The Job Search

So reality is finally setting in; I've been back in the States for a few days. The last few dollars that I exchanged for Euros doesn't seem like such a great idea anymore. My money is running low; I need a job! Seeing as how Reedley was not the best place to find a job for someone with a Computer Engineering degree, I decided to take my cousin up on his offer to crash at his place in San Diego.

So off I went to San Diego with my one bag of possessions! After 6 hours of driving and arriving to a few LAN games of "Company of Heroes", I decided that I should start doing some work to justify 'moving' to San Diego. I typed up a quick resume and cover letter, posted them on monster.com, then promptly went back to playing more "Company of Heroes" before going to sleep.

I woke up the next day at the crack of 10:30 a.m. to the sound of a phone ringing. Hey! That phone sounds distinctly familiar... I think it's my phone. Being the lazy ass that I am, I ignored the call. A half hour later I decided to roll out of the futon to see who called. Oooh, I had a local call!

I called back to find that I had a month contract position from RandomCompany if I wanted, as long as I was ready to start the following day. My Peace Corps 'experience' must have stood out! Wow, I've never had jobs contact me back that quickly. Oh wait... what do I have to do?

Set up a computer center?! Are you serious?! I just did that!!! Ugh, that's irony. My first job offer in the States is for the same position as what I was doing in Tonga. Umm, let me think about it.

The next job was for a tutoring position. I went to the interview quite ready to tackle almost any problem that was thrown my way! English? I did well on the LSAT. Teaching? I got my CBEST. Umm... Calculus II? Oh snap, I haven't taken that for a good 4 years at least and even then I only received a B. They want me to do what with an nth degree Taylor Polynomial of f(x)? Umm... sure... next?

As I was about to start reviewing my Calculus II, I got a call from randomGameCompany. Oooh, sweet! I got an interview with them! The interview was simple, followed the next day with another interview with same randomGameCompany that was really fun. I can't believe I just said that I had fun at an interview! Anyways, one comment was "Wow, you'll fit in here"... I take it that he meant it as a compliment! I'll hear back next week.

I also had heard from a phone company that wanted a software programmer and some random computer programmer company in Wisconsin. All of this was within 5 days! My resume and my school is fairly lame; I'm not an Ivy League graduate or even from a respectable University of California. It's just San Diego and a good economy right now!

I <3 San Diego, it's such an awesome place for broke IT students looking for jobs!