I just thought I’d write a quick update on how things are going since my last post. I want to apologize for being so dramatic and intense. I just have never been in a situation like the one I am in and I am incredibly afraid.
On Friday, my junior developer and I demoed an application we are creating to my manager. The meeting went pretty well, I think. I was looking for signs like him acting overly critical or being unfair about things. He was the opposite. I mean, it was awkward, but we both remained professional and he didn’t take me out of the loop in the meeting. I was involved and an active part of it.
He was cordial and friendly (but not too friendly).
I chatted with my manager’s son and mentioned that Friday was my 3-year anniversary there. He jokingly said, “That should qualify you for tenure around here.” I thought that was kind of funny. I just replied back with, “I wish!”
My friends and family say that all of this will blow over and that as long as I do what I said I would do and stick to it, then I should have a job there as long as I want it. It is my job to lose, they say.
I’m not convinced that they are going to fire me. They are looking for a lot of developers and cannot find one. We are located in an area that not many people are excited to move to. Also, the company I work at has a bad reputation.
Just to demonstrate this company’s reputation, I interviewed at a startup last month (right after all this stuff went down), and the first thing the owner said was, “Oh, you work at ACME, I’m sorry. I have heard all the horror stories about that place. It doesn’t sound like a good company.” That startup loved my resume but, according to them, are not stable enough and (probably) cannot afford me. Plus, they do PHP and I do .NET. Not saying I can’t learn PHP fast, but they really needed people that could pick up and run with it.
They told me they were going to put me on the top of their contact list for when they become more stable. I feel confident that they will call me in at least a year. I’m going to send them emails every so often (maybe 3 months or so) so that they don’t forget me.
If things were to go incredibly south, my wife is a nurse and can earn enough money for us to stay afloat (our bills are minimal anyway) while I find other work.
I guess I was just blindsided by their reaction to things and felt like I was not wanted there anymore. I mean, I was physically assaulted by one of our team members, but my manager likes him and he didn’t get fired. He actually got a promotion. So that’s weird.
I send one email that’s kinda borderline and then I’m suddenly the ugly duckling that no one wants in their company. It is weird! I swear I’m not hateful, unprofessional, or any of those things (except that one day - like I did it a total of 1 time in my entire life).
At any rate, I have been applying for a lot of remote work and have had some interviews. I haven’t done that well at them so far, but I’m learning.
Interviews around here tend to focus on your resume and they don’t ask you to write any code or show that you actually can do what you say you can do. At the place I’m at now, they tend to treat developers like assembly line workers.
These remote interviews, where they actually ask you to complete a small project and quiz you on your technical skills are new to me.
