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Thursday, August 14, 2008
WTF?
From a resume I receieved:
Facilitated development of cross-LOB solutions that combined knowledge of particular business processes and issues, general technological options, and process facilitation techniques.
Can anyone tell me what this says? In English?
Work | Comments (3)
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Friday, June 6, 2008
Update
Hello everyone who is still reading my blog. I am not dead, although it has felt like a possibility a few times lately. I would apologize for not posting, but I doubt anyone really is bothered all that much. I will use the standard excuse that life has been quite busy. Busy in good ways as well as stressful ways. I prefer not to complain about the frustrations online, and the personal things are, well, personal
But a few things I can mention that have happened in the last few months. The biggee, I guess, is that I graduated. I am now the proud owner of a Master’s degree in Computer Science. It only took 6 years. My final project is available online here: Improving NAT/Software compatibility through Flexible NAT Emulation Software. It is odd how I have mixed feelings already about being done. On one hand, I am thrilled to be done with the degree (and have the degree), but on the other hand, I think I am going to miss being in school just a little.
I have been traveling pretty extensively for work. In the 3.5 months since I started at Swisslog, I have been to Minnesota twice, Florida twice, and Texas once. This is really helping me get through my fear of flying (with the help of choice pharmaceuticals). I will not say that I will ever enjoy the process of flying, but it is becoming a smaller obstacle to my life. I am hoping to use this new-found freedom to actually go on vacation one of these days, I hope.
Other random things:
- I bought a tent! (Haven’t been camping in it yet)
- I’m playing more volleyball
- The plaid wallpaper is gone (but the painting is not done)
- I get to go to Germany in September
- I might go to a week-long cooking school
- I’ve seen a few movies
- I’ve gotten sucked into a few more TV shows
- I want to go kayaking again this summer and I found a place to rent them
- I’m sure more has happened, but this list is long enough now
Cya!
General, School, Work | Comments (0)
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Monday, February 11, 2008
Nice work if you can get it
There is a challenge when looks for new employment that is subtle but insidious. I received 4 formal offers of employment over the last 5 months as I looked for a new opportunity. In a perfect world, I would have been to look at all the offers and compare them and pick the one that looked the best for me. But that is not what happens. Like a more stressful version of Deal or No Deal, you get each offer by itself and you have to weigh the quality of it against the possibility you might get something better later. Thankfully for me, I am glad I passed on the first 3.
I have accepted an offer from Swisslog to eventually be the Director of Software Implementation for the North American division of their Warehouse and Distribution Solutions division. As this is a bit to bite off and chew immediately, I am starting by managing the technical aspects of their largest project. I will be using this project to learn the business, software, and process in more depth than would be possible if I tried to run the whole group right away. After a few months I will then expand my role over the whole operation. I am very excited. Having a company that is truly interested and willing to create an environment where one is set up to succeed is a rare find.
I’ve got a week or so before I start so I am going to be enjoying the last bit of work-free time by trying to get ahead with my school and house projects. More updates when I start.
Work | Comments (1)
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
State of the hunt
Beyond the obvious stress and uncertainty of the search for a job is a very interesting process. Each institution does it a little differently and those differences can offer a window into the innards of the company. Some go for the marathon interview session while some do a simple chat, others do one that involves broad challenges that the candidate must solve and some concentrate on a very specific technical topic. A job hunter can learn as much or possibly more about a company from the interview than the interviewer learns about the interviewee. I don’t think there is one method that is superior to any other in an absolute sense. Each method is tailored to the organization it serves. I find this aspect of the process very interesting and have had to restrain the urge to ask an interviewer how well their system works for them on a few occasions and on a few others control the urge to criticize their methodology.
Having gone through any number of phone calls and a few interesting offers I ended up turning down, I am learning that the challenging aspects of this search are different than I expected. It is critical to me that I find an opportunity that is of a very high quality both for my own career and for the organization I end up with. There is a strong urge to accept the first thing that comes along and just run with it even if it may not be the right opportunity. In a perfect world, one would receive all the job offers you will get and then be able to compare and contrast them to pick the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately, in reality, you get one offer at a time that must be judged on the merits of itself compared against the hope of getting a better match later. A harrowing decision to make as I am not a gambling man.
I think the later one is in one’s career, the more care and consideration that must be taken at this point. Now is the time to find an opportunity that will allow me to grow to the next level of my career. But finding this opportunity is turning into more of a challenge than I had expected. Finding that small company that has a wonderful technology, smart people, and is on the cusp of needing the skills to grow to the next level is not an easy task. But I am hopeful; patience is just required.
The hunt goes on.
Work | Comments (0)
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Friday, March 24, 2006
is this thing on?
I can’t believe it has been almost 6 months since I last posted an update. Our vacation to Atlanta does not seem that it was that long ago, but such is life when you are having fun or when you loose time through the frustration of banging your head against a wall repeatedly. So lets cover the major topics, shall we?
School. School is good. I am taking Advanced Compiler Construction this semester which is no really as exciting as it sounds. I know, sounds thrilling, something that you would think would be on the top of everyone’s list of "must take" courses. It is no way a bad class; the professor is one of the more senior members of the department and has a great attitude towards the class. He knows exactly what he wants to talk about each day and if it takes 80 minutes, fine; but if it only takes, 40, well he is done. Being a seasoned CS guy, he intersperses many amusing anecdotes within his lectures that keep things amusing (for me at least).
Work. This has eaten up more mental energy than I thought possible. Much I could say, but I won’t. Progress still seems to be being made, but much is left to be done. Change is harder for some people than others. It amazes me that the human spirit attaches so much fondness to the comfortable, the known that it is unable to let go of outdated information or processes even with overwhelming evidence that they are detrimental to their own survival. I realize that this is somewhat ironic coming from me and my tendency to avoid change in the mundane items of my life, but I like to think my love of consistency in simple things does not impact my ability to be flexible based on persuasive argument.
Life. You mean there is something outside school and work? Right. Elizabeth, with the help of others who shall not be name (KT, Justin, and I’m sure others), convinced me to start playing World of Warcraft, and as I expected, I am now hooked. I won’t start talking about it here; you probably don’t care. It has been a rough couple of months for me as the work items have not stayed as contained in the work "box" as much as I would like. Lots of stress is never good and requires that one be flexible and open to change in one’s life to smooth things back out. Elizabeth has been great especially given that she has taken on a lot more responsibility at the office too.
So that is the quick and dirty update. At the rate I’ve been posting, another will be September. Until next time.
General, School, Work | Comments (1)