Day 19 of 107: As It Was
May. 9th, 2023 09:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebeApplied for five different open positions yesterday -- four at Stanford, one as San Jose State. Whenever I've applied for jobs I tend to fire-bomb the local colleges and universities if I can. Given that my husboo works at SJSU and I have a close friend who works at Stanford, it feels like I should be able to at least get an interview. Alas, all applications have fallen into a black hole so far but hope springs eternal. We'll see what happens with this round.
I also took a look at local and state government jobs. I was quite surprised to find the selection process to be quite so intense. I didn't actually apply for anything because it'll take some time to get my application materials together. On the state level, they're looking for full transcripts and everything to prove your experience. This might be something I'll need to take a few days for -- if I find something that fits. It will be good practice to go over my prior experience with a fine-toothed comb so I can talk about how I gained the skills that I have. We'll see how that goes.
In the meantime, it's fairly easy to apply for private-sector jobs through LinkedIn and other such sites, so I'll be doing that as well. I'm not sure how aggressive I should be about applications, though I'm also aware that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Still, most places seem to demand personalized attention in the application -- a cover letter, or a resume that uses language appearing on the job posting. I could definitely get better at massaging my resume to do that, so that's another thing I'll be looking into.
The colleague who got laid off with me has already applied to a bunch of places and taken seven(!!) interviews. It might be that the job market is a bit cooler in PA where she lives, but I also think she has a better resume than I do AND a stronger work ethic. She's chilled on applying for now to wait and see what the interviews bring. I'm quite happy for her, especially since she'll land on her feet with no problem.
Went back to my SQL Nanodegree program yesterday as well; I have to say, the problems are quite fun and I'm still enjoying it though I'm also starting to get a bit mixed-up on very similar aggregations like DATE_TRUNC and DATE_PART. I used the first one for the set of problems I was given and still got the right answer, but I get the feeling it's important to learn the difference now before I run into situations where that minor change produces hugely different results.
Once I've finished it, I think I'll dive right into Business Analyst so I can learn more about how to work with data. In the tech field having a basic grasp of data is hugely important and this gives me a little bit of public recognition for that. I could also be moving through the Nanodegree at a better speed; we advocate people take 10 hours a week to get through the material within a reasonable time-frame, and I've been doing...one-quarter of that. Pushing myself harder to put more time into priority work isn't the worst thing, so maybe next week I'll see about breaking down my time that way.
Breaking the day into 90-minute pods might not be the worst thing to do. That's three Pomodoros of work, and then maybe a break to get up, stretch, do something fun. The schedule could look something like this:
7 AM - 8:30 AM: Wake up, meditation, journaling.
8:30 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM: Job Hunting
10:30 AM: Mid-morning Break
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Writing
12:30 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Studying
2:30 PM: Mid-Afternoon Break
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM: Reading, Cleaning, Writing
4:30 PM: Walk
By that time, R.'s come home and the evening will kick off somehow. I'd like to find a way to fit exercise there in the morning. I try to limit the morning pages to 30 minutes, but exercise right now takes around 45 minutes or so. With 20 minutes of meditation, it's not QUITE enough. Still, I don't think there's anything wrong with pushing into breakfast -- especially if breakfast is something quick and simple like yogurt-granola parfait, or a bagel, or a bowl of cereal.
Maybe I'll try the cadence through the rest of the week to see how it works, then make adjustments. It's been really hard to get out of bed in the morning for various reasons, so most of the discipline will happen once the alarm goes off.
Today, things are a bit easier. Still planning to apply for three positions, get some writing done, and continue on with my study at the moment. Fingers crossed that it goes somewhere. :)
I also took a look at local and state government jobs. I was quite surprised to find the selection process to be quite so intense. I didn't actually apply for anything because it'll take some time to get my application materials together. On the state level, they're looking for full transcripts and everything to prove your experience. This might be something I'll need to take a few days for -- if I find something that fits. It will be good practice to go over my prior experience with a fine-toothed comb so I can talk about how I gained the skills that I have. We'll see how that goes.
In the meantime, it's fairly easy to apply for private-sector jobs through LinkedIn and other such sites, so I'll be doing that as well. I'm not sure how aggressive I should be about applications, though I'm also aware that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Still, most places seem to demand personalized attention in the application -- a cover letter, or a resume that uses language appearing on the job posting. I could definitely get better at massaging my resume to do that, so that's another thing I'll be looking into.
The colleague who got laid off with me has already applied to a bunch of places and taken seven(!!) interviews. It might be that the job market is a bit cooler in PA where she lives, but I also think she has a better resume than I do AND a stronger work ethic. She's chilled on applying for now to wait and see what the interviews bring. I'm quite happy for her, especially since she'll land on her feet with no problem.
Went back to my SQL Nanodegree program yesterday as well; I have to say, the problems are quite fun and I'm still enjoying it though I'm also starting to get a bit mixed-up on very similar aggregations like DATE_TRUNC and DATE_PART. I used the first one for the set of problems I was given and still got the right answer, but I get the feeling it's important to learn the difference now before I run into situations where that minor change produces hugely different results.
Once I've finished it, I think I'll dive right into Business Analyst so I can learn more about how to work with data. In the tech field having a basic grasp of data is hugely important and this gives me a little bit of public recognition for that. I could also be moving through the Nanodegree at a better speed; we advocate people take 10 hours a week to get through the material within a reasonable time-frame, and I've been doing...one-quarter of that. Pushing myself harder to put more time into priority work isn't the worst thing, so maybe next week I'll see about breaking down my time that way.
Breaking the day into 90-minute pods might not be the worst thing to do. That's three Pomodoros of work, and then maybe a break to get up, stretch, do something fun. The schedule could look something like this:
7 AM - 8:30 AM: Wake up, meditation, journaling.
8:30 AM: Breakfast
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM: Job Hunting
10:30 AM: Mid-morning Break
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM: Writing
12:30 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Studying
2:30 PM: Mid-Afternoon Break
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM: Reading, Cleaning, Writing
4:30 PM: Walk
By that time, R.'s come home and the evening will kick off somehow. I'd like to find a way to fit exercise there in the morning. I try to limit the morning pages to 30 minutes, but exercise right now takes around 45 minutes or so. With 20 minutes of meditation, it's not QUITE enough. Still, I don't think there's anything wrong with pushing into breakfast -- especially if breakfast is something quick and simple like yogurt-granola parfait, or a bagel, or a bowl of cereal.
Maybe I'll try the cadence through the rest of the week to see how it works, then make adjustments. It's been really hard to get out of bed in the morning for various reasons, so most of the discipline will happen once the alarm goes off.
Today, things are a bit easier. Still planning to apply for three positions, get some writing done, and continue on with my study at the moment. Fingers crossed that it goes somewhere. :)
