OT - Finally!!!

[EagleFan]

As some of you know, I have been going through a tough time of unemployment. I was laid off over a year ago and was unable to find work with many companies in teh area laying off instead of hiring.

Wroking promarily as a casino programmer hurt my chances in other sectors since the supply of RPG programmers was greater than the demmand so companies were able to hand pick who had just the exact experience they wanted and casino experience doesn't equate with any other industry.

Over the last couple months I have heard of two of my previous employers having openings but felt like they were giving me the run-around of whether their parent companies were going to allow the new positions.

Along comes a casino from California that wants the exact skill set that I have. I have conduncted phone interviews with them and they liked how that went but the past two weeks have been the IT department struggling with their management to justify brinign me all the way out for an interview.

Suddenly I get a call yesterday from one of my old employers and he wants me to come in to talk about the position. I meet with him and it sounds promising but he says he will get back to me (I take that to mean by the end of the week).

When I arrive home, there are messages from both the recruit er for the California job and the other ex-employer. Both are going to call me back.

I get a call, that I expected to be about the California job. It's the person that I met with this morning offering me the job.

I have since been contacted with an offer to interview in California with the underlying tone being that the trip out there is actually more for my approval than for them as they have already decided. Following that was a call from teh emplyer that laid me off with an offer if I would like to come back.


Now I'm not complaining. But dammit, over a year of nothing and then 3 offers in one day. I'm taking the first offer.


They each have their good and bad.
1) Accepted offer - Bringing me back at a good salary, large and seeminlgy stable company. Bad is that the one director is the type that is 'never wrong' (even when he is) and that is not fun to have to side step around.

2) Company that laid me off - A little closer to home, or to where we may be moving if we decide to keep the house after the bankruptcy goes through, and a more relaxed environment. Bad is that they freaking laid me off and aren't stable.

3) California - A much higher salary and a chance to start over in a new place. Bad is that it's so far away from family and friends and that they want me to be a contract to hire which means I won't be seeing insurance for several months (my wife is due with our 2nd in March, a situation that was causing great stress since it wasn;t planned during this time of unemployment).



Sorry for the rambling, just wanted to share the good news and the strange way everything went down today. Everthing went from severe uncertainty (sp?) to being able to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.

[Franklinnoble]

That's great news... and moving to California would suck... just from my own experience - the cost of living increase is a lot more substantial than what you'd expect.

[Neuqua]

Congrats man, glad to hear things are turning around for ya.

[Nyarlahotep]

Gratz.

[sterlingice]

Congrats.

SI

[EagleFan]

Thanks, it's definitely a huge weight off my shoulders.

[GrantDawg]

congo-rats

[FrogMan]

Great, great news! Congratulations!

FM

[Marc Vaughan]

Many congratulations

[condors]

congrats! and good luck at the job too!

[Samdari]

Originally posted by EagleFan
(my wife is due with our 2nd in March, a situation that was causing great stress since it wasn;t planned during this time of unemployment)

Unplanned, maybe, but with all the free time you've had on your, umm, hands the past year, is it really all that unexpected?

[fantastic flying froggies]

Congrats !

On a side note, what does a casino programmer exactly do ? Program the machines on how often they will pay out, stuff like that ?

[EagleFan]

Actually not even that exciting. We handle the application that tracks the players and how much they play (when you use that little card that the casinos issue). It's mostly just player database management and report writing and whatever the latest whim of marketing is. With the internet getting more and more useful as a mrketing tool, there are at least some very interesting changes in applications coming up with interactive web design coming up (to allow players to see just what they haveearned online and that sort of thing).


Now I'm just playing the waiting game, waiting to hear when my processing has been scheduled for so I can find out my start date (I guess I should enjoy this last week, my guess is that I'll be starting on Monday the 13th, off).

[Subby]

EagleFan -

That is great news. The California job sounds like the most promising - always good to be able to make a fresh new start - particularly after going through what you have recently. Having a new baby coming into your life only makes things better.

Congratulations all around!