an iron in the fire
in the last couple of months leading up to our holiday, Bex and i had changed our plan from
we're moving to the US in March 2012
to
we're not moving to the US right now, unless i get job offer.
we'd been watching the US economy vs. the fact that we already have well paying jobs here... and for that matter the rest of the factors in our lives in Wellington are really good, and have in fact been getting better over the last year or two.
it just seems foolish to run from here to what is likely to be a highly (at least in terms of employment) situation by moving to the US. we could very easily find ourselves spending all of our savings and then end up coming back here anyway... and having in the process set ourselves back several steps.
and although i was certainly open to a good job offer, i didn't really have any prospects.
i had scheduled an informational meeting with Pandora.com ... but i knew going into that that they weren't actually hiring at the moment. that was suggested by a friend and former co-worker who was now working there as a way of getting a feel for what the job market was like these days in the SF bay area, and specifically in the tech sector.
i became fond of saying that this connection wasn't so much an iron in the fire as it was an iron in the same room that happened to have a fire-place.
and i did in fact get a lot out of that meeting in terms of things to be aware of when/if i found myself applying for jobs in the SF area
but in the interim something else had happened...
the first portion of our holiday was spent in Portland. firstly because that's the area where our US wedding celebration/garden party was being hosted, but also because i really enjoy Portland.
since our holiday was only 3 weeks and over a third of that was going to be Burning Man, i had made sure not to over-schedule our remaining time. i wanted this vacation to be as relaxing as possible... and running from one social obligation to the next seemed counter-productive.
which means that when my old friend Monroe pinged me wondering if Bex and i had time for dinner one evening, i said yes.
Monroe and i spent a lot of time together (along with a few other people) when i last i lived in Portland... back in the early 90s.
since then we'd kept in occasional contact (hello internet!) but i wouldn't say that we remained particularly close. nonetheless, it was a pleasure to spend time with someone who knew me from waaaaayyyyy back when. and i think Bex enjoyed getting more of a picture of my history etc.
so Bex and i met up with Monroe and while we were waiting Monroe partner, Alice, to join us we started with some conversational basics of what had been going on recently. i talked about how our previous plan to move to the US (specifically Oakland) had been put on hold because of what i could see (via the news, since we live in NZ) of prevailing economic conditions. but with the caveat that if something interesting came up i'd certainly chase it.
then Alice arrived home and the four of us went out to dinner and had a really lovely time for 3 or 4 hours. everything about the night was wonderful. the company, the conversation, the food... and i always enjoy Portland in late summer.
but we couldn't stay out too late because it was Monday and although Bex and i were on holiday, Monroe and Alice were not, so they dropped us off at our hotel.
Bex was feeling tired so after she tucked into bed i went down to Ringlers Annex to linger over a pint, listen to the summer rain, and noodle around with my new computer.
the next morning, a little after 9:00am, i got a phone call. it was Monroe… hi, hopefully i'm not being presumptuous, but do you have some time to talk to my my manager? he's got time at 11:45am and 2:00pm
i said sure, but let's go for the 2:00pm 'cause i hadn't yet even had breakfast.
it was intended to be the sort of thing that they would normally handle as a phone screening that would only take 5 - 10 minutes, but since my hotel was only 4 blocks from their office, why not just go in and say hello.
we talked a little bit about by work history and he (Jon) asked me a couple of basic technical questions and we also discussed what my general availability would be if something were available.
that all went well, so well that after < 10 minutes Jon suggested that we go down the hall and see if one of the QA leads was available to talk to me as well.
he pokes his head in an office and says to the guy (Joe) there, do you have time to talk to Allyn here?
Joe's mouth said yes, but his eyes clearly said that he had no idea that he would be interviewing somebody that day… which put us on equal footing given that i had no idea when i woke up that i would be having a job interview.
so Jon left Joe and i to talk for a half hour or so. pretty standard interview stuff and talking about software testing. towards the end of our allotted time, Joe was beginning to stumble a bit because he (obviously) hadn't had time to prepare. so he says 'name me 5 single-malt scotches' … to which i replied, well, what do i have on my shelf at home right now, and started to list them.
Joe seemed impressed… he said that no-one had ever gotten that question before.
anyhow, after that was all done i thanked them for their time and said goodbye, and went back to the hotel. and apparently Jon and Joe talked to each other about me.
an hour later i got a call from Jon… they would like to progress forward. but they understood that i would be leaving for SF the next day and Burning Man shortly thereafter so coming in for further interviews would be inconvenient at best.
but they felt that they had already gotten a good amount of face-time with me, and therefore were happy to bend their normal process… would i be available for phone interviews, after Burning Man.
i said yes, and so they scheduled them. three consecutive 1/2 hour phone interviews going from 10:30am to noon on Sept 8th.
i stressed out quite a bit in the days leading up to the interviews but when all was said and done i think i did well… in fact i don't think i could have done better. even if i hadn't been just recovering from Burning Man ;-) and all of the associated excesses.
and now i'm back in Wellington, and i wait.
the company is a small IT house in Portland but they are growing ever since they got acquired by a larger (and well known) company… so because they are now part of a larger company it will probably take a while (a few weeks?) for me to hear back… especially if they are going to make me an offer.
and if they make me an offer, then i (and Bex) will have to decide if we want to go for it.
the way it would probably play out *if* they offer me a job and *if* i accept is that i would then give 4 weeks notice at my current work. and Bex would give notice at her work as well. during that last month, we would start Bex's US immigration paperwork "green card", and start packing up and/or selling off our belongings. then i would fly to Portland to start the new job. Bex would move up to Auckland to spend time with her family while she waited for her paperwork to go through the bureaucratic rigamarole which will probably take a total of 3 - 4 months, and then she could join me in Portland