The Twilight Report

Job Interviews

2006-08-10T01:29:00

As a rule, I hate job interviews. I often feel flustered and end up leaving thinking that I have given a pretty poor impression of my ability to communicate. My job interview with Sydney Uni's Faculty of Dentistry was a complete disaster, and it is still fresh in my mind, unfortunately. So it wasn't with relish that I woke up this morning with the prospect of an interview with my current indirect employer: Company 2. Right now I am a contractor, the primary disadvantage to this is no paid vacation or sick leave; there aren't any advantages that I can think of.

(possibly more detail than what you care about)

Anyway, to make a long story short, the interview went extraordinarily well to the point that I felt like for the first time ever I hadn't shot myself in the foot in a job interview, and that my poor interview skills for the first time wouldn't be the weak link in my overall application. For the first time, I felt if I don't get the job it is because there is someone out there who applied who is technically more qualified than myself, and I am pretty comfortable with that possibility.

Return of Monday

2006-05-29T02:28:00

I announced a few months ago that I was discontinuing the concept of Mondays:

http://journal.whitedactyl.com/users/twilight/160873.html

After long deliberation, I have decided to reinstate the days of the week, including the ever popular "Friday".

It occurs to me that all my friends back in the states will be taking Memorial Day off as I start work again down under.

Signed paper work

2006-05-19T17:55:00

So I mentioned earlier this week that I had a job offer, and promised further details. They were a bit disorganized, so I didn't actually sign the paper work until today.

Anyway, I start work a week after Monday next. That's 29 May. The company archives legal documents, and newspaper articles, and charges lots of money for people to search it. I'm going to be programming in perl, adjusting their code to operate correctly in places like China, and I think there will be some XML involved. I don't know all that much about internationalization, or even XML for that matter, but I think I can pick that up and I am a pretty good perl programmer.

When a friend of mine got a job working in Manhattan I imagined that she worked in this colossal steel and glass sky scraper in the financial district. (one day I met up with her where she works and it turned out to be a little loft in SoHo; this is probably a lot nicer). I'm going to be working in exactly the same building that I imagined that she worked in, except that it is located in Chatswood, very close to the train station.

I can't decide how I should refer to this company. I considered making it The Company, now that I don't work for the company formally known as The Company any more or even The Company II to distinguish it, but it seems like it deserves a better name. Maybe I'll just be vague and make statements such as that place where I work.

If you are curious about details, IM me. My contact details may be found here:

friends.whitedactyl.com