OT- got a job

[fa_jing]

I was this close to going to Louisville, Kentucky, for a 6-9 month contract. Shaolin-Do'ers can relax, I will be right here in Chicago. :) The job is in "Greektown," off Halsted. Close enough to Union Station, but away from the hustle-bustle of downtown proper.

I'm starting Monday. I will have been out of work for 3 months. No unemployment, either, since I got fed up and left my last position on my own. I'm a Java developer. IT market here sucks. But I will get a payraise and work on newer technology, and be out of the bullsh!t consulting biz. That was my goal.

It's a startup company with a rapidly growing client base.

[kungfuyou]

Congrats!!! IT field is still pretty rough all over, though starting to pick up slightly here in Cali!! Now only 500 resumes for one job instead of 900!!! :rolleyes:

Congrats again and good luck on the search!!

[IronFist]

Congrats. I was out of college for 9 months before I got an IS job.

[kungfuyou]

Yeah that seems about the norm IF. I was out all of 2003 of a job!! From Jan to Dec!!! Unemployment doesn't help shizz for the cost of living in Cali!!!

[fa_jing]

yeah but I have over 7 years exp in IT....

Got rejected plenty of times, including twice for being "too coc.ky" -once for being "overqualified"

sometimes my experience just didn't match up, or I flubbed interview questions. That's easier to take in a way.

[kungfuyou]

Originally posted by fa_jing
yeah but I have over 7 years exp in IT....

Got rejected plenty of times, including twice for being "too coc.ky" -once for being "overqualified"

sometimes my experience just didn't match up, or I flubbed interview questions. That's easier to take in a way.

Yeah I've got 6 years of IT experience myself...have been turned down for being over qualified or they taking someone over qualified because they could and pay very LITTLE for someone knowing SO MUCH!!

[rogue]

Newbs, I've got 20. I've gotten off the contracting/consulting rollercoaster myself. I stayed employed but the contracts were getting too short and the clients were getting nasty. It's funny but I'm working on a project that just came back from India. Worst code I've ever seen. And they managed to produce so much of it.

fa_jing, do you have to bring your own rubber gloves and mop, or do they supply them for you?

[Shaolinlueb]

nice man. im a coldfusion developer and the company i worked with is growing fast i have enough work for the next 4 weeks. i am a contultant right now. you're lucky to leave and find a stable paycheck. im still a contractor :(

[Xebsball]

i gave myself a self handjob this morning in shower
when i woke up from my drunkness
great party anyways
i didnt cum though

[fa_jing]

Xebs - try the other hand.

Rogue - Well I worked as a regular for a Big 5 consulting company sub-group serving just 1 client, so the work was steady, and in fact I didn't have to travel. I just wasn't going anywhere. I was on my 4th year at the same salary despite being one of the top 5 most effective people they had on the floor every year. I got the highest possible ratings from the client, enabled my company to hold or pick up positions which without me would not have been possible, was never on the "beach," yet couldn't advance because I would not kiss ass within my own org, in a nutshell. They gave me average ratings after the first year.

Actually, the position I have taken is contract-to-hire, but it is for a startup with a rapidly growing business, something that is guaranteed to grow because of a contract they just entered into. It is an Xtreme-programming shop (pair programming) with lots of bright people, so I get to pick the brains of 20 other Java developers, and they mine. It is a laid-back environment but we will work alot of hours, which is what I want.

Apparently there is a rudimentary weight room in the building.

[Xebsball]

yeah man i did alternate hands alright
was cool, was cool
i just didnt finish it you konw

[fa_jing]

Xebs, man. Everybody tries to give you advice, but you just don't listen. You need to stop fixing your eyes on the prettiest girls, and thinking that your virginity is going to help you somehow. What good is it to be a virgin if you have a perverse mind? You should start with a nice girl who is not the best-looking, just adequate. You're going to school but you aren't learning anything about life (typical). :(

[rogue]

I'm glad for you fa_jing, the market is still rough but getting better. I didn't care for extreme programming, but that's just a preference. We tried the agile model but when you're starting with a code base that is just so poorly written it just doesn't work. I think wipro used the large number of dumb a$$' model. It's just really bad.

[SevenStar]

IT market here sucks too. I quit contracting in 2000, as I was hired full time at my current job, and haven't looked back. Since I'm no longer a contractor, it pays slightly less, but the benefits make up.

the gym there is awesome 20k sq ft. of workout heaven.

[rogue]

Yup, same here. I rode the gravy train for quite a while, now the tide has turned. I can't get mad since people were tossing mad bucks my way during the boom. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.

[fa_jing]

The development is mostly new development and refactoring of existing code for scalability and reusability. I talked to them about the pair programming thing, there are times when the task is simple and it seems like overkill. But, when you consider that some huge percentage of IT projects fail outright, the overkill turns into a much higher rate of success. Plus, the code shouldn't be bad to start with, it is all top people in the shop and has been from the beginning. Another thing with pair programming is, you are watching the other person and it isn't so easy for them to spend all day wasting time on the 'net.

[rogue]

Well there is that!:D

In my experience most IT projects fail because of requirements and analysis. Most projects should never have been started in the first place, others are vague of what the projects goals are, and sometimes the sponsor changes the goal halfway through. I've rarely seen projects fail because of bad code. Even as bad as my current project is written it's being used and has a growing user base. I think that coders get the most credit for failure since they're the lowest rung on the development ladder. Now it's even worse with the idea of "cheap" developers offshore. You have a project that's failing? Just send it offshore where somehow the folks in India have figured a way to develope software cheap and perfect. Madness. pure madness.