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A Little Spotty
Aug. 13th, 2019 09:34 am
I've been meaning to check in here at least 30 minutes every day, but building that habit is a...bit of a process. I'm still not quite where I want to be with any of my 'habit' practices -- meditation, writing, reading, and studying have all been spotty at best. There's usually a point in the day where my brain decides it's given all it's going to give and I have to make the decision of whether to push it or hang back and let it rest. Rest has been the answer a bit too often, so now I think it's time to push again.
I might have a job offer today! It's for Udacity, another MOOC (massive open online course) outfit that specializes in more technical courses -- like machine learning, self-driving cars, and the usual programming certifications. An acquaintance of mine tapped me for the position, and the courtship has moved really quickly: I had a screening call with the recruiter one day, a preliminary phone interview with the hiring manager the very next day, a written service assignment two days after that (this was all last week), and the on-site interview yesterday. According to the recruiter, chances are I'll know what's coming by the end of the day today. I'm expecting celebration. :)
Udacity seems like a company trying to survive more than it's trying to establish itself. The employee reviews on Glassdoor have not been kind, and it's indicative of a massive upheaval last year. When I went to the office, things looked fairly haphazard with a lot of boxes everywhere and loose wires all around, like they had just moved in. The receptionist (front office admin?) was quite new and didn't know where the conference rooms were. In fact, most of the people in management, it seems, had joined the company only this year.
The employee who had been with the company the longest (three years) also had the 'lowest' position, as a Student Support Lead. She manages the support team in Cairo, and was given that responsibility fairly recently as part of the re-organization. I asked her directly about the changes that have happened to her company, and she says that decisions are NOW being made that she agrees with and thinks things are moving in the right direction. Because she had been there since the before-times and weathered the storm, I'm inclined to believe her.
The next two interviews were with folks I would be reporting to -- the VP of Engagement, and the Student Support Manager. Neither of them knew a *whole* lot about the position I would be applying to, because the position has been shifted from Enterprise to Support very recently and all the previous people in that position have moved on. My manager has no idea how things worked under the Enterprise team, and there aren't really metrics or anything that gives her an understanding of how things work. According to her, part of my job would be identifying trends and helping to establish workflows, a process that I actually find genuinely exciting.
The acquaintance who recommended me for the position is currently the only other person at that position, and he's been with the company for all of six weeks. What I liked is that everyone at the company was reasonably up-front about the chaos they've endured, and how little has settled since then. They're clear-eyed about the job they have to do, but it looks like they're committed to doing it. I have no idea how this job would shake out if I get the offer, but I'm really looking forward to the chance of building something from roughly the ground up.
No matter what, time management is going to be important. While work/life balance seems reasonably intact over there, the fact of the matter is I won't be able to just...waste eight hours of the day like I have been. So that means being a bit more aggressive about what I can achieve in a short amount of time, and being more consistent about the schedule I'd like to lay out for myself. It looks like the office is fairly lenient about exact office time, so I'll have a *bit* of wiggle room to determine the best schedule for me.
But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. It honestly would be best to expect that I don't have the position until I've signed the offer letter, and put some effort in to making sure my resume is in tip-top shape.
In other news, I'm tired of my body. Ryan assures me that he finds me attractive, and...there are unmistakable signs that's true. But my stomach feels awful and I can feel myself starting to adopt that flat-footed waddle walk of someone with low flexibility, a weak core and a big gut. Thankfully, I've joined a small group of furries who are aiming to get into a step-count competition, which provides good incentive to walk around more. I got in over 10,000 steps yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I can repeat today. The plan is to run three miles, though it might be murderously hot by the time I try. We'll see how it's looking when Husband and Hatch go to the gym later this evening.
Otherwise, today is going to be mostly devoted to writing, reading, and study. It's time to start taking that stuff seriously and dedicate effort towards putting the time in.
I might have a job offer today! It's for Udacity, another MOOC (massive open online course) outfit that specializes in more technical courses -- like machine learning, self-driving cars, and the usual programming certifications. An acquaintance of mine tapped me for the position, and the courtship has moved really quickly: I had a screening call with the recruiter one day, a preliminary phone interview with the hiring manager the very next day, a written service assignment two days after that (this was all last week), and the on-site interview yesterday. According to the recruiter, chances are I'll know what's coming by the end of the day today. I'm expecting celebration. :)
Udacity seems like a company trying to survive more than it's trying to establish itself. The employee reviews on Glassdoor have not been kind, and it's indicative of a massive upheaval last year. When I went to the office, things looked fairly haphazard with a lot of boxes everywhere and loose wires all around, like they had just moved in. The receptionist (front office admin?) was quite new and didn't know where the conference rooms were. In fact, most of the people in management, it seems, had joined the company only this year.
The employee who had been with the company the longest (three years) also had the 'lowest' position, as a Student Support Lead. She manages the support team in Cairo, and was given that responsibility fairly recently as part of the re-organization. I asked her directly about the changes that have happened to her company, and she says that decisions are NOW being made that she agrees with and thinks things are moving in the right direction. Because she had been there since the before-times and weathered the storm, I'm inclined to believe her.
The next two interviews were with folks I would be reporting to -- the VP of Engagement, and the Student Support Manager. Neither of them knew a *whole* lot about the position I would be applying to, because the position has been shifted from Enterprise to Support very recently and all the previous people in that position have moved on. My manager has no idea how things worked under the Enterprise team, and there aren't really metrics or anything that gives her an understanding of how things work. According to her, part of my job would be identifying trends and helping to establish workflows, a process that I actually find genuinely exciting.
The acquaintance who recommended me for the position is currently the only other person at that position, and he's been with the company for all of six weeks. What I liked is that everyone at the company was reasonably up-front about the chaos they've endured, and how little has settled since then. They're clear-eyed about the job they have to do, but it looks like they're committed to doing it. I have no idea how this job would shake out if I get the offer, but I'm really looking forward to the chance of building something from roughly the ground up.
No matter what, time management is going to be important. While work/life balance seems reasonably intact over there, the fact of the matter is I won't be able to just...waste eight hours of the day like I have been. So that means being a bit more aggressive about what I can achieve in a short amount of time, and being more consistent about the schedule I'd like to lay out for myself. It looks like the office is fairly lenient about exact office time, so I'll have a *bit* of wiggle room to determine the best schedule for me.
But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. It honestly would be best to expect that I don't have the position until I've signed the offer letter, and put some effort in to making sure my resume is in tip-top shape.
In other news, I'm tired of my body. Ryan assures me that he finds me attractive, and...there are unmistakable signs that's true. But my stomach feels awful and I can feel myself starting to adopt that flat-footed waddle walk of someone with low flexibility, a weak core and a big gut. Thankfully, I've joined a small group of furries who are aiming to get into a step-count competition, which provides good incentive to walk around more. I got in over 10,000 steps yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I can repeat today. The plan is to run three miles, though it might be murderously hot by the time I try. We'll see how it's looking when Husband and Hatch go to the gym later this evening.
Otherwise, today is going to be mostly devoted to writing, reading, and study. It's time to start taking that stuff seriously and dedicate effort towards putting the time in.
