Monday, May 31, 2010

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day celebrates something pretty lofty. We honor those who have given the most a human being can give for his or her country.

The service members I've known don't really tend to lofty discussions, though. I mean, they can. They will when occassion calls for it. But they don't seem to spend a lot of time dwelling on the risks of their occupation. Their days are not spent in endless reflection about what they can do to protect our freedoms. For the most part they've been very straightforward, down to earth people. They've got jobs and families and hobbies and they love to have a good time.

So yeah, Memorial Day is a great holiday. Yes, those who have given their lives for our country deserve our utmost respect and eternal remembrance.

And yeah, it's entirely appropriate, I think, to celebrate by getting together with friends and loved ones for a barbecue.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Craig's listing

As part of our moving process, we've identified a bunch of stuff we really don't want to take with us, but which would be just wasteful to toss out. On suggestion from Becky's brother, we gave Craig's List a shot. It has been pretty nice. We've already sold a BB gun, shelving unit, a bunch of 2x4s, a safety gate and a swingset. And we've heard back from people about a papasan chair, a hitch haul and a toddler backpack carrier. Only things that haven't moved have been a toddler swing and a fold out bed couch sectional.

I will never, ever list something as free again, though. I got so many responses to "free lumber!"

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Course Set

I'm still looking for a mainframe developer job. Those are looking scarce, though. At least relative to the number of job seekers. Great Lakes answered my e-mail to let me know, "You weren't lacking any specific skill. It's just that we had nearly 400 applicants." So, a career change is looking more and more . . . well, not so much appealing as adviseable.

Which got us thinking about, if I'm going to take an entry level position, does it have to be as a programmer? No. And why not do something to broaden my skill set? So I am registering for school . . . but not something that would take so long as law school. I'm going to retake some math coursework at UWGB that will prepare me for the Actuarial exams. If a good mainframe developer position comes along, I'll take that. Otherwise, after this next school year I'll expand my search to include actuarial positions.

Until school starts, because we have to leave this home, we're moving in with Becky's parents in Wisconsin Rapids until we can find a place in Green Bay.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Changing course

Getting an answer from Great Lakes was a critical point for us. With the pace things seem to move, even if we hear back from Land's End, Kohl's or Transamerica this week for an interview, and even if I were to get a job, by the time the process is over, it could be past the June 11th cutoff date for us to be out of our house. At the very least, so close to June 11th that we are concerned that we wouldn't have time to find a place to which we can move before we have to be out. So we're looking for a 3 bedroom place with the best accomodations for moving out when I get a job. Our first choice is here on the south side of Sheboygan, so our kids stay in the same school in the very unhappy chance that I still don't have a job in September. Second choice is to move to somewhere else in the Sheboygan area, still close to our support network of friends.

It's also become a critical juncture in my job search itself. That's three places now that have told me some variation of, "We're looking for someone with job skills more closely aligned with the projects we're working on." That's not an answer I expected to get when I started my job search back in January. I've got more than 10 years experience working on IBM mainframes with COBOL and DB2 and the whole suite of acronyms that goes with that. However, pretty much everything we did at ACUITY was home grown. I guess there enough unemployed mainframe programmers who do have experience with specific software packages that companies can look for candidates who know the packages used at the company.

We kind of figured we wanted to find a job within a day of Becky's parents, and not any further from mine, so I've been looking in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. It didn't feel like we were limiting the search too much, but given the market, maybe we are. So I'm going to expand the search to anywhere. I'm also going to expand the type of work to any developer position as opposed to just positions for experienced developers, i.e. I'm open to taking entry level jobs despite the lower salary. Lower salary is certainly better than no salary. That also opens the possiblity to being a java developer. I took those online programming courses and had enough personal experience with website development that I'd feel comfortable with an entry level position doing it.

Related to that, as long as I'm looking at entry level work, I'm going to go ahead and look at a career change. Law school is still a consideration. I'm going to take a practice LSAT tomorrow. More promising, though, I'm going to see what's involved in retaking Calc II and III, Stats and Probability to prepare for the first two actuarial exams. That would take less time, only about two part time semesters of school, and be less expensive than law school, and just as satisfying. Maybe even more. Math was fun.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Gray Day

It's raining. The kind of nice steady, slow drizzle that I really love. The only problem with it is that I'm going out camping with Jack and Ben tonight. There was a brief, "what if it's still raining?" thing that Becky brought up . . . but we'll still go out. It's just over night and the forecast says just drizzly all day, clearing up late.

The big downer of the day was hearing a "no" back from Great Lakes. Becky and I had a long, more serious conversation about applying to law school, or what other options are available if I change careers. Take some refresher math courses and the actuarial exams? I'll look at that.

I mean, I'm still looking for a mainframe developer job until some other plan is finalized, but if that is continuing to go nowhere . . .

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Tweeting

Got an interesting e-mail through LinkedIn from a former coworker at ACUITY named Art. He advised me to cut the twitter link I have up on LinkedIn, to keep LinkedIn a professional network and twitter a social network each with its own content for different audiences.

I don't think I'm going to do that. According to what Lisa Cruz said in that forum at the job fair a few weeks back, tying your various networks together creates more opportunities. As long as I'm not "pulling a Michael Phelps," as she put it, the synergy of the connected networks outweighs what professional contacts see of your casual activities. The thing to remember is that these people in your various networks have their own lives, casual and professional, with their respective networks and they can hook you up with contacts you would otherwise never have known.

Art's e-mail did, however, inspire me to go look at my twitter feed more closely in the LinkedIn context. I really do need to go look for some IT twitter groups.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Kung-fu fighting

It's been about 20 years since I took Tae Kwon Do with my family. I loved it. One of those things that I think I'd like to get back into, but there's the cost and the time . . . which I really wouldn't mind if I was taking it with Becky or some of the kids. Going just by myself, though, seemed kind of . . . like I was ditching my family to go play. On a regular schedule, a couple times a week. So I never got around to seriously looking at signing up for it.

Well, back in January, Becky decided "we" needed more exercise and signed us up to take a martial arts class through the rec department. After the first eight week session, though, Becky realized she didn't much like it and had me just sign myself up for the next eight.

It's an Okinawan form called Sui Ki Do that is kind of Karate based, borrowing from Hapkido, with a lot of emphasis on body mechanics and force vectors. It is fascinating to compare Sui Ki Do with what I learned in Tae Kwon Do. I think that, being as young as I was, I didn't really appreciate some of the nuances I pick up on now. For example, it never really struck me how defensive a martial art Tae Kwon Do is. I mean, you're kicking people in the face! With your foot! And it sure feels like there's a lot of power in the leg driving that foot, know what I mean?

But behind that kick there was a lot of set up. The stance was a defensive back stance, the blocking and initial set of attacks and feints, the footwork is designed to deflect an opponent, not just his attacks, but the opponent himself away from you. To create distance. In part, the distance is a pragmatic nod to how much room is required to execute a kick. I think it is not insignificant, however, that distance results in defensive positioning.

In Sui Ki Do, we are taught to fight in a front stance, in very close range. Bag work is emphasized both to practice striking with full force and, just importantly, to teach proper distancing. It was quite a shock, especially for someone coming from a Tae Kwon Do tradition, to realize how close you need to be for a good hook or uppercut. Such proximity necessitates that blocking not merely deflect your opponent, or at least not deflect him out of your striking range. Instead the idea is to smother attacks and throw an opponent off balance. Deflect his attacking vector while keeping him close for your own attacks.

I really don't think one style is necessarily superior to the other, despite how it might sound in lessons. We're taught in Sui Ki Do that front kicks are very weak, opportunistic strikes that we learn just in case the opportunity presents itself but don't count on it. And really, don't ever try to kick someone above the belt. You're aiming for the knee or inner thigh. I mean, totally oppposite what we learned in Tae Kwon Do. The thing to remember is that the lessons are taught within the context of this fighting style. And it is absolutely true that if the goal is a series of quick strikes to the head and body, then the range, positioning, timing is going to be all wrong for kicking someone in the face.

I am enjoying Sui Ki Do. The only drawback is the total emphasis on self defense. That may seem an odd criticism for a martial art, but again, I'm comparing it to my Tae Kwon Do experience. There was, of course, a self defense component to Tae Kwon Do, but it was also a sport. It was competitive, a real team spirit developed within schools. It was fun! I mean, Sui Ki Do is fun in a whole different way. In kind of a satisfying, cerebral, "I enjoy this" kind of way. But not in the social, I'm going to go play a sport with my friends kind of fun.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Leukemia

Last night I got back kind of late from a church activity with Jack and Sam. Becky had just gotten Tabby ready for bed, was in the process of tucking her in, had just read her a story and Tabby asked for me to come sing her good night songs. There's this fun short song that I learned as a kid and have sung to all my kids called I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home. My Dad said it was his favorite kids song and now I think I understand why.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home, Glad as I can be
Clap my hands and shout for joy and climb upon his knee
Put my arms around his neck, hug him tight like this
Pat his cheek and give him what?
A great big kiss.

Tabby was sooo proud of herself for making the connection of asking for that song with, you know, Daddy actually coming home. Then she had me change up the words like she always does to I'm so glad when Tabby comes home . . . then Mommy, then Ben, then Sammy then Jackson. Oh man, she is just so adorable.

So I finish up singing to her, say goodnight and log on to play some World of Warcraft. There's this good group of people I play with, including my brother, Jeremy and his wife, Leah and a bunch of people they've played with. On any given night when 10 of us get together to go do something, six are likely to be playing with their spouse or significant other. On top of that the group has grown close from playing something they're passionate about together over a long period of time. A bunch of them even plan to get together in the near future in Vegas.

One of the couples is Sholandria and Condon. Sholandria let us know last night that Condon's 13 year old daughter had died to Leukemia Sunday morning. We kind of new it was coming. She'd been in a coma for a while. But it was still . . . I don't know. There was an outpouring of love, concern for both Con and Shol. You really want to say the right thing, but you know that no matter what you say or do, it can't really be enough. So you just hope they understand that you feel for them.

And this morning at breakfast I just held my daughter on my lap. We laughed while we ate, made jokes about our cereal being frogs or worms. And sang together again about how glad we were to have each other home.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I've learned a lesson while searching for a job. I mean, I've learned several things, but one came up again yesterday.

I've been contacted twice by Infinite regarding positions in Cedar Rapids, IA. Which Becky and I are okay with. Her uncle lives in Cedar Rapids, we've visited once and driven through a couple times on our way out west. It seems like a nice place. After the initial contact, resume sharing, position specific information sharing exchange of e-mails occurred, I was called back by Vinay asking me for a detailed list of projects I'd worked on. So I modified the resume I'd originally sent to include a sampling of a dozen or so brief project descriptions. Vinay then called me back again to clarify that he meant a complete list of all projects I'd worked on, my responsibilities, technologies used, length of project, budget and results.

As far as I know, no such list exists. At ACUITY I worked as an in house maintenance developer. I was assigned to a team responsible for several home grown systems. When the systems needed updating (and they always needed updating), a project was estimated, run by a committee and if approved, assigned to me to complete. Over the 12 years at ACUITY I probably worked on 30-40 such projects along with a whole slew of small maintenance activities. But I didn't keep track. I just did them. So I wracked my brains and came up with the best I could remember for Vinay, but it was woefully short of everything I did in over a decade of work.

It was Vinay who contacted me for the second position as well and we went through the whole rigamaroll again. "Here's my resume with a sampling of projects." "We need more details." "I'll try, but quite frankly there is no more detailed document than what you're already holding."

It was kind of frustrating. Did Infinite just not know what it was like to work in a mid size shop? Or is there some standard within the programmer profession that says we should track all the projects we work on? I don't recall ever learning any such standard. No other agencies had asked me for such a list. At least, not until yesterday.

After talking to Tami about the positions recruiters had contacted me for in the Madison area, it appears that they really are two positions. She's going to submit me for a 6-9 month contract at Land's End. She didn't recognize the other one, though, so I got responded to Muthu from Technosoft with a resume and other information he requested so he could submit me to an unspecified client of theirs. Then Muthu responded asking me for a more detailed list of my project history.

Gah. At least the work was mostly done already from when Vinay asked me for it. I just had to put it together and send it off to Muthu.

But lesson learned. Wherever I end up working, I'll keep a list of projects I work on. I mean, I may never need it. Ideally, I'll get a job at the place where I'm going to retire right? But that's what I thought about ACUITY, too. So you know, just in case.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The waiting game?

Well no. I'm not actually just waiting. Since, you know, I'm not actually employed. I'm still checking job listings, still checking in at LinkedIn, still sending out resumes. But I am waiting for a call. I interviewed with Great Lakes Higher Education last Wednesday and they said they'd make their decision "in the next week or two". Between them getting back to me so quickly about an interview, the professionalism of the interview itself and the paperwork they had me fill out afterwords, they seem to really be on the ball. So I'm letting myself hope for a call sooner rather than later. And sooner starts today.

The waiting part of job hunting is driving Becky absolutely batty. She just wants to hear SOMETHING DANGIT AND SOMETHING NOW!!!! Even if it's "no", at least that's an answer we can solidify plans around. When she's at home she is practically sitting on the phone. She's trying to get out and do things to take her mind of it. This morning, for example, she took Tabby to Plymouth to go with some friends to the Plymouth Library story time.

So as part of the continued job hunt, I've got my resume posted on Dice.com. Recruiters see it and can call me. This morning for example, I've gotten two calls. One for a position at Lands End and another for an unspecified six month contract position.

That's fantastic, but here's a question it raises. I've been working with a Tami Sailing from Stratagem on positions in the Madison area. I've really enjoyed working with Tami, she's been very communicative and helpful. But she's not the one who called me this time. So the question, which I ask in general not just specific to this situation, is do I work with the recruiter who called me? The first one? Or the one who calls 5 minutes later? Or the one who sent an e-mail last night? Or do I wait for Tami to call? Or do I call her?

I went with "call her". I think that's only fair given the work she's done to try and find me positions in the area. I'd feel really bad to let some other recruiter submit me for a position only to have Tami call and ask if she can. But is that fair to the recruiters who called me? I'm not totally sure what the right answer is, just trying to be fair first to people I know, I guess.

Anyway, I'm waiting on a call back from Tami.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I got a phone call on Mother's Day from Jeanie Baker, a friend from church in Manitowoc. We haven't seen the Bakers in, geez, I don't know how long. But her son, Chad, is a computer programmer and they had heard we were out of work and were thinking about us. It was very nice.

Chad was recently hired by Daugherty in St. Louis and they are still looking for more java developers. I'd be willing to do that except that I would have to be hired as an entry level programmer. All I've got in java is a single beginners' course. I'd feel pretty comfortable with the web page development, between my course in online programming (basically XML and javascripting) and my experience putzing with my own website a few years back. But object oriented programming is still new territory for me. No actual work experience.

Lots of demand for java developers, though. And man, an entry level job is starting to look a whole lot better than no job, know what I mean? I guess while there's a decent hope for a job as an experienced mainframe developer, that's what I'll keep looking for.

And actually, Becky and I were discussing what to do as I go longer without work . . . we actually discussed the possibility of me going to law school. That's something I would really enjoy. The big hold up is the 3 years or so of living in poverty with four kids. Anyway, that's what we're comparing to the prospect of an entry level java developer position.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Hello World

I've kind of done this before. Not exactly the blog thing, but I had a website. It was more of an html exercise. I did some fun things setting up whole sets of pages where I could display pictures of the family, talk about hobbies, post news. So here I go again, but this time I'll let e-blogger take care of the site maintenance details while I handle post updates.

What motivated me to get back into it? Well, I went to a job fair last week in Green Bay. While there I attended a forum on using social media in your job search presented by Lisa Cruz of Red Shoes PR, Inc. She emphasized that a modern job search really needs to include LinkedIn, Twitter and a blog. So here I am.

I wish I'd gotten the advice back in January. I've been using LinkedIn the whole time. At least, I've been listed on LinkedIn, posted a resume and have contacted others and been contacted by them through LinkedIn. But that and Dice.com (my Dad's advice) has been about the limit of my online activity.

I'm actually waiting to hear back from Great Lakes Higher Education whom I interviewed with last Wednesday. The interview seemed to go well. They seemed to be highering for positions that do exactly what I've got 12 years experience doing. I should find out how well the interview went this week.