When I graduated from college in May of 1993, I had an Engineering degree, had learned a great many things, had developed the thinking skills that would help me later. The only thing I lacked was knowledge on how to get a job. The only job I had previously was working for Del Taco when I was in high school, and my Dad got me that job. So when I graduated I expected it would easy to get a job. I wasn't picky and wasn't looking for a high salary either.

Three months later and I discovered a couple of things. The first is that a job search is a full-time occupation all to itself. You have to look through ads, or agencies, or web sites or whatever. Then you have your resumŽ which has to be done well and concisely. As an aside, I've done some interviewing in my current job, and some people have three or four page resumŽs. You don't have to list every freaking thing you did in college if you have other things to put down. It's just a waste of my time and makes me think that you don't have the skills to summarize properly.

Anyway, you go to job fairs and interviews and put in several hours a day doing things. So don't underestimate how much work it is. The other thing I learned is that I'm really bad at getting a job. Especially interviews, since my speaking skills are lacking at best. There were three interviews that I got that summer. The first was for some Mac software company that developed EndNotes Plus, which is used to keep track of bibliographies for researchers. They had shown their product at a BMUG meeting so I knew what it was. This would have been a great job since I love the Mac, although it would have taken me a while to get the hang of it. Unix programming is quite different than Mac programming. The sheer size of the Mac OS Toolbox is daunting, especially when you're used to the few Unix standard libraries. It's mostly GUI routines and lots of little helper functions to make sure you don't have to write everything yourself. But you do have to learn it. You have the same problem if you do program with the Microsoft Foundation Classes or Java 1.2 Enterprise Edition. Sheer size. To get back to my story, that was my first interview and I didn't really do that well. The cons seemed to be that I had no experience in Mac OS programming and I had no real job experience.

Next interview was in Dublin, and a fair commute from where I lived. The first interview I took the bus since it was in Berkeley. This one I had to take the BART, change trains to use the Dublin extension, then take a bus to the site. These guys also did software development, but I don't remember their product. Some sort of business tool. Anyway, I was shown into this big white room with a large window overlooking nothing spectacular, and interviewed with an older gent who was probably wondering what apple cart I fell out of. I did my standard spiel, although it's hard to tell how well you're doing without practice. One of the things they tell you is to ask what the interviewer's impression of your interview was. You're supposed to ask them after you don't get the job, that is. Anyway, the problem here was the long commute, which he seemed to think would be burdensome. I don't know, I drive an hour to work for this job, and used to take an hour to commute to my San Francisco job, so I don't think it would have been such a burden. But back then, who knew?

The third interview was for a group of physicians. Their offices had a Mac OS local network and they wanted a part-time administrator. This one would also have been a cool job, as I'm actually kind of interested in networks. Alas, they thought that I was overqualified and would promptly leave for a better job. Can't say I blame them, although I'm not the kind of person who leaves a job that he's happy with, and money doesn't figure into my happiness at a job. Anyway, I was getting pretty discouraged by the end of summer and with my funds running out I was also getting worried. [More to come]