Celebrating arrival in Bundaberg, Australia on the Port to Port Rally

Today, we live in a condo in San Francisco, work at software/SaaS companies and own one car.  While this does not sound like much, going from “boat people” in Australia to “normal people” in San Francisco took a bit of effort. Here is the short version.

November 2008

Arrived in Bundaberg, Australia.  Watched Obama win the US presidential election in Bundy.

December 2008

Sailed to Brisbane. Showed Whisper to her new owners for the first time. Decided to head back to San Francisco (via plane) in January for at least a visit. Needed to see for ourselves what the economy in the U.S. was really doing. Things certainly sounded as stormy as this video of a thunderstorm we experienced in Brisbane.

Home Sweet Home Again

January 2009

Closed sale of Whisper.   Shipped possessions (15 boxes) back to California via a freighter (aka slow boat).

February 2009

Rented an apartment.  Started job search.  Robin interviews with Google Australia (huh?) for a secret project (now known as Google Wave).    Duncan interviews with Atlassian for a position in San Francisco.  Uh oh.  Marianne & Richard visit from San Diego.

March 2009

“The Month of Clarity” (as deemed by us).    We decide to stay in California.  Duncan accepts position with Atlassian.  Robin starts to search for a job in the Northern Hemisphere, preferably California, preferably San Francisco.  Bought a car.

Sis in San Francisco

April 2009

Duncan starts work by traveling to Australia (wait a sec!) for three weeks.  Life seems a bit circular at this point. Robin’s sister, Kari visits.

Chris, Chris & Robin celebrate being in the same hemisphere

May 2009

Robin continues the job search.  Chris & Chris visit from Oregon.  We start looking for a permanent place to live. Seems like it might a good time to buy something.  Road trip to Bend to see Chris & Chris a the ranchita.

June 2009

Robin starts work at Innotas.   We start looking to buy an abode.

July 2009

July 4th in Healdsburg.  Ah, the mortgage loan process is fun – especially if you have been rather transient and unemployed for a few years.  Alwyn visits from New Zealand.  Sheri and Randy visit from Oz.

Duncan tastes some bubbles at Iron Horse vineyards

August 2009

Uh, perhaps we need to acquire some furniture before we move in to the new place.  Shop, shop, shop.  Tom & Barb visit from New Zealand. Jimmy Buffet. Coldplay. Dave Matthews.

Letting it out

September 2009

Good news – closed on the condo just 3 days after the scheduled close.  Bad news – ordered furniture that will not arrive until December.  More good news – bought a bed that can be delivered in a week and Ligne Roset will loan us a sofa until the one we ordered arrives.  Hooray for having a place to sleep and sit.

Big Sur coastline

October 2009

Road trip to Big Sur. Snow Patrol concert. Adjusting to dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, grande oven, 4 burner stove, giant refrigerator, bathtub, already desalinized water and mass quantities of it.

November 2009

Fully engaged in saving the economy by buying, buying, buying stuff for the condo.  Good thing we only bought a one bedroom. 50″ plasma seems/is huge after a 13 ” TV for most of the past 7 years.

View from the Condo Cockpit

December 2009

First holiday season in the Northern Hemisphere since 2001.  Phew, I am exhausted.  Nah, bring on 2010.

2009 can be summed up by this Roy Chapin quote:

Be ready when opportunity comes. Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.

Man, have I been lucky!

The first interview, usually a phone interview, equates to the phone version of a blind date. Usually via email, you set up a time to talk on the phone. The interview preparation stage is much more nerve wracking than the actual interview. You may have seen pictures of one another via sources like blogs, LinkedIn or Facebook. Perhaps through pictures and profile information you already have a first impression of one another. You research the products and the company. You try to anticipate questions and reflect on your potential answers. Through all of this, you develop a notion for how the date, oops, I mean interview, will go.

As the phone call time approaches, I feel butterflies in my stomach. A few deep breathes and then the phone rings. Once talking, the butterflies go away and the conversation begins. During the course of the interview, both sides are figuring out whether to actually meet in person. Best case, you set a date at the end of the call. Worst case, you end up in a holding pattern. Will they call or won’t they? This leaves lots of opportunity to replay the conversation in your head.

If all goes well, you move on to the in-person interview. More research, more question anticipation, more questions for the interviewers. Depending on the company and the interviewers, the duration and format of the interviews may or may *not* be known. Prepare for anything and everything is my motto.

What shall I wear? Not too dressy, but not too casual. The interview is important enough to wear something nice, yet I want to look like I will fit in with the culture. Will I be able to find the building? Hooray for the iPhone and Google Maps. How early should I arrive in the area to be certain I arrive on time for the interview?

Let the interview begin. At this point, interviewing becomes a bit more like speed dating. Typically, you meet with anywhere between 3 and 10 people over the course of in-person interviews at a company. Everyone’s judging each other to figure out if you want to spend 8-12 hours a day together on a regular basis. Questions and answers are intended to quickly suss out whether there is a love connection.

If the chemistry is right, the interview is comfortable and fun. If the chemistry is wrong, the interview is awkward and oh-so-long. Thanks and goodbyes wrap-up the date and off you go. The waiting and wondering begins. You evaluate whether you liked them and they like you. Will you be a good match? Will they call back? Do you want them to call back? Should you call/text/email/tweet them?

So here I sit after yesterday’s interview wondering just where our relationship will go. Perhaps they will send me some flowers. Or should I send them flowers?

I recently contacted Juma Ventures, a youth agency designed to support disadvantaged youth in making the transition from high school to adulthood.  On a volunteer opportunity website, I spotted a listing for a Website Project Coordinator.  Perfect fit for my skills.   I hope to start volunteering with them in the next couple of weeks.

Juma Ventures seems like an interesting organization providing job training and employment for 250 16 to 19 year olds at one of their social enterprises at AT&T Park, Candlestick Park, Oracle Arena, Cal Berkeley Memorial Stadium or the Oakland Coliseum.   They offer financial literacy training, after school tutoring, leadership development, and college/career counseling.  Beyond employment/skills training, they offer financial planning training and assistance.  A participating youth can open a savings account to save money from their employment for future plans.  Juma then matches the contributions.  What a great incentive to learn to save!  Kind of like 401K matching with more of a short term investment focus (hopefully).

I believe  getting off on the right foot during and after high school is the key to the path your life will take.  Juma Ventures aims to help guide people down a successful path.  I look forward to helping Juma out.

Speaking of school and paths, I am trying to decide on a course to take.  Back in February, Duncan and I attended the Scrum Master training here in San Francisco.   While job searching, I love the idea of taking more training.   I may go down the path of getting my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification by taking a Stanford online project management course and prepping for the PMP exam.  Or, I may take a PHP programming course.

Anyone who has talked to me about PMI and PMP knows I have a few opinions on this certification which makes the choice to go this direction a bit of a quandary.   Taking an online PHP course sounds like a blast, but will not necessarily benefit my job search.  I already know a bit of PHP, but I’d like to gain more depth in the language.   Taking both courses would solve my dilemma but drain my training budget.

If you’ve take a Stanford Advanced Project Management course, let me know your review of the course.  Specifically, I am looking at the Converting Strategy into Action course.

I’ll keep you posted on which path I take.

After months of my pursuit of a position with Google Sydney and being close to closing the deal, Dunc had a great series of interviews with Atlassian and a job offer.    A bit of a pickle.  Two professionals looking for jobs yet married.  Not only are we both professionals looking for jobs, but we are in the same industry and can compete for the same jobs.

Should we stay or should we go now?  Go to Sydney that is.  After much discussion and soul searching, we decided to stay here in San Francisco.    The decision felt right for many reasons.  Duncan started work at Atlassian on March 30th.  Meanwhile, I geared up to pursue jobs here in the Bay Area.  And so the job hunt begins.

The good news is with Duncan’s acceptance of the Atlassian job, the coordination of which companies/jobs to pursue is much less tricky with him out of the market for a job.  The even better news is the number of interesting companies in the Bay Area.    Hooray for the Silicon Valley!

Now, I begin the search for the next phase of my career.   I’m a software developer with a tendency to fall into leadership roles.  My inherent curiosity keeps me learning new technologies, trying new things and traveling to new places. I love to plan, organize and accomplish stuff at work and at play.  I am looking for my next great gig as a project manager or a product manager or a QA manager.  My key criteria is to find a smart, fun group of people building something exciting or meaningful.   Check out my resume to see the specifics of my experience.