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Post by reaper on Aug 20, 2018 18:52:49 GMT -5
Reaper, good luck with whatever you choose, you are in a good place as you are in demand and have a very desirable set of skills. I feel we are all in the same kind of situation where we are looking at (or recently did something about) the next step in our careers. V2.0, as oldskool calls it. I'm not crazy about my job, I am working a lot more from home and the job itself is getting stressful. Even after this current project finishes up early next year, with how competitive our industry is (Oil/Gas and Power) and the move to use more workforce that is outside of the US to keep us competitive, I don't see things getting much better. My plan is to be in an entirely different field in 5 years but now I'm thinking why not sooner? Like oldskool, I want to get into something that will help people and make the world a better place. We are finally moved in this house that we built, it has been a long and hard process but very rewarding. Still need to finish the basement and hope to get back on that in the next couple of weeks. The house is a big one, 5000 sq ft after the basement is finished, but the reason we moved and decided to build a bigger house was to have more rooms available for foster care. The goal is to have the basement finished before the end of the year to get the house inspected so we can get re-licensed to foster again. But this job, and the amount of responsibility that keeps getting added is weighing on me. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do with V2.0 of my career yet, we'll see. The focus now is to pay off this mortgage and be in a much better spot that I can make my own career decisions. Dschroll and Usualnoise made two big moves a couple of years ago. Dschroll to Connecticut and UsualNoise to Idaho. How are things working out for you fellas? Enjoying the job? What about the area itself? I had a chance to go to Ashville, N.C. a couple of weeks ago for a visit to the Eaton Switchgear facility, really awesome city. Got to go up the Appalachian mountains and it was beautiful. Reaper and oldskool, keep us updated on the job search. Reaper makes a great point when he says money isn't everything. Oh how my perspective has changed in the last 15-20 years. I see all of the things that oldskool has done since September and it is great. That is what I am working toward...taking in so many other experiences and enjoying the journey. Incredible of you to provide foster care for kids. I imagine that must be very trying at times and very rewarding at times. What has been your experience with it? I've heard horror stories and stories of love and devotion. My wife and I were talking about adoption for a while. Her health started to get worse with every kid we had, so we thought maybe we could adopt one instead. But we decided to wait while she tried to improve her health issues. Well, here we are years later and she still struggles with her health and we are in our 40s. So, it's starting to look like we're just kind of done. But you never know. Well, if anyone deserves a nice big house, it's a guy like you who is willing to use it to help people! Asheville is nice. I oughta get back there. It's only a few hours from my place. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Post by reaper on Aug 20, 2018 18:56:36 GMT -5
fatty, those of you who go the foster care route definitely reserve your spaces in heaven. Last week I volunteered at a summer camp for foster kids. It's a yearly run, week long camp run by a church group. My wife's on their newsletter (through a friend) and they put out the call that they needed male volunteers. I always raise my hand, every classroom/volunteer opp around here is FILLED w/ white soccer moms, so I feel that it's my duty as a man of color to show the kids there are others willing to help. Man, some of those kids have it rough. I don't know their details, but you could just tell. My volunteering experiences DEFINITELY help put my life into perspective. Looking forward to keep hearing about your adventures and how you form v2.0. This may be a completely dumb idea, but I wonder if you could be an HR lead at a big site. You seem to have that outgoing personality, willingness to help people, ability to see situations from a different point of view, approachable attitude. I could totally see you being the head of HR at our site. Totally not your career so far, so probably a dumb idea. I'll admit, it just popped into my head... so I didn't think through it much. But it does have a nice feel to it.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Aug 20, 2018 23:45:01 GMT -5
Ha, I'm SO far from being PC. I'd be an HR nightmare.
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Post by reaper on Aug 21, 2018 9:43:58 GMT -5
Ha, I'm SO far from being PC. I'd be an HR nightmare. LOL I won't ask for details.
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Post by reaper on Nov 11, 2018 19:43:43 GMT -5
Minor update. Still at Qualcomm and man they give nice bonuses! But dang does it seem like our site is on a serious decline. So, I continue to look around. Cadence was hounding me like crazy over a week ago.. so I pushed them on the salary number and not only did they say they could up their game, they said the could beat my current salary. They said they had interviewed 39 people for the position and I was still #1 on the list! Next thing you know I’m scheduled to get a call and thinking this may be it for me. I’ve heard a lot of bad about the group but thinking it may suck for me but at least the fam would be happy.
As a last ditch effort, I call Barefoot and tell them I’m probably going to cadence. Friends of mine over there tried 3-4 times To get me in (hiring freeze) and heard no.... no....no....maybe. So I interviewed Tuesday and Wednesday last week. It went very well. Hoping for an offer this week!
Meanwhile, Cadence ghosted on me. No idea what happened but they went from texting me constantly and demanding a phone call to not contacting me for an entire week plus some. Very strange. But no complaints from me as it’s giving me time for this BF thing to work out.
Next up, likely salary negotiations. Ugh.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Nov 12, 2018 17:28:45 GMT -5
Congrats! Sounds all positive to me.
Me, still doing informational interviews but probably starting to step it up w/ actual meetings to discuss roles on the SaaS side. Way different than HW but time to pivot. But still looking for that ideal non-profit role but just quite haven't found it yet.
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Post by reaper on Nov 13, 2018 12:59:22 GMT -5
What is SaaS? There's a company called SaS in Raleigh... I think just one A ... which does software development and employs a lot of people. But I assume this is different.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Nov 13, 2018 17:25:16 GMT -5
What is SaaS? There's a company called SaS in Raleigh... I think just one A ... which does software development and employs a lot of people. But I assume this is different. Same question all of us HW guys ask. It's not SAS as in serial attached storage, more like Software as a Service. Think Oracle, SalesForce, VMWare etc.
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Post by reaper on Nov 15, 2018 7:14:30 GMT -5
Gotcha. Lot of energy around those topics these days. Good luck. Would you be some sort of lead or actually doing software development?
Minor update on the Barefoot thing. They called me on Tuesday and told me the interviews went very well and they'd like to make an offer. There are two remaining concerns:
1. They want me to meet the site lead to ensure that we mesh well. I don't expect a problem there. I can get along with most people.
2. They are worried that I will be dissatisfied with the job because I have more recently had a leadership role at Qualcomm and also worked on chip level design. I believe they want this small site in Raleigh to start with small blocks, prove themselves worthy and then graduate to larger designs. Personally, I understand that as our group at QC would have done something similar to a new group that got added to our team. You don't just hand the keys to the chip over to some new guy you've never met. That being said, it does worry me a bit when considering my career... will this look bad? Should I even be concerned about that? In one sense, I think no, because if I were to someday become a physical design manager, then any experience is good experience. But on the other hand, at QC, it's the new hires that do blocks and you work your way up to chip level. So, I'm at the top and it kind of feels like a step backwards. My current thinking is to tell the site lead that I am willing to work on blocks to prove that our group has what it takes but I'm also hoping they see a path forward for us. They see the site growing and in that growth, he sees potential for me to regain chip level influence and leadership opportunities. If we are in sync on those topics, then it seems fine to me. Any thoughts?
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Nov 15, 2018 20:40:11 GMT -5
For me, it'd be more sales/support side. My dev days are LONG gone.
If I were to look at your history, I wouldn't look at it as a bad thing. Going to a smaller company demands more responsibility/risk. Barefoot is properly covering their a$$. And anyone reviewing your resume after the fact should know/realize that, otherwise, I'd argue they haven't hired many people. This is akin to small fish/big pond going to big fish/small pond. It can be a positive, just depends on how you frame it. AND, because it's a smaller pond, you may have other opportunities that QC may not. You should make mention of the fact that you are aware that in QC, the role is typically given to newbies but you're new and willing to take on anything and crush it. But because it's a small place, you hope that when you do crush it, that gets recognized accordingly. Putting it on the table puts Barefoot on notice, which is a good thing.
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Post by reaper on Dec 30, 2018 6:39:11 GMT -5
I won’t bore you with all the details but the quick summary is this. The barefoot interviews went well and I was told I was getting an offer. But when they finally called they said I need to wait until mid Jan while they finalize their planning. Turned out this was perfect for me because Qualcomm announced they are laying off the rest of the team. This meant I’d have a good chance of getting my severance. Then it got better when a host of companies decided to interview aggressively due to so many quality engineers being available.
I took every interview I could and ended up with 3 job offers before Barefoot got back to me. I ended up accepting an offer from Microsoft to work in their cold logic group doing quantum compute and other secret projects. Cannot wait to get started!
This could not have worked out any better.
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Post by oldskoolboarder on Dec 30, 2018 14:47:39 GMT -5
Sounds like a good New Year's. IIRC, you've been at QC for a while so I assume that's a healthy package. Add that to the fact that you actually don't have to dip into that package is icing. Quantum computing with MS? That's definitely something you should be able to ride for a while. Congrats. Sometimes it's hard to let go of that thing that's so comfortable but then BAM, you get a good surprise. PLUS, just think of all the Zune discounts you can get.
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Post by reaper on Dec 30, 2018 16:20:56 GMT -5
Yeah almost 10 years. The package is nice and then 46 days of paid vacation, sign on bonus and shiny new job. Crossing my fingers nothing falls apart. But it all looks on track for now. *sigh of relief* I hope to work for MSFT for the rest of my career. Hoping for some good video game discounts!
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Post by dschroll on Dec 30, 2018 19:50:28 GMT -5
Congrats reaper. Sounds like everything fell into place at the 11th hour. MSFT sounds like a great gig and a great place to ride out the remainder of your career. Will you need to relocate for MSFT or can you stay in NC? If you get game discounts and can hook up your friends, you might convince me to get an XB1 ;-)
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Post by reaper on Dec 31, 2018 11:44:24 GMT -5
Thanks Dave!
Yeah one of the best parts about MSFT is that I don’t have to relocate. They are actually in the building I was working in a few months ago. Literally across the parking lot from Qualcomm. I do believe they will eventually lease a different spot and move us there. But even then, it shouldn’t be too far.
I’ll let you know about the discounts when I know something. Will be some time. Would love to hook you guys up but also have to be respectful of the rules that MSFT puts forth, obviously.
So excited!!
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Post by fatty on Dec 31, 2018 13:09:26 GMT -5
Congrats reaper! That is great. No need to relocate at this time and it is basically the same drive to work. Being able to still get a severance and a sign on bonus is sweet, but 46 days of paid vacation?!?! WOW! That is awesome. Really happy for you and your wife.
46 days...plus probably around 9 holidays...that is about 11 weeks off a year. Ha ha, that is fantastic. Well played my friend.
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Post by dschroll on Dec 31, 2018 20:14:50 GMT -5
Congrats reaper! That is great. No need to relocate at this time and it is basically the same drive to work. Being able to still get a severance and a sign on bonus is sweet, but 46 days of paid vacation?!?! WOW! That is awesome. Really happy for you and your wife. 46 days...plus probably around 9 holidays...that is about 11 weeks off a year. Ha ha, that is fantastic. Well played my friend. LOL....most likely those 46 days include some kind rollover from a previous year.
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Post by reaper on Jan 1, 2019 9:02:20 GMT -5
Sorry, I wasn't clear on that. The 46 day comment is a one time thing. Qualcomm laid off so many people that they triggered the NC WARN law which states that employees must receive a 60 day notice before termination. So, they had us work for 2 weeks after the notice and then the rest of the 60 days (60-14) 46 is still paid by Qualcomm. We're just not allowed back into the office, don't have our laptops, etc. The vacation at my next job is a typical 3 week start. Nothing too sing about there but I suspect they will switch to flex time off soon since all the tech companies are doing so.
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Post by fatty on Jan 1, 2019 12:13:09 GMT -5
Ah, I was thinking that your new company was modeling vacation like something they would do in France haha. That is cool that QC would just pay for the rest though and not require you to be at work doing nothing, I guess, even if it is a result of NC law.
The company I am at now switched over to letting us wear jeans a while back which is a big thing for us, some of the older traditional folks did not like that move but I've been a fan. They let us do 9-80's which is basically work 9 days to get your 80 hours (9 hour days instead of 8 M-Th) and take every other Friday off. I like it but I am going to try for a more flexible work schedule in the coming year or two and see how that works. If I could somehow work from home...
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Post by reaper on Jan 1, 2019 14:29:14 GMT -5
That would be great to have a 3 day weekend every other one! At Qualcomm they let us work 10 hour days 7 days a week indefinitely. Great plan.
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