So maybe I played with the idea of being a freelancer. Maybe I thought being at home would be an inspiration to live the “be your own boss” mantra. I even thought I’d start my own photography business. Well… that didn’t happen. One gloomy morning, May 18th, 2009 actually… so it wasn’t exactly gloomy, I came to work and heard these words; “Your last day will be this Friday.”

Okay so maybe I’m paraphrasing, but the gist is, IT had been downsized to 0. I burnt up my week and change of vacation and was on my way to unemployment heaven. When all of a sudden SMACK… Unemployment sucks! When did this happen… oh yeah.. Unemployment sucks because you have bills to pay, and kids to feed, and ….CRAP a job to look for.

“They” say, when looking for a job, treat it like a job. Spend 8 hours a day on it. Dress for success, take two 10 minute breaks and a half hour for lunch. Okay so the rules aren’t that strict…. But you really should take time each day. So I start freaking out the monday before my dinner bell rings and update my resume hit the job boards and to my dismay what do I find….. COLDFUSION DOESNT EXIST ON THE MINDS OF EMPLOYERS ANY MORE.

How can this be, I think. CF is a great rapid development language. It’s powerful, capable, scalable, and… not hireable…. Yes to all of the above.

So out go the pouring of job applications to jobs I’m really not qualified for. In the first few weeks, maybe not so many, since I had vaca to burn, then sign up for unemployment. But then the fear hits and I’m cranking out 20 a week. I have no clue about embedded development, but I applied for it. I’ve got 0 experience in .net, but BOY did I apply for it.

56 weeks of that. Some weeks less nervous, some weeks sweating bullets. Most weeks scraping the hull of my titanic stack of bills on the frozen iceberg of my bank accounts, while the winds of credit card expenditures push me over the 3rd bulkhead…

So yeah, you could say I was having a hard time.   By the time Fall rolled in I was pretty depressed.  Sent a few applications a week and filed my weekly “you can’t get a job in this economy” pity check.  But light on the horizon, a light I wouldnt see until 7 months later….  I applied to Do It Best Corp.

Once my unemployment ran out the first time around December I started realizing I might have to take whatever I can get.  So my employment search widened to manual labor, unskilled trades, etc…   Then in March I took a few interviews… decent interviews… with decent companies, but none panned out…. why?  its my fault.  here’s why…

I started at TQS in 04.  Coldfusion was my language.  I was single languaged… yup.  And thats about as wise as driving a unicycle without a spare.  Sure it’ll get you where you want to go, as long as it doesn’t go flat, then you’re hittin the pavement buddy.  I had the opportunity to start at TQS and learn .Net, there was even a little code there that could’ve gotten me going. But not me… I’m a CF guru and I’m not about to make a bad first impression.  So CF in, .Net out. 

BAD DECISION.

So here it is March now, and I’m down, I mean gaining 20 pounds, sitting on the couch 12 hours a day down.  Then that light shows up that I mentioned, in the form of a phone call from the HR department of Do It Best.  I took a phone interview for a resume submission that was 7 months old.  The fact that I was even called is suprising considering how long it had been.  Whats more suprising is… its a .Net position!  But this company understands my dilemma.  The interview was great and led to an in person interview 3 weeks later.  3 weeks after that another interview that ended in a VERY solid notion that I got the job.  Then another 2 weeks for the “is this guy an axe murderer” HR personality testing.  Then a phone call…

“When can you start?”

I love that question…. it’s like… oh, let me see whats on my schedule.  I’m available next tuesday… But i’m booked all week till then…. WAAAHH?  I’m available 56 weeks ago!!!

Long story long, I am now in their employ; learning, growing, contributing.  And I’ll be here till I’m gray… if I have my way.  I love this company. 

Just wish they were a bit quicker on the uptake… 🙂