I thought that the interview went well. It’s a small company, but I worked at a small company before. The work is exactly what I’m looking for. It’s a php/MySQL specialist type position. Obviously since it’s a small company, there would be work in other areas as well, but it would be focused in php and MySQL development. The person who conducted the interview said that he was impressed with my skills, especially since I never went to school for web development.

The only down side to the situation is that they’re not entirely certain yet that they are going to fill the position. He said that he needs to assess their workload to see if they can justify the position. He said that he should know by the middle of November (that would be a good birthday present ), and if they decided to fill the position, they would do so before the end of November.

So I guess that means that I’m still in a holding pattern. I’m still looking for opportunities in the area. But at least there’s a possibility out there … there’s still hope that I won’t have to leave the area.

I’ve actually been looking around since shortly after I started that 2nd contract job. Based on things that I heard around the office, I wasn’t convinced that the situation was all that stable (and I guess I was right). Unfortunately, the Fargo area just doesn’t have anything in the area that I am looking. I have a background in php and sql (both MSSQL and MySQL). The job listings that I am finding are for things like .NET or Java or other areas of web development that I don’t have experience in. I guess the Fargo area just isn’t big on php development … or at least no companies are looking for those types of developers.

So I am at a crossroad. If I want to keep working as a web developer (and I do), I need to look elsewhere for a job … I need to relocate. My preference has always been to stay right here in the Fargo area (despite the bitching I do in the winter about the cold and the snow). I was at this point before, but those contract jobs popped up and allowed me to put that off. But I really don’t think that is going to happen this time around.

This is where I need your help. Where the hell do I focus my job search? I could stay in the tri-state area (ND, SD, MN), but I don’t know if there are very many opportunities for me around here. If I’m going to move, I might as well pick up and go to some other part of the country. But I really don’t know where to look. I did ask on Twitter, and got a suggestion from Jennifer (a.k.a. @theworkingmom). She said that she’s seen quite a few opportunities for php developers in Utah. My thoughts were to either go south to Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas (Tornado Alley I’m still a weather gal at heart) or to North Carolina (NASCAR country). I know … my reasoning is silly. But honestly, I have NO CLUE where to even start.

I know that I need to start doing research as to areas of the country with good opportunities and that are good places to live, but I’ve been putting it off. I can’t do that for much longer. My savings will only last so long, and I need to give 2 months notice to move out of my apartment. So the clock is ticking.

I’m hoping someone out there reading this might be able to suggest some area of the country that I could add to my list, and maybe give me a “review” of sorts on the area. As I said, I have no idea where to start. It doesn’t help that my heart isn’t in it either. But my head needs to prevail. I can’t wait around here forever hoping that some position magically appears.

What have I been doing for the past couple months? I was working and looking for a job. Huh? Well, I was working a contract job. It was supposed to be a 3 month contract with the option to make it permanent. It ended up being a 4 month contract. They just didn’t have enough work to keep me on permanently. They wanted to keep me on (or at least that’s what I was told), but they just couldn’t.

I am still looking for a job. I do have an opportunity I’m waiting to hear back on. I’m hoping I hear back soon. I don’t know how long I can handle sitting around my apartment. I think I’m going to need to find a coffee shop to hang around in. But that could get expensive.

As I found out before I got the contract position, there aren’t all that many web developer/programmer job openings here in the Fargo/Moorhead area … at least not ones that don’t require .NET experience. But as long as I can find at least one opportunity here, I’m going to wait it out. I have money in my checking and (2) savings accounts that will last me a few months (at least). I just hope I don’t end up depleting those accounts. The savings accounts were for a house hunt I was hoping to start. But that is obviously on hold for the foreseeable future.

Why do I want to stay in the Fargo/Moorhead area? For starters, it’s something I’m familiar with. I’ve lived here since Oct. 1998, and I grew up about an hour south of here. But it’s not just that. My family is in this part of the state. Yeah, I don’t visit them as often as I probably should, but at least I have the option of going to see them and not having to plan a vacation to do so. My friends are here. I don’t have all that many friends, I’ll admit that. But the friends that I do have are true friends. I don’t know what I’d do without them. I don’t make friends very easily … being a shy introvert doesn’t help that fact.

I also want to stay here because of the people here. I mean come on … when you have volunteers make 3.5 million sandbags in around a week’s time (during a snow storm) to help save the community from flood waters (and WIN), whether they were directly affected by it or not … that’s a place I want to live. And that’s just one example.

I may bitch and moan about the cold weather during the winter, but that just gives me something to talk about. LOL When it comes down to what’s important, this place isn’t such a bad place to live. So I’m going to wait to hear back about my current opportunity and keep looking for others that may pop up. As long as I have the resources to wait, I’m going to. Family … friends … community. Those are things that make me want to stay here. It’s gonna take a pretty damn good opportunity to lure me away. I just hope the lack of opportunity here doesn’t force my hand.

Next week sounds like it’s going to be a getting up to speed type of thing … not a full 40 hours. There are 2 training sessions that I’ll be going to on Monday … the first starting at 1pm. Then it sounds like there will be meetings and other getting set up type stuff the rest of the week. I won’t know the details on things until Monday.

You don’t know how relieved I am. I’ll be getting a paycheck again (and I’ll be paid weekly … about the same amount as my last position too). I’ll be getting out of my apartment. I don’t have to move. And I get to keep working in web development/programming.

This position may last only 3 months or it may end up being permanent. It just depends on how much work the company has at the end of the 3 month contract and how much I’ve impressed them during those 3 months.

So things are starting to look up again … at least for the next 3 months. I’ll be able to enjoy Christmas. I need to start my Christmas baking and write up my Christmas cards and do Christmas shopping. Hopefully this will bring my mood back up to a ‘normal’ level for a long period of time. I sure hope so.

I got a call this morning from a local employment/consulting agency that I’ve been working with. She told me a while back that a company she works with might be opening a position at some point. After the initial conversation, she found out that the company was going to put off hiring someone until next year. However, she found out yesterday that that same company is opening up a contract position. It’s a contract position because it’s only temporary … covering a maternity leave for someone. She mentioned either 3 or 6 months, but I’m thinking it will probably be closer to 3 since it’s a maternity leave coverage. There IS a possibility that the position could end up being permanent. It just depends on how much work the company has at the end of the contract period and if they have the approval to hire another full time developer. But it would allow me to stay here and continue looking for something permanent here. And who knows, maybe the economy will improve early next year and other companies in the area will have positions.

I know that there’s no guarantee that I’ll even get this position, but at least there’s SOMETHING out there. There’s a possibility for something. And this one is more in line with what I’ve done in the past rather than a new coding language. Looking at the job description, I’m confident that I’d be fine in the position. There are some aspects that I haven’t worked with before (such as section 508 compliance), but I’m also confident that I can pick that stuff up fairly quickly. I just need to be exposed to it. My interview for the position is on Monday afternoon. Hopefully I won’t be nervous during it … I haven’t been in my other interviews.

And if this opportunity doesn’t pan out, there’s still that one in Moorhead. But I can’t wait forever for something to pan out. And I can’t leave my former co-worker hanging. I know that they want to fill their position as soon as possible. I need to email him today and let him know that there is going to be a delay in my applying for it. I hope they understand. And if not, I’ll just have to keep looking elsewhere if nothing works out around here.

But at least there is something … something to keep me from falling off the deep end.

If I want to keep working as a web programmer (and I DO), then I am going to need to move out of the Fargo area.

I don’t like this one bit, but there really isn’t anything I can do. I’ve exhausted almost all of the opportunities out there. There is one left, but they aren’t interviewing until December. And there’s no guarantee I’ll get an interview (I DO think I have a good chance of getting one, but who really knows). There are a couple other places I submitted my resume, but I don’t know if I’ll hear from them. There are opportunities around town, but they are for .NET programmers.

This realization breaks my heart and scares the shit out of me. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to move to a larger city in order to find something. I’m targeting the Minneapolis, MN area (the Cities as it’s called around here) first. That’s only about 5 or 6 hours from here (depending on how fast you drive … LOL). I do have a former co-worker who lives down there. I emailed him this afternoon to see if he knows of any companies that are hiring. Then there is Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com that I can search. I’m also going to email my contact at a local agency to see if they have an office in the Cities (I believe they do, but I don’t know for sure). I need all the help I can get since I don’t know the area.

I may eventually (have to) expand my area, depending on what’s available in the Cities. Where? I have no clue. If you know of any company looking to hire a web programmer with a focus in php and mssql or MySQL, let me know.

I’m going to start this course of action on Monday. Tomorrow I’m taking a day off from the job hunt. I’m going to treat it like a vacation day. Why? ‘Cuz it’s my birthday. I almost feel like I’ve been punishing myself for the past month even though it’s not my fault that I lost my job. It’s this damn economy. But I’m not gonna get into that now … that’s another post that I may or may not write. Tomorrow is a day for me. I owe it to myself to treat myself right tomorrow. I will be calling Job Service tomorrow to put my unemployment claim on hold (since I’m not getting my job contacts) and checking the job listings a couple times a day (but not as often as I have been). But otherwise I’m not doing anything related to my job search. I’m gonna get a paper in the morning, wait for my new laptop battery to be delivered (don’t ask … LOL), go get my sister, go out for a free supper (at Paradiso w/ Lisa, Robin, and Dannilynn), and go to the bar (the Hub with the same as supper minus Dannilynn … she’s a little too young … she’s not quite 2 yet. ). I’m not gonna worry about when I’ll get my next paycheck or where I’ll be living when I get it. It’s gonna be a day for me dammit.

Yeah, having both the education and experience in the field you’re looking for work in is the ideal situation. But unfortunately, that’s not the case for me. I do have an education, but it’s in a completely unrelated field. I have a BS in Meteorological Studies but I’m looking for work as a web developer. What does the weather have to do with website? Absolutely nothing. LOL I did take a computer concepts in meteorology class in which we had to put our reports online. That was my first taste of web programming.

All of my knowledge in the world of web programming/development has been self taught. I’ve done websites for myself … I took over maintaining the website for my first employer out of college … I’ve done websites for a couple local bands. I learn best by doing … by actually sitting down and writing code. If I want to do something but don’t know how, I’ll look it up online … either tutorials or examples.

For the past 4 years or so, I’ve been working as a web programmer. I have furthered my knowledge in php and learned mssql. I had never even seen mssql before taking that position a little over 4 years ago. My database experience had been limited to MySQL, and that was just basic INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT statements. But now I consider myself quite experienced in mssql. I’m not expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but I know what I’m doing. And if I don’t know how to do something, I know where to look to find out how to do it.

While I am very proud of the fact that I’ve taught myself what I have, I’m starting to wonder if not having a degree in a computer related field is hurting me. Most of the positions I’m finding around town are for .NET programmers. I’ve never even seen .NET. Yeah, I’m convinced that I could pick it up, but employers are going to want someone who can sit down and start coding right away rather than someone they’re going to have to train. I DO want to learn new aspects of the web programming world, but I’d rather find a job that uses the areas I already know with the opportunity to learn the new stuff. That way I could be useful right off the bat and ease into the new stuff.

Am I just kidding myself? Is an education more important than experience? Or DOES experience carry more weight? Am I okay with one and not the other as long as the one is experience? What do you think?

So far, I’ve applied for 7 actual positions and sent my resume to 2 other companies that don’t currently have openings but are always accepting them. I have gone on 2 interviews, and I have another interview scheduled for tomorrow.

Of the 2 interviews I’ve already been on, I’m hopeful on one. I actually didn’t feel nervous during the interview. I am supposed to hear back by mid-week to see if I move on to the second round of interviews. As for the other interview, I don’t think the position is right for me, regardless of how the company feels about me. Sometimes you just get a gut feeling about things.

I have contacts at 2 recruiting agencies in town. That is how I found out about the position I’m hopeful on. The other agency is waiting to hear back about a company opening up a position. She said she’d let me know when she heard. And yesterday I was contacted by another local agency that had found my resume on Career Builder. Unfortunately the position they currently have needs ASP.NET experience, which I don’t have. But she sent me her contact info and said she would be in touch if anything relating to php/mssql/MySQL came up.

I’m hoping something that I’ve already found and applied for pans out … and soon. I’m not having much luck finding new positions to apply for. The one I applied for this morning was the first new one I’ve seen in the last week. I’m not sure how long I can wait before I expand my search area (to Grand Forks).

I need to have 2 job contacts a week in order to get unemployment benefits. And an interview with a company for a position I have applied to doesn’t count as a second job contact anymore (it did the last time I was in this position). I understand that they need to have these sort of requirements to keep people from abusing unemployment benefits. But I’m looking for quality positions that I actually want to work at rather than a large quantity of positions. I understand that the more positions I apply for, the better my odds of finding something. But there are only so many positions around here. And each position has a timeline. They don’t hire someone right after an interview. They have a period where they’re accepting resumes, then interviewing, then a possible second round of interviews. That takes time. And having to keep making 2 contacts a week is getting harder and harder to do. I almost have to put my unemployment claim on hold in order to wait for the process to complete to keep the stress level down. And I don’t want to start looking out of town before the in town opportunities are sorted out.

I’m trying to keep my chin up. They say “that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. This experience should be making me stronger then … hopefully before it kills me. LOL

Hopefully the time of your unemployment is minimal. But if not, you need to make sure you don’t lose your mind while you’re waiting to find your next dream job. You can’t be searching for a job 24/7. (If you can, let me in on your secrets … LOL). You basically know what sources are out there where you live. You can’t keep checking those sources all day long. Some (like newspapers and their websites) are only updated once a day. Even if you are looking for work in an industry that has a TON of openings, you’ll still have some time on your hands … whether it’s waiting to see if you get an interview or finding out if you get the job after an interview.

So what you do with that down time could make or break you … could keep you sane or drive you stark raving mad. Here are some things that I’ve been doing to try to keep myself from falling prey to the latter.

1. Keep doing what you’ve been doing, only for yourself. Of course, this one really depends on what type of work that you’re looking for. In my case, I’m a web programmer. I have my own websites that I can work on. I’ve had ideas bouncing around in my head for web applications that I just never got around to because I was too tired after a day of work or some other excuse. I have the time to pursue them now.

2. Learn new things, maybe even something that can help in your job hunt. I’ve recently become really interested in social media. (I blame Twitter.) While I have some time on my hands, I think I’m going to delve deeper into the industry. I may never use it in my professional life, but you never know.

3. Expand your horizons. Learn a new hobby. Find something to take your mind off being unemployed, even if it is only for a hour a day.

4. Spend time with friends. Lean on your friends. They’re there for you. That’s why they’re your friends. You’d be there for them. This is something that I need to learn to do more. I tend to withdraw in times like this.

5. Clean up your house/apartment. Since you might not have time to give your place a good cleaning when you’re working full time, now is the time to do some of the things that you’ve been putting off.

Those are just a few things that can keep you occupied and your mind off things while you’re waiting to find your next perfect job. And hopefully that wait is really short.

Being unemployed makes you reassess your goals and plans. The one thing that I do know is that I want to continue to work as a web developer/programmer. There is no question about that. I do NOT want to change careers again. I really enjoy this type of work. I think I like it so much because it is structured … but it does leave room for a little creativity. And I’m always learning something new.

The one thing that I REALLY want is to stay in the Fargo/Moorhead area. Despite all my bitching and moaning about the cold winters, I do like this area. And my friends and family are around here. My parents are only an hour away and other relatives are pretty close as well. And even though I said that I wanted to live in a more “high tech” town, I’m finding more and more techie people on Twitter from around here. I’m sure if I dig far enough, I could find tech groups around that I could join or maybe even try to organize some Twitter meet-ups.

But with the limited opportunities I’m finding, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stay. Even though I’m waiting to hear back on some things, I can’t just sit around and wait. I need to keep looking. I really want to be back at work somewhere. I just want that somewhere to be around here.

My biggest decision right now is when to start expanding my search area. I’m already thinking about looking for opportunities in Grand Forks. That’s only an hour to the north. And I live there for 4 years during college. I would still be within 2 hours of my parents and the majority of my family and an hour of my friends. I could visit them or they could visit me on the weekends. We don’t do much during the week right now anyways.

The other place that I was considering is the Minneapolis area. I’m sure there are lots of opportunities there, but I would be quite a ways farther away from everyone. Still within driving distance, but only for weekend trips. I’ve only visited the Minneapolis area, and I’ve never driven there. That’s one of the main things that freaks me out about moving there. I know that is something that I could overcome, so it’s not a deal breaker.

I just don’t know when I should start looking elsewhere. I don’t want to give up on the opportunities here. But I don’t want to force myself into a box with no way out. How long do I wait to hear back from the current opportunities and when is it time to give up hope that there might be new ones?