Job search (or not)

[dougo]

I had an interview (my first in 12+ years) the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, at Gensym. It went well, and the follow-up interview with some higher-ups is this Thursday. I don't want to hatchet my counts before they chicken, but assuming they make an offer I have to figure out what to do about it. I have some misgivings about accepting the first offer I get without even interviewing anywhere else. That's pretty much what happened with Pure Software, and while I do feel very fortunate to have taken that ride, it wasn't exactly a dream job, and neither is this one. I would certainly be comfortable, though: I'm already friends with several people there whom I respect a lot, it seems like a very pleasant work environment (and a not-unreasonable commute), and it's all Lisp hacking on interesting prog-lang & AI stuff. But two of the things I was looking for were to work on a product I would use myself in day-to-day life, and to work on an open source project, or at least not to work directly on a proprietary software product. I have no idea if this sort of job even exists (locally, and I don't want to relocate right now), nor do I really have any idea of where or how to look, but I would feel bad to not even make an attempt to look. On the other hand, financial security is nice, and there is certainly an amount they could offer that would make me not want to bother looking anywhere else. Should I just tell them that number? I have no real idea how realistic a number it is, nor how to gauge whatever offer they might have been thinking about. And paradoxically I think I would have to see what my other options are to figure out the right number.

Comments

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

Take the job but keep looking for the fream job... You don't have to stay forever. I have learned that lesson.

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

(dream job)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Well, I have both a short-term dream job and a long-term dream job, and they're kind of different. So I was already planning to keep looking, or rather to look again in a few years, but I was hoping for something better in the meantime too. But given all the horror stories about PhDs being unemployed for 15 months I should probably just lower my short-term expectations even more. I guess I'm just worried that I'll get stuck in the lowered-expectations job for much longer than I planned, which pretty much describes my grad school experience.

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

You seem so much attractive if someone else thinks that you are attractive too. Things are odd that way.

[prusik.livejournal.com]

Having lost and gotten a job recently, I feel oddly qualified to give advice here...
However, I think my advice might be a bit scattershot so I'll limit myself to some observations:

1. I know people who are still out of work. The circumstances by which I got my job was just bizarre and unlikely to recur ever again. In other words, jobs aren't plentiful yet.

2. Maybe it was where I was applying to, but when I was looking for work as I was just about to get out of school, years ago at this point, I found that with a PhD, I was considered overqualified for any of a number of jobs I wouldn't have any problems taking. (I think this is because as a PhD, they expect to put some responsibilities on you right off the bat because, if nothing else, you're more expensive then your typical college hire.)

3. I've been lucky in that I've so far managed to find jobs that are more or less what I want to do. However, I've worked with people who clearly either didn't like their jobs or didn't want their current job but stuck at it because the job it would supposedly lead to would be terrific. Try to avoid this situation if at all possible. They were to a person miserable doing their job and never worked up to their potential. (This is not to say that they did bad work, just that they were capable of better.) It was pretty unsatisfying for everyone.

In other words, if you can't find something interesting in your job, if you can't find some way to be happy with your job, it may be best for everyone that you not do that job. (This does not mean that you should stay unemployed until you find your dream job. For one thing, it may not be your dream job once you have to do it day after day.)

4. (Keep in mind that I had an advisor who was very open and honest about wanting to keep his grad students poor. When first moved here, I had to have an advance on my salary so that I could pay rent as I. So this may not apply to you.) It's really nice to have an industry competitive salary. It's really nice to be able to save money away and plan for one's retirement. However, since you've already had a real job, you already know this.

5. You're probably not going to have a good idea of what a realistic number is until your second job offer. Sorry about that. I personally never know what to do with the whole salary thing. If you read the books, they tell you to make them mention a number first. This last time around, it was just much easier for me to tell them what I was making. Might I have been able to get a better deal had I been more coy? I have no idea and honestly I don't care. I wasn't so concerned about getting the absolute best deal as much I was concerned about getting a reasonable deal. What I was being paid would have been fine. (As it turns out, I ended up with a nice raise over that.)

Only you know how you will like the Gensym job day in day out. Also, only you know how much you like job hunting. (I can't stand it.)

BTW, you'd think that the Free Software Foundation would know if there are any contracts to work on open source software. Locally might be tough though. (I think it's a truism that job hunting is easier if you're willing to move.) I can't think of any companies in the area which use and develop open source software, but again, you'd think that the FSF would know.

Actually, they have a web page for this sort of thing:
http://www.fsf.org/jobs/jobs.html

However, the pickings look thin, at least right now.