Job Hunting

I hate, hate, HATE job hunting. It's not the application process, and I quite like interviewing. It's the waiting, and knowing that there's not much you can do to influence the process.

I've been particularly frustrated because it's taking me so long to get hired. I've had way more interviews - with about a dozen organisations so far - than it normally takes me to get an offer. I haven't had trouble getting interviews - in fact, most of the jobs I've applied for (usually a few a week) have asked me to interview. And I often get a second interview. It just seems that, after that last interview ... there's nothing. Sometimes I don't get contacted for weeks. Sometimes I'm not contacted at all. I've been told I've been a second choice on a few occasions.

I've had suspicions as to why, and today in an interview they were confirmed. The answer is simple: Vancouver has a glut of Java developers. This is a very attractive and desirable place to live, and it attracts a lot of software professionals.

This explains things better for me. Where I may have once stood out, I'm now merely average. And employers are in a buyer's market. They have no incentive to decide quickly - they can take their time to make the best choice for themselves.

I feel a bit of relief because I've been agonising over this. Asking myself, how can I be failing here when I've advanced more easily elsewhere? Is it me? Have my skills been in decline? Am I presenting myself badly? And so on.

It's been especially hard given our situation. We're new immigrants. We don't know anybody. We have no job history here, no credit history, no one who can vouch for us. This was the first time as a family that we've ever relocated without having a job waiting for us. I'm not too worried in the short term - we have enough cash to live comfortably for perhaps a year or more, and Margo should have an easier time finding work, and fairly soon. But it has been affecting me badly. I feel like I'm failing my family. And I don't have a role - I don't belong anywhere, so I still feel like a tourist sometimes. And in technology, time not working looks bad. I'm really eager to get working again, to feel like I'm part of something and contributing to something.

Since I'm getting invited to interviews, it tells me I have something to offer, and gives me hope that if I just keep at it, eventually something will come through. In fact, as I write, I have four opportunities that have advanced to the offer/not offer stage, and I expect to be notified on all four within days.

But given the glut, I may look into other options. I've been hesitant to do contracting, because I'd prefer to join an organisation and because I'm not too knowledgeable about the accounting and tax requirements, but that would be a great way to get working quickly. I may also apply for some less senior positions, or positions with larger organisations, both of which I've been mostly avoiding.

In the meantime, I've not been completely idle. I've been catching up on some areas of the J2EE universe I've been neglecting, like the EJB 3 specification and the Java Persistence API. I've downloaded JBoss Seam and have spent some time playing with it. I've been reading about the better aspects of the JavaScript language. I've also been reading up on LISP. I've spent time updating my Mac OS X environment with newer development tools. And I keep up on technology news by reading sites and blogs.

I also help around the house, doing small grocery shopping trips and running laundry. I'm often around to drop off and pick up Sarah from school.

And I've let myself have some fun too, with bike trips exploring the city, sampling a few cafés and coffee shops. I visit the library weekly. And I bought a Playstation for the chance to enjoy a few games I've been wanting to spend time with for a while.

And in the meantime, my job is, finding a job. With each interview I'm getting better, refreshing myself on any technology questions that I miss, as well as learning more about the local environment and market. So I hope soon to be writing the "I'm hired" post.