dchoung

1. Don't Waste Your Time on Recruiters.

Recuiters are a waste of time for 90% of developers. They will drain you with pointless 'face-to-face' interviews and then send you to meet with IT heads for positions you are completely unqualified for. This is especially true for mid-level developers. I was sent on one such 'adventure' to a startup in downtown that was looking for a senior level web developer, unbeknownst to me. Well, that is until the IT head told me, which is something the recruiter should have known in the first place. Oddly, he didn't seem to.

I could probably fill out a few blog posts about dealing with recruiters in general, so maybe I'll save the rest of my vitriol for them some other time.

2. Not Driving Can Save Money

Duh.

3. Freelancing Has Its Ups and Downs

The ups? Working on your own schedule. The downs? Getting deep into a project, losing the spark for it, and then having to somehow drudge your way through the rest of it, or until the project head decides to axe you.

That's a pleasant experience, and unfortunately there's no one else to blame but yourself.

4. My Dog Really Likes Going Out for Walks

He does. I've never seen him so excited before, not even about food.

5. Craigslist is a Good Thing

I would say 90% of the interviews I've been to have been through Craigslist postings. Once in a while you'll see some idiot posting about how he's looking for unpaid interns to make him 'a facebook/ebay/myspace hybrid' (not legal in CA, btw), but most of the time the listings are legitimate.

I admired Craigslist so much that I made my own job posting forum, Work In SoCal, which is going into its 2nd year of existence. I can count on one hand how many visits that site has had since I started it.

6. They Say They'll Contact You Either Way, But They Won't

I've been to plenty of interviews where the interviewers say they'll let you know either way if you've got the job or not. They won't. They can seem like the nicest most honest people in the world, but they won't bother.

What has been especially funny are the people who I've contacted for confirmation that the position has been closed. They'll just leave you wondering because they won't answer the phone or respond to your email.

7. I'm so tired of telling people I'm unemployed that i just tell them I'm freelancing

You usually get a kind of downward spiraling "Oh" sound when you tell them you're unemployed. If you tell them you're freelancing then you actually sound like you're NOT failing in life. Fortunately, most of the people I know are gainfully employed.

8. Try Not to Be Bitter

In the end, it isn't worth dwelling on the bitter things. Neither is watching the Facebook status updates of people you know who are having such a great time with life, do what I do, just hide them!

9. There are a Lot of Shark-like Employers

I recently saw a job posting looking for a front and back-end web developer who was also required to know how to work with various CMS' and frameworks, for less than what a McDonald's employee makes. That's just wrong.

This all is just a big fat rant I suppose.