We'll see...

Mar 29, 2005 21:36

That was an odd interview.

Not because of anything that happened on their end, really, but just because I've never gone to a job interview when I didn't actually need a job. I mean, I've done interviews for jobs I didn't really *want*, but I still *needed* a job. Sometimes desperately. It feels different when you know you're already gainfully employed, and that your next month's rent doesn't hinge on impressing this semi-random stranger across the table from you. Takes the edge of, I guess.

In any case, the interview went reasonably well, I think. The people seemed nice and I since i wasn't desperately looking for work, I allowed myself to relax a little, be totally honest, and dispense with all that silly interview crap that you normally do to make yourself seem like the best potential employee ever. They asked me to write regular expressions in Perl as a sort of "test". Problem 1: I've never actually worked in Perl. Problem 2: I have written regular expressions (in Python), but it's been almost a year since I've even thought about it. So I confessed that I wouldn't be able to do it on the fly without a reference book, and I was able to just talk it out ("Well, I would look for an upper case letter, zero or more lower case letters, optional period..." etc) They asked me what my GPA was in my master's program, which is the first time I've had that come up in a job interview. I didn't actually know, so I guess, and I was within .01 of the correct total when I checked at home, so I was glad of that. (3.93, in case you're curious, and because every now and then I like to brag just a little)

They really seem to want 20 hours of work out of me, if they offer me the job. So that's 60 hours a week. I'll be exhausted. But the work looks really interesting, and I can do at least some of it on the nights and weekends, so I don't have to disturb my CSA schedule too much.

And I think it'll pay well. They asked what my salary requirements were, and I said it didn't really matter. Money is nice, but I have a job already, and I didn't want asking for too much money to disqualify me from the position. The guy didn't seem content with that answer, so he said that they normally pay the student workers $16 an hour...and then he kind of trailed off. I couldn't tell whether I was supposed to think that was too high or too low. His body language suggested that he expected me to object to the low wages. There was a moment of silence where I tried to judge which way I was supposed to go. I decided to go with the truth. "Well, I make $13 an hour at my current job, so $16 sounds good." He looked surprised. I think I was supposed to ask for more money. Oh well.

So we'll see what happens. If they offer me the position, I will take it. It's too good an opportunity to pass up. It'll be kind of scary, though, both because of the fear of over-committing myself and burning out and because I'm a little afraid that my technical skills aren't up to snuff. But (I remind myself over and over) I'm a smart person and a fast learner. I'll manage. If they don't offer me the position, I think I'll be disappointed and a little relieved as well. They said they'd get back to me within the week.

life news, job

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