nerdsville
Mar. 4th, 2009 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
intjonathan2 weeks ago, I was laid off and engaged in the same weekend. Incredibly, life hasn't slowed down a bit since. The following week I spent half in Seattle negotiating for jobs, half in Portland spending some time with my new fiancee. I got to see her teach and meet her students, who wished us many misspelled congragulations.
I returned Sunday night, had a painful dentist appointment Monday morning, and concluded that insurance is nice and I should probably get a job to ensure I have lots of it. PixSense, who attempted to buy Treemo, had been chasing me to work for them on Treemo code since the day I was laid off, and had given me a good, salaried offer with insurance and everything, so I went ahead and accepted it. They were overjoyed, and I was getting paid again.
PixSense is in San Jose, so I didn't have an office to go to, and they had just received copies of the Treemo code, so I didn't have features to write. Most of that week was spent running errands and occasionally sitting in on calls.
Except for Thursday, when I had an in-person interview cycle with the team working for Zondervan on The City, the church social network Zondervan purchased from Mars Hill. I had a meeting with Zondervan as well on that fateful Friday I was laid off, but they hadn't been moving as fast as PixSense, nor was I as qualified for the job, so I had eaten the bird in my hand figuring the two in the bush would fly away. But Zondervan did keep moving, however slowly, and sure enough Thursday's interviews were very positive. I got the impression they had made up their minds based on the phone screens, so I expected an offer. This caused some panic when I realized that if I took it, I would have to quit PixSense 2 weeks after joining.
Which turned out to be exactly what happened. Zondervan came in with an offer for a $10,000/yr raise working for a huge, stable company on interesting software in a platform I wanted to move into. It was a no-brainer to accept; PixSense couldn't remotely compete.
Of course, they knew that, and when they received my notice, they were pissed. Totally unimpressed by my offer to contract for them, they sought to find out what was soooo great about this other offer. After a bit of explanation, I think they realized there wasn't much they could do. They suggested a counter-offer, which I said I would consider, but I doubt I'll see one.
The reason I doubt that is because I spent the day with them today in their San Jose office, and it didn't come up. They had planned to fly me out here this week to get me my laptop and kick-start work on the new code for them, and since they had already bought the tickets, I am in the strange situation of doing travel consulting for a company I have already quit. In fact, they're threatening to bring me out here next week as well. Hopefully they'll let me go home that time too!
(Incidentally, my last day at Treemo was Friday, February 13th. My last day at PixSense will be Friday, March 13th.)
Work travel is a headache, especially when it feels unnecessary, but I made this bed and am determined to sleep well in it. PixSense was counting on me to help them Save The Company and build a Great Server Platform, and I'm ditching them and yeah, it should be kind of painful. I'm trying not to make it a self-punishment gig to alleviate my guilty conscience, but anyway at the end of the day I'm going to work on The City and love it and get paid well to do it.
Of course, just because I'm in transition (again) doesn't mean things will simplify, oh no. I have a week and a half left with PixSense, which may include some travel. I then have a week off (sweet bliss! what will I do with the time?) before I leave for 5 days in Chicago with Kristin, then the following Monday I start at Zondervan.
And then March will end, and so will my life's two strangest months.
I returned Sunday night, had a painful dentist appointment Monday morning, and concluded that insurance is nice and I should probably get a job to ensure I have lots of it. PixSense, who attempted to buy Treemo, had been chasing me to work for them on Treemo code since the day I was laid off, and had given me a good, salaried offer with insurance and everything, so I went ahead and accepted it. They were overjoyed, and I was getting paid again.
PixSense is in San Jose, so I didn't have an office to go to, and they had just received copies of the Treemo code, so I didn't have features to write. Most of that week was spent running errands and occasionally sitting in on calls.
Except for Thursday, when I had an in-person interview cycle with the team working for Zondervan on The City, the church social network Zondervan purchased from Mars Hill. I had a meeting with Zondervan as well on that fateful Friday I was laid off, but they hadn't been moving as fast as PixSense, nor was I as qualified for the job, so I had eaten the bird in my hand figuring the two in the bush would fly away. But Zondervan did keep moving, however slowly, and sure enough Thursday's interviews were very positive. I got the impression they had made up their minds based on the phone screens, so I expected an offer. This caused some panic when I realized that if I took it, I would have to quit PixSense 2 weeks after joining.
Which turned out to be exactly what happened. Zondervan came in with an offer for a $10,000/yr raise working for a huge, stable company on interesting software in a platform I wanted to move into. It was a no-brainer to accept; PixSense couldn't remotely compete.
Of course, they knew that, and when they received my notice, they were pissed. Totally unimpressed by my offer to contract for them, they sought to find out what was soooo great about this other offer. After a bit of explanation, I think they realized there wasn't much they could do. They suggested a counter-offer, which I said I would consider, but I doubt I'll see one.
The reason I doubt that is because I spent the day with them today in their San Jose office, and it didn't come up. They had planned to fly me out here this week to get me my laptop and kick-start work on the new code for them, and since they had already bought the tickets, I am in the strange situation of doing travel consulting for a company I have already quit. In fact, they're threatening to bring me out here next week as well. Hopefully they'll let me go home that time too!
(Incidentally, my last day at Treemo was Friday, February 13th. My last day at PixSense will be Friday, March 13th.)
Work travel is a headache, especially when it feels unnecessary, but I made this bed and am determined to sleep well in it. PixSense was counting on me to help them Save The Company and build a Great Server Platform, and I'm ditching them and yeah, it should be kind of painful. I'm trying not to make it a self-punishment gig to alleviate my guilty conscience, but anyway at the end of the day I'm going to work on The City and love it and get paid well to do it.
Of course, just because I'm in transition (again) doesn't mean things will simplify, oh no. I have a week and a half left with PixSense, which may include some travel. I then have a week off (sweet bliss! what will I do with the time?) before I leave for 5 days in Chicago with Kristin, then the following Monday I start at Zondervan.
And then March will end, and so will my life's two strangest months.
