dianaschnuth

Well, I hadn’t been going to mention anything yet… but I have a job lead. I’m not saying where, but it’s in my same zip code. I’m all about that.

Anyway, I’ve been updating my portfolio page in preparation for sending the URL to the nice HR people. I don’t want them to look at a page that hasn’t been updated since… well, since 2002, possibly, or maybe sometime last year.

At least I’m not completely redesigning it again. I’m actually pleased with the design for now. It’s the details that I missed that are bugging the shit out of me.

Oh, and this may or may not be a good idea, but since I’m so proud of this new personal page of mine, I’m including it—and a link to it—on my portfolio page. Don’t worry, people will be forewarned; the link says, “caution: may contain strong language.”

And now for something completely different: A Very Large Cat.

I’ve heard too many stories about people who lost or almost-lost their jobs from blogging about work. I will not fall into said trap.

Instead, I will carefully avoid it by speaking in generalities and not mentioning any names.

I know I shouldn’t, but I hate it when I have to ask questions simply because I’m ignorant of a thing. Not because it’s a stumper, not because it’s complex, and not because I need a second opinion. I know, it’s no fault of my own that I’m ignorant, but still. Even more than that, I hate having to choose who I’m going to ask, given a selection of various potential gurus or wanna-be-gurus.

First, and most pleasant, are the people who are always kind and polite and stop what they’re doing to answer your question fully. These are in the minority. Then there are the people who don’t look particularly annoyed, and they give you their full attention, but you get the vibe that they wish you hadn’t come to ask them. Maybe they even put on the obviously-false politeness that’s so grating.

Next are those who very grudgingly answer your questions and make you feel inferior for having had to ask. These people tend to cross-examine the questioner, knowing full well that said questioner doesn’t know his or her ass from a hole in the ground at this point, and further queries are simply confounding the matter. In extreme cases, these people will just have the questioner turn possession of the question over to them for a solution instead of answering the question at all.

Finally, and I didn’t run into this until recently, are those who flatly refuse to answer your question, and request that you ask someone else. Granted, these people are generally overworked and pulled in several directions at once, but having the experience of being denied help entirely—not just put off—is a little demeaning.

In actual work-related news, I still haven’t gotten my giftcertificates.com e-mail from Sky yet. That’s annoying, because I’ve got it spent in my head: a Hauppauge WinTV PVR video capture card, an Epson Stylus R200 photo printer, and a Carlo Robelli acoustic-electric guitar. All from Amazon, of course. 🙂

From: Diana Schnuth
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 1:47 PM
To: ‘Aaron R. Schnuth’
Subject: good afternoon

I just heard the most bizarre sentence from one of the contractors working in our building. I was coming in from reading at the picnic table during lunch, and I had to navigate around the stepladder just inside the doorway. There was this hispanic contractor right there, and as I walked past him, he said to his buddy up on the ladder, ?We gotta get the egress lighting, vato.? Now, I know that an egress is an exit (thanks to Judge Harry on Night Court), but hearing someone use that in the same sentence with ?vato? was surreal. 🙂

Check out the statistics I found on this graphic at ToledoHelpWanted.com:

Why does job hunting make me want to cry?

Fear not—I haven’t been canned or anything. I just had a little heart-to-heart with Amy over the weekend and finally decided it’s time to get off my ass and look for a job in my field.

I’d been telling myself that I would wait it out at Sky until my ESOP and profit-sharing was fully vested. After really thinking about it, though, that was just an excuse to stick around and be comfortably apathetic for a while. For the amount of retirement money I’m waiting to vest, it’s just not worth it. I need to jump now or risk never feeling confident enough to apply for a job in my field. From the feelings I’m having just while retooling my resume, I may have almost waited too long.

I’m having to force myself to remember sleepy mornings in Web Design with Timmay, ignoring our daily lesson in favor of critiquing (read: tearing apart) our classmates’ web projects, which were readily available for viewing on the class server. I’m forcing myself to remember that both of my Graphic Design instructors wanted me to switch majors from VCT to Design. I’m forcing myself to believe that three years in the financial sector doesn’t mean I’ve lost my edge. I mean, look at my spiffy new site! That says something, I think.

I still feel so… I don’t know. Overwhelmed. Depressed. Rudderless. Unconfident. I feel like I’m going to have to start over where Tim and Beth started two or three years ago: only barely in their field, doing unfulfilling gruntwork. And I’m OK with that. I just wish I hadn’t let myself waste three years of my life—

Now, that’s not fair. I’ve gained a lot of valuable experience in the last few years with Sky. It just wasn’t directly related to my degree. And that’s OK. I’ve learned a lot about office politics; I’ve increased my typing speed and learned to ten-key; I finally understand debits and credits (my ACCT 201 prof would be so proud); and I know that many, many people are really just sailing through life toward retirement.

That’s so sad. What a waste. I don’t want to do that.

So, tonight I updated my resume. One and a half pages of work-history goodness, arranged to show that I tend to move up in the ranks of the organization in which I work. I refuse to get discouraged by the lack of pure Web Design jobs out there, and will instead work my ass off on a daily basis to get some shit going on.

(If I ever intend to use this site as an example of my work, I’ll have to include a language disclaimer on the link…)