Two months ago...

Two and a half months ago I had a job I hated. Two months ago I was given a chance to leave the job, where by "given a chance" I mean "was told to return my badge and I would be escorted to the front door." This didn't really worry me, because I'm a programmer in a tech-heavy area and had a great resume (if you ignore the fired bit). Two months later...I'm still collecting unemployment*. This blog is my attempt to vent and help others in the same area. And if I could make my former salary in ad revenue, that would be great. But mostly, it's the whining.

I think the biggest problem is that I was fired in the sour spot of experience levels- I'd been working for just over a year when I was pushed out. When I was graduating college, I was full of promise and everyone wanted me. And based on the job boards, there are plenty of positions for people with two or more years of experience. But with one year, you're pretty much sunk. And I doubt I did myself any favors with my early insistence on a short commute, interesting work, no decrease in salary (my former employer was quite generous), and person-to-corp full time position. Worse, while my programming and testing skills have increased, I've forgotten a lot of the academic side of programming, so I interview more poorly than I once did (I used to be an awesome interviewer). After I got rejected from the job I really wanted last week, I made a couple of changes, which I will go over in detail in future posts.

*Technically I'm not unemployed, because I'm working part time for my friend's start up. If I got my theoretical max of hours- which I never have- I might make enough to cover the COBRA payments.