Backstory
Posted by Nick Johnson | Filed under personal
A summary of what's going on in my life, for those that don't already know.In early December, I was contacted by a company called [redacted for paranoia]. It seems the CEO of this company was seated next to a good friend of mine, on a flight in the US. My friend was reading an extremely technical book on Software Engineering, and the CEO of this company, noticed this and struck up a conversation. One thing led to another, and (so I gather) the end result was "I met this great guy on the plane. He's already got a job, but he knows someone who's almost as good!". ;)
Two phone interviews later - one with the CEO and one with their head of engineering, and they wanted to get me up to their main office for a round of interviews in person. After some wrangling arranging (unpaid) leave with my current employers, I flew up for a few days. The first full day I spent being interviewed by half a dozen people about different aspects of my Software Engineering experience. The one that stands out in my mind most was the interview with their database guru. This is someone who really knows his stuff. I thought I knew a lot about RDBMSes, but coming out of this interview, I felt like I knew next-to-nothing.
Apparrently I wasn't that bad, though, because the same evening, the CEO took me out to a resteraunt/bar where we had dinner, and he made me a job offer. The work seems interesting (and challenging too, which is at least as important), and the offer itself was very good. I told him I'd think on it.
The next day - a single precious extra day I'd managed to sneak when asking for leave, I bussed up to Vancouver, where I met a number of UFies I've known for some time but never met in person. Dark and a friend of his, met me at my Hotel, and we went to a resteraunt where I finally met (in person) Illiad, Kickstart, and their respective SOs. We then had one of the best dinners I've ever had, both food and company. Plus, everyone else paid my part of the bill. ;)
The day after, I took the bus back, where I was met by the head of engineering, given a copy of the job offer, and transported to the airport.
Two months after this whole thing began, I write this sitting in my parents' front room, with most of my posessions (having just read Stephen King's Dark Tower, I had to restrain myself from writing 'gunna') arrayed around me. My flight leaves tomorrow evening for Vancouver Canada, where I will be living and telecommuting until (hopefully!) October, when I'll (hopefully!) get my US work visa and move down to work there. In the mean time, I can commute when I'm needed for meetings or training, and spend the rest of the time telecommuting from Vancouver.
Edit: Yes, edited to be much less specific, for paranoia reasons. My apologies. Next Post