Job Update

If you've been following the blog, you'll remember that the wise leaders at work gave me an ultimatum, move or quit. A week and a half ago I had a meeting with my boss's boss's boss (and then my boss's boss the day after). I've not been keeping folks up to date.

Well, the first meeting went pretty well. He was the first boss to immediately realize what moving would do to Mary's practice (translation: she'd start over from nothing), which most people seem to not get. So, I think he got a good impression of me and why I want to remain in Corvallis. However, he definitely made his point that he was sort of stuck in the middle of having to implement a given policy, yet protect his workers.

The second meeting was fine. I asked up front if it would have any bearing on whether I would get an exemption from the rule or not, and it wouldn't, so I relaxed and just chatted about things. I'm a little cheesed that this boss isn't doing more to stand up for me, but it's not personal - he doesn't make waves period.

One unexpected thing came out of the second meeting, he (and my direct boss) were evidentially surprised as to my reaction to the ultimatum. (Hi boss!) I wasn't quite sure how to react to that. But I pointed out that there really was no point in reacting to vague rumors about something that might or might not apply to me.

Still, wouldn't I have moved earlier (say, some time in the past 7 years) if moving back to Portland was something I'd wanted to do? Ahem, sorry, "we'd" wanted to do, after all, it is a decision for both me and Mary. The boss^3 gave the impression he understood the interplay between a husband and wife, and the other boss's do too. Some of the folks I work with just don't get it though. I've a feeling that a number of them don't really care what their wives think about something like this and would expect the wife to uproot and move without thinking.

Anyway, the status is that I don't know any more than I did before. The boss's are going to try for an exception (I believe), but I've not heard 100% sure that's the case. And there's no ETA on when an exception might be granted or denied.

To make matters more complicated, I know of one guy in the department who hasn't been given the ultimatum (similar situation to mine), and I've not received anything in writing.

And, irony of ironies, in a company-wide meeting the CEO was asked if Intel was gonna let people telecommute more and his response was essentially, "yes, and we're ranked #1 in telecommuting companies." I'm still waiting to listen to the meeting (Intel is slow in getting the recording up).

Meanwhile, I've got my resume pretty much done. I chatted with a friend in Corvallis who gave some leads on companies in the area. I looked them up and some sound like they might be interesting. My friend is going to set up some meetings with the CEOs of a couple of them (they're small companies). I've also got a lead on an interesting job at Mentor Graphics working on software similar to what I'm doing right now, and I've got a lead with another CAD software company and expect to have a meeting with a VP there in a week or so.

I'm going to try to get an interview at Google, and we'd consider moving to California for a job there. Neither of us are crazy about living in the area Google is, but it's a dream company.

The #1 goal is to stay in Corvallis - all things being equal. However, if I can't stay here (either through getting an exception to the policy at Intel, getting a job locally, or getting one where I can telecommute), we'll consider moving. That being said, Portland won't be the only place we'll consider moving - all options are open.

Heck, I've even briefly considered teaching - I wanted to be a teacher when I was going into college...