I finally did it!

Yup after about a year and a half of being VERY unhappy, bitching to friends like no other, venting on this very blog, developing stomach issues because of stress, and just down right being frustrated at times I told my boss I am quiting. The relief of being able to actually say it out loud to management is hard to describe in words. To use a cliche, it is as if I got a huge monkey off my back that has been breaking my back. Last thursday I was having a few personal issues, part of them being affected by my stress from work, so I finally let it all out around 1:15 or so. I laid out every issue I had from not getting the help I asked for a year ago to feeling like the company has gone from a close knit family in '03 to a greedy corporation who is driving people away. The good part was he (my local boss) understood and at least admitted that I have every right to be frustrated about the lack of help to do everything. No official word as far as time frame has been made but that is coming this week. I know the #1 rule is never to quit a job until you have found another one but there are times when a person should ignore that advice. If work gets to a point where it is spilling over into personal relationships with friends and significant others you need to get rid of it. If you wake up every weekday muttering to yourself "I fucking hate the 10 hours I am at work everyday" then it needs to be removed from your life. Mental well being is more important then a paycheck. Maybe a different king of stress is created by tossing myself into a somewhat unknown...as in I don't officially have a job yet and I am debating whether to try my hand at my own business but hay fuck it. I rather be stressed out by my own actions then by a company not taking any action.

To add insult to injury here I received an email from a co-worker of mine who is a good friend and it said:

"Funny that when you take a day off people automatically say that you are not happy and are probably out looking for a new job. Everyone knows there is an issue in the office but this company doesn't want to address it"

Yet another job search entry

Back to the Craigslist vs Monster vs traditional means vs MySpace job search experiment. Here is the current break down on how each has been working out in the last 2 months or so since I've tried them. This is all based on the amount of potential leads for jobs, quality of those jobs offered, ease of use, and any frustrations that have came up.

Traditional means: So far I have had two phone interviews (with the same company) that came as a result of meeting a person at a local software conference in LA earlier this year. Right now they are setting up a face to face interview to fly me out to Denver to discuss an offer. I also have another small business that would like me to come work for them in the area I live in now. For me this option ended up still being the best way to find a new job.

Monster: Three leads have been generated from here but nothing really that would work out. This place is highly competitive for IT related jobs so I am not too suprised about this one. The one thing I will mention is that it seems as if most people who want to get ahead using Monster need to pay for their extra services. Unless you are a very very good writer or have had help with your resume chances are you are going to be over looked without paying monster for a 'professional writer'.

Craigslist: One really crappy job interview came from Craigslist and a few 'bites' from other companies. Only problem with those bites was the fact that the HR person (or whatever they are at the respective company) who posts alot of these jobs are not clear on how they want a person to apply. For example, One post asked for a person to submit their resume and salary for jobs listed. I did that. What do I get? An email back from the person who posted it saying that they need a seperate page for each piece of software I know (God knows how many pieces of software IT guys are expected to know) how to use and projects that I worked on. Not to mention a lot of them cannot spell right or are not clear on what the job really entails. This place is free for a reason.

Myspace: To my suprise I have had a number of friends send me messages saying that they would be able to get me a job where they work. I have not really taken anyone up on it yet but one bulletin out to my friends/family and I was able to generate a few potential places to go work. I would say it is a on par with Monster and much better then Craigslist.

Believe it or not I have found that the traditional ways of trying to get jobs is still the best way to go. Networking or asking friends/family for any openings is head and shoulders above all the others.

Fuck-A-Round Friday - Kill time IMing the world

If you are one of those people who enjoy instant messaging or just really rather talk to your friends without getting in trouble from your cube visit the site below...

Meebo

It is a web based way to login to AOL, Yahoo, Google Talk, and MSN. If your corporate firewall blocks AIM.com or even the ports that the full version of the programs use to connect up to the servers you can use this to bypass it. I don't see most IT shops knowing about this website enough to just block traffic from the site itself. Works here. Good time waster for Friday!

myspace job networking - job search cont....

How weird does that title sound for an entry about looking for a job? Talk about a Generation Y way to try to approach a situation like this. Yes.. I posted a bulletin on myspace to see if one of my many friends (whom I don't speak with most of em all that often) could hook me up with a job. This is not an act of desperation. Just trying to pioneer the way teenager-early 20 something people put feelers out for potential job opportunity's . Okay who the hell am I fooling? I couldn't even type that with a straight face. Seriously, it is an easy way to ask all the people I know if they can hook me up with a job in a few clicks. More people then you think get their jobs because a friend of family member was able to get them in the door. That is all I am looking for. I bet I am one of the few people who said they've tried to use Myspace to look for a job. Wouldn't that be funny if Tom added a feature like that into Myspace after my pioneering! Really I am not desperate I have a phone interview on Monday with a company that I got in touch with through a conference in LA earlier this year.

This post is powered by my new Ubuntu Linux desktop at home




Ubuntu click here to learn more....

Another one bites the dust

Another very competent and downright great employee at the company I work for has decided that the career they wanted to pursue is not what it is cracked up to be. In other words, this company has forced yet another person to re-think what they plan to do with their life when it comes to work. So far there are 4 people other then myself in the last 2 months who are actively looking for a new job, are moving away from this office, or have already put in their two weeks. All of them are so turned off by this company (specifically the BS in this office) they are going in way different directions then what they had planned. Many of them slaved away in college to obtain the degrees and knowledge to get into the field they work in. Now? They rather do anything else in the world but what they've been working at for all these years. One very nice woman in the Business Development department has decided to become an english teacher. She no longer wants to do anything related to marketing. Myself? I am pretty close to taking a very regular job just to be able to go to school full time so I can work in any field other then IT. There is one underlying theme that unites all the people mentioned...everyone feels as if they are overworked and the dollars are more important then anything else that might come up. The company is notorious for being cheap and then having it bite them in the ass which is what I see happening when some of these quality employees leave.

On a lighter note....

A man with a piece of paper in his hand comes into an office where another man is sitting next to a shredding machine.
"Do you know how to operate this thing?" he asks. "I have an important paper here and I want to make sure this is done right."
"Sure," the other man answers. "Just put the paper in here and press this button."
The first man does so, saying, "Great. And where do the copies come out?

Replacing Free Dress Friday with a new way to carpool home on Fridays

Wouldn't this boost morale at the office? The Friday Party Wagon is not just for the corporate worker bees who bathe in suds to complain about work on Friday nights. I mean technically they could justify drinking with the guys if they explained to their wives the peddling cancels out the calories. This new replacement for Free Dress Fridays also caters to the group of gym rats that demanded the company open up a corporate account at 24 hr fitness. Think about the resistance a bunch of overweight co-workers will put on your legs. Not to mention water is free at bars. If the company wants to be more environmentally friendly and 'green' this is also a step in the right direction. The bone thrown to be able to wear "wacky" Hawaiian shirts needs to go and this needs to replace it.

Progression of an office cubicle

Fresh start stage: Think of this as the new born baby of office cubicles. Brand new default setup for someone's first day. Basic phone, computer, monitor, and chair setup. Like a new baby no matter if it is ugly or boring you still don't mind since it is new. No personality up front as it has not had a chance to grow. (0 - 6 months old)








Pre-teen stage: Still somewhat pleasant as young kids can be but as the cubicle grows out of the fresh start phase it slowly transitions into a cluster fuck of pictures and soda cans trying to find its own personality. The cubicle at the pre-teen stage is still predictable and tries to stay in line. Some cubicles at this stage may start to look like it's older sibling and could require Ritalin to slow down that ADD. (7 months to 3 yrs)






Teenager stage: Out of control, messy, unaproachable at times, crap all over the place, old bowls of food growing hair in places it never had when it was a pre-teen, and if the cubicle could talk it's voice would crack while yelling 'EVERYONE HATES ME' . This cubicle could use some Prozac (3 yrs plus)