Most people who will ever read this blog already know what I am talking about here, so just think of it as my own personal therapy rather than new information for you.
Recently, my life changed when I got word that I was hired by this company called Utilities International, hereafter referred to as UI. They write financial software for large utility companies. While the projects and companies they work for are large, UI itself is a fairly small operation with 30 or so employees. They pick up two or three projects at a time and send their associates out to the client companies to set up their custom software package. My sister works for them and had told me about how much she enjoyed working for them. After I got wind of how much money she was making to boot, I figured I would at least send in my resume.
UI called me in for an interview a couple weeks later. I flew up to Chicago to talk with four of their mid-level associates and thought I did rather well. My optimism was confirmed a couple months (yes, months) later when they called me back for a second interview. It was not even really an interview. I met with the company’s president who basically laid out what my job would be like after I started if I so chose. I was excited. Three more weeks of waiting tempered my excitement, however they did finally send me a letter of employment. Due to a number of circumstances, I could not start right away. They were flexible on my start date, and I had some things (ultimate season, injuries, job at Clear Channel) that I needed to sew up before I moved on.
The ultimate season ended in early October and I set November 4th as my move date. I had decided to move to Charlotte since a lot of my roommates in Raleigh would be dispersing to various places around the globe and I already had a lot of friends and family in Charlotte. The injury I mentioned earlier was my wrist which I had envisioned needing surgery and I had planned to get the surgery after moving to Charlotte. Assuming a couple weeks recovery I would then start my new job with UI. I was in contact the whole time with UI about my plans and everything seemed peachy keen. They would be ready for me to start in late November.
Jump forward to November 6th. That morning I go to the doctor and after careful examination he comes to the same conclusion as my doc in Raleigh — unless you really really need it, we should not do surgery. I imagined the doctors improvising radical surgical procedures on my hand and thought better of it. “Well, my wrist is still out of whack, but at least I can start my new job early,” thought I. UI had different plans. Not two hours after returning from the doctor’s office, I get an email from UI informing me that they will need to push off my start date until after January 1st because one of their main projects got delayed. Great. Two days after quitting my old job and moving to a new city I am informed that I will be out of work for at least two months. The real kick in the balls was the fact that January 1st wasn’t even set in stone. I was promised a conference call to discuss the situation at the end of November which has since come and gone…no conference call. I have sent regular emails to the contact at UI…stone wall.
If it weren’t for the fact that my sister works at the company and feeds me tidbits of information, I would have given up on this whole venture a long time ago. I believe that UI will eventually hire me, but I am not holding my breath on any particular date. I have some money saved up to survive on for a time, but I have accepted the reality that I could be out of work for a long while and need to find something temporary. In closing, if you have any contacts or know of any leads on contracting/temp jobs for .NET programmers, let me know.