I’m normally not a big fan of sitcoms. The main stuff that I watch on TV is sports and shows like American Chopper, American Hot Rod, and Overhaulin’. But last week I was over at my parents house and saw a little bit of Arrested Development, and I loved it. Sure, I had heard that it was great, but I never got around to actually watching it. I decided to get the first season on DVD from Netflix, and in 2 days I watched the whole thing. All I can really say is that it is amazing. It isn’t often that I laugh out loud at television, but the characters are so ridiculous and the situations insane that I can’t help but laughing out loud at it. If you haven’t seen it, try it out.
In other news, I’m going to New York for an interview. Even better, I don’t have to pay for it. The company is flying me up. I guess that is a good sign. I’ve never had an interview before, so if you have any advice for me, that would be great. I’m pretty nervous, but pretty excited as well. Hopefully they’ll offer me an awesome job.
My laptop hard drive died – again. And since I was too cheap to get Apple Care I had to fix it myself. But I was able to, and my laptop is back up and running again. It ended up being not too bad, except now it has a crazy vibration that I’m going to have to try to fix. Luckily my father happens to have a Masters Degree in mechanical engineering, and did his thesis on vibrations.
So that’s about it for right now. Bye.
3 Comments
Hi, Nath
When I was trying to talk you into a consultancy career I didn’t mean New York. I hope your parents and your cats can ever forgive me (btw, will you take your cats to NY if you ever decide to move there? )
What is there to be said about job interviews? Normally after 10 years you will get the hang out of it. LOL. But there is nothing to be afraid of and/or nervous about. It’s probably your first one (Wash U doesn’t really count, I think) and it’s certainly not your last one, I can assure you that (ask E for details on an average IT consultancy career).
There are two things to be taken in consideration: the professional part and the personal part.
For the professional part. Try to find out as much as possible about the company (through the internet, brochures, employees you know). Of course you need to sell yourself, but don’t be afraid to ask them questions too. Tell them about your plans and your ambitions for the future, never complain about your old job. Of course your resume should be up-to-date. You don’t have much professional experience yet, but surely tell them what you achieved during your present job. Some good questions to ask them: what are your recent financial results? How good is your project planning? What kind of customers are you working for? How many people left the company last year, and why? Did they reorganize recently? What is the career path they present? I’m sure you will come up with others as well. Then there would still be the question of what you’re going to earn. It’s not a good idea to use that as an opening question but needless to say that they should come up with that themselves. A nice little one: will they give stocks and/or stock options to their people?
For the personal part. If you have any doubts the company will not match your character: don’t do it. Ask them about their social activities. Ask them if they have a dress code, e.g. (incl. earrings, gna, gna, you might be surprised, private companies think differently from universities in this context). I only consider it a serious job interview if they let you talk too a future colleague too. Ask this person why he/she decided to start working for the company. Basically you should come out of the interview with a “good feeling”.
And don’t forget that NY, like all large cities, is expensive to live in. You also need to check on what an average apartment will cost. And traveling 4 hours a day to/from work isn’t a long-term option either.
I wish you a REAL good luck.
Greetings,
The Spook.
Find out as much as you can about the job before you go and remember that you’re interviewing them too. Good luck.
I don’t care about your job*, but I just wanted to say that I keep meaning to catch an episode of Arrested Development, and I keep not doing it. The DVD set is out now, eh? Might be the perfect time for me to get a Netflix (well, probably Blockbuster, but I digress) account going.
* I really do care. If you get it, I will have a reason to visit NY again.