Feb-25
2004
Ahoy!
Topic: Family and Friends
So I’ve joined the 21st century – and the teeming hordes of other bloggers – by starting my own blog. If you don’t know the term, it’s short for web log – essentially an online journal. I’ve been out of touch with many of my friends for, well, the past two years or so! So blogging is at least one way I’ll try to keep in touch better.
The biggest event in my life so far this year is landing a job! I’m now working as a Programmer Analyst at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Information Services group (or, more concisely, I do web stuff at Penn). I’m now in my fourth week, and so far I think it’s great. I’m working with a talented team of about a dozen people – they’re all sharp and everything seems well managed (i.e. things generally work as expected, people aren’t pulling their hair out, etc.). The downside is that the position is funded for only a year. I know I’ll knock their socks off and they’ll want to make the position permanent, so it’ll be a question of whether the money is there or not. The Penn fiscal year starts in July, so I’ll probably know sometime this summer whether I’ll still have a job here in 2005.
The job search was tough. Not having any personal contacts in the area, I had to rely on recruiters, and what I learned about recruiters for technical jobs on the West Coast is also true on the East Coast – they have no clue what they’re doing. But they can be good for helping you get your foot in the door. I had a 7-week temp job here at Penn through a recruiter before I got the job I have now. The recruiter advertised the temp position completely wrong – he said it was a Perl project, but it was actually a Python project. Although I didn’t have a really strong Python background, I managed to get it anyway. The job went well, and although it was in a different office from where I am now, they all know each other here, and having a good word put in from another Penn office definitely helped in getting this job.
I have lots more to talk about – Kai, Maria, the house, travel plans, etc., so I’ll be back soon!
February 26th, 2004 at 8:23 am
I just downloded the cute video of Kai playing guitar. It’s time to buy him a real electric guitar, get him a gig playing backup for Annie Lennox and get it produced by Steve Lillwhite. When he hits the big time, mom and dad can retire and live happily ever after
-stan