself as the confident, nonchalantly capable person motivated to do the job well.

bon chance.

Re: Existing possibilities

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

for that matter, there MUST be open positions in other fields besides tech that you could do?

I'm sure there must be. Perhaps that's just a failure of imagination. I keep trying to think of what else I could make a living at, and I keep not coming up with anything.

The fact that I still cannot be on my feet for long periods of time rules out a lot of things I might otherwise have gone for simply as a stopgap to have money coming in.

there are jobs to be had, at almost anytime. the trick is always presenting yourself as the confident, nonchalantly capable person motivated to do the job well.

Indeed. My confidence, unfortunately, is very badly cracked and I don't know how to regain it without ... uh ... external proof, for lack of a better word. It's something of a circular problem.

I do my best, but so far it evidently hasn't been enough.