Well, that went well...

Okay, so I had an interview with one of the job leads here in Bakersfield.

Turns out, it's a pretty cool company that deals in business machines. They need a new IT supervisor to handle all of their internal networks, and peripheral testing. They've grown over 500% in the last 2 years and the growing pains are evident in their lack of IT resources.

Apparently they started doing what my old man did with me when I got out of school; use the systems engineer for EVERY computer need. Well, as with most SE's, we screw up eventually and the boss learns the hard (and usually expensive) way that Networking Admin’s are not grown in Systems Engineering school. Turns out they have a really brilliant engineer (seriously, he's good) who wiped 2 years worth of growth and company records off the face of the earth because of a really easy mistake to make.

Hell, I've done it and know a ton of guys who have. He didn't back up.

So the young owner/manager of the company tells me he really needs someone with my specific experience, and he seems really excited about my gift of gab. He's also freaking huge!

I don't mean to get sidetracked here, but it's always nice to be around REALLY tall people. You see, at 6'3" I'm tall...but not really tall. I don't stand freakishly above the crowd, and while ceiling fans can occasionally make me lose my religion -- for the most part my height doesn't interfere with my day-to-day life.

This guy was easily head and shoulders taller than me. It's so nice to look UP when you talk to someone face to face. I know that must sound silly, but it does. A life experience as the tallest guy in the room most of the time makes little quirks like that appealing. Another good side to it is that big guys rarely have power trips. They very rarely have anything to "prove" and generally have a warm, pleasant attitude towards everything.

My last few employers have been little weasels with "Small Man Complex". If you don't know what this is -- just ask the next guy you meet who's above 6'2" and he'll gladly explain.

So either way, this guy and I chat it up for a bit and he tells me he definitely wants me to advance to the second phase of the hiring process. I thin we hit it off really well, and I know he caught on that I'm not your usual "have pocket-protector, will travel" kind of guy.

I should commend the Temp Agency who actually found this permanent position for me in LESS THAN A DAY! Apple One, who if you ask any IT people, will tell you that technical jobs NEVER come from these guys, landed this interview for me in less than 5 business hours. Seriously.

Of course, the fact that the manager's husband was the guy I interviewed with, has a lot to do with that...and in fact, made me feel really good. The agent handling my referrals said they've never had such a strong IT candidate.

(flares nostrils, and snaps his invisible suspenders)

Yep. yep. I'm da man.

Either way, I really hope I land this job, and that is a surprise to me. A few friends have commented that they assumed I would be honkey-dorey (sp?) with packing up and moving to Dallas. In fact, a few seemed sad -- and if they had come to grips with the reality of it. I have no idea where everyone has been, but I thought I had said once or twice that Dallas is the armpit of Texas people. Okay, that's Amarillo...but Dallas is the sweaty, just finished a game of basketball at the gym with a gang of Wookies kind of...stinky crotch of Texas.

That just happens to have my dream job. (sigh)

So I surprised myself by actually hoping for a job here in Bakersfield. Go figure.