Moving on the winds of change

I finally got the Blue Beast back this morning, after being in the shop for about a month and a half while the manufacturer built a new wiring harness to be installed inside. I had forgotten that my Rage Against the Machine CD was in the CD player all this time, but Guerrilla Radio had a new meaning for me this afternoon while driving home.

It has to start somewhere
It has to start sometime
What better place than here
What better time than now

Okay, rewind to last week.... I had been to a few interviews and they had all pretty much said the same thing to me over and over. "Your resume looks nice and you seem to have lots of great skills, but sorry, it's just a little short of what we're looking for right now." I had one tell me the same thing, only a little bit less obviously, "We hired someone else with a little bit more experience than you, but thanks for applying." I had high hopes as it seemed like I was spending close to two hours every morning replying to emails and answering phone calls about potential leads in various developer roles across town, and even across the country.

Things were getting frustrating, and that's when the storm hit, both literally and figuratively. I remember leaving home last Thursday morning with ominously dark skies looming overhead. I dropped off Kaylee at daycare and headed north on the 101 to meet with a recruiter in north Scottsdale. It took me about 45 minutes to drive those seven or eight miles northward, and it was not due to traffic for once. Eerie white orbs slowly shuffled southward in the grey gloom to my left and many red pairs lights in front of me stared like disembodied eyes as I inched through the zero-visibility torrents of rain. Sheets of thick and heavy drops of precipitation hurled themselves furiously at the ground as I ducked from row to row of covered parking to get to the building where I would be meeting another pair of job recruiters.

The meeting was short and simple, just like the other meetings with the rest of the recruiters. However, the drive home was like a scene out of a movie. It felt like the thorough soaking I had received in dashing to and from the interview had washed away my frustrations and doubts. The drive south quickly cleared up into a beautiful and picturesque view of the clouds parting and the sun shining through radiantly. On the drive, I received information that one of the interviews I had the day before had resulted in another failure, though only partly. The company really liked me and though they had filled the position with someone else, they were actively looking for a different position for me within the company, even if a new one had to be created. All day, the emails would not stop. One after another, I received more solid leads and more good news.

The day finished off with another interview with a local bank. I could tell from their reactions that I blew them all away with my skill and knowledge, but of course nothing could be decided because they had to look at everyone else that had interviewed and go through their HR department before making any offers, so I wouldn't know anything more until Monday. Friday, the downpour of potential positions kept coming through voicemails and emails, but the most important one came mid-afternoon from the cell phone of one of the recruiters.

She was excited as she called me up, confirming that my feeling was right and the bank was impressed and the vice president of their technical division wanted to meet with me on Monday for a followup interview. It definitely sounded very promising, but she replied to my question about continuing to apply elsewhere with, "The offer isn't on the table yet, so keep your fingers crossed but don't stop looking." So, this afternoon I took off just a little bit earlier than I needed to (someone had mentioned exhaust problems inside with the air conditioning at work, so I needed more time to get some fresh air), had a quick bite to eat, and headed on into the interview ten minutes earlier than scheduled.

The interview itself was really short and was more focused on making sure that I would be comfortable with their working environment rather than my skills and experience. After about fifteen minutes of surprisingly relaxed conversation with the vice president, he shook my hand and stated that he would be getting in contact with the staffing agency to extend the job offer to me as a .NET developer for First National Bank of Arizona! I won't know the exact details of when or how much until tomorrow, but it sounds like they would prefer to move quickly on this position.

So now the hard part comes, and I have to begin the inevitable final preparations to leave the company for which I have worked for nearly three years now. I also have the daunting task of tracking down the dozen or so recruiters that I have worked with in the past few weeks and let them all know that I am no longer available for new positions. With the way things have turned out in the past few days, it almost seems like the fates are finally smiling on me favorably and making up for all the crap I've had to endure so far this year. The winds of change are blowing and it's finally time to set sail. What better place than here, what better time than now?