>> Heh. I can just see me sitting on the pub reading Godel, Escher, Bach.
>> ;-)
>>
>> [Which I haven't opened yet, BTW.]
> 
> Hey, it's a start. :-)

Why don't I just paint a sign on my head saying "hey, I'm a subhuman, 
it's OK to come over here and beat me to a pulp"? :-P

>> ...or maybe because to do an internship you have to already be doing a
>> PhD? (And I'm not.)
> 
> Do you know that for a fact or are you guessing?

It's a guess. I know MSRC has this requirement, I don't know about the 
place I applied. (The ad didn't mention it.)

> First rule:  Don't assume they intentionally ignored you.  Assume they 
> made a mistake and meant to get back to you.

Well, I didn't know what to say with the *first* email, so what do I say 
with the second? "Hey, I know I'm so awesom that you must have just 
forgetten to reply to me"?

>>> Getting out on your own would probably be very good for you.
>> Heh. Unless you believe me mum, who's been doing a sterling job of
>> conditioning be to believe that I "couldn't cope" by myself. (Gee,
>> wonder why that might be...)
> 
> Well, based on that statement, it sounds like she's afraid to be living 
> alone to me.  So she is trying to make you believe you couldn't handle it 
> on your own in order to cover up her own insecurity.  Or something like 
> that.

More like she wants to keep her slave handy. :-P

>> I can
>> *totally* control that. When I apply to people, they ignore me or
>> summarily reject me. That's in my control too.
> 
> Assumptions.  You can control what you assume.  So don't assume they're 
> intentionally ignoring you or rejecting you just because you haven't 
> heard anything back.

When somebody writes back and says "we don't want you", I take that as 
being a rejection, yes.

> Going through the side entrance is the way to get noticed, in my 
> experience.  I have gotten jobs that "required" certifications and 
> college degrees by working around the system rather than through it.  
> Unconventional approaches work and are far better than being one of a 
> thousand or even a hundred people going through the "normal" process.

You're probably right about that. Unfortunately, I'm not real sure how 
to do that. (Presumably neither is anybody else - which is why the few 
who do get noticed.)

>>> Yes.  But they have to start somewhere, and so do you.  And you have by
>>> taking a sysadmin job.
>> System administration is entirely unrelated to my target area.
> 
> You want to get into programming?  You're wrong, it's totally related.  
> You write programs to accomplish sysadmin tasks, yes?  They may not be OS-
> sized software engineering projects, but I know plenty of programmers 
> (remember where I work - I have spent time working with people who do 
> software engineering) who have made the move from sysadmin work to 
> software engineering.  It doesn't happen overnight, but don't discount 
> the experience of administering systems and writing 3-line scripts as 
> being "unrelated".  It's not.

I invent tasks that can be solved by programming, yes. I don't *need* to 
code anything. It's just a way of doing something fun while pretending 
to look busy.

>>> Maybe it's time to search again.  Available jobs isn't a static list.
>>> :-)
>> No, but the number and type of jobs on offer is.
> 
> That's where you're WRONG!  The number and type of jobs on offer changes 
> as positions are filled and opened.

Well, I think you'll find the number of vacancies for (say) accountants 
vastly outnumbers positions for computer programmers. I doubt it varies 
significantly year upon year.

>>> By your premise, anyone who works in a customer-facing position should
>>> never have a good year because all customers are unreasonable.
>> Are you telling me this *isn't* the case?

> So yes, I'm telling you that being customer facing is not a guarantee of 
> having a bad year, because I live in such a role.

Interesting. I wouldn't have believed it possible.

OTOH, maybe you're just a different sort of person to me? For me, 
talking to strangers is almost unberably stressful - even if it's their 
job to *not* upset me! o_O

> One afternoon on the ship, they decided it was time for a little fun.  I 
> was sitting at the bar with a friend of mine from the group just chatting 
> and having a good time, and the three of them walked up and said 
> something to me.  To this day, nobody remembers what exactly was said.
> 
> But what they said pissed me off, and I told them so.  Caught them 
> *completely* by surprise.
> 
> You know what?  That's the last time they bothered me.  They decided I 
> was worthy of respect.  I still talk to one of them regularly; the other 
> two dropped out of the program and out of my life.
> 
> I now look back at that as a major turning point in my life (odd that, 
> because nobody does remember what was said or exactly what transpired) - 
> the moment when I spoke out and the world didn't end or come crashing in 
> on me.

Unfortunately, if I had done that, the three of them would have grabbed 
me and beaten me senseless.

Sure, they'd probably be punished for it. But that's not going to help 
me when I wake up in hospital, is it? (Assuming I wake up...)

>> So far during my job search, I've been to exactly 1 interview. As you
>> may recall, the interviewer appeared to be attempting to invent a
>> position to hire me for. In the end, however, I didn't get hired. I'm
>> actually kinda glad; didn't look like a great place to work. The staff
>> seemed a little... immature? (Kinda like the stereotypical bank
>> executives on that ad on TV.)
> 
> From what you described, it sounded like a very relaxed atmosphere - and 
> that means lower stress.  If the company has a good business plan or has 
> been around for a while, why not?  You spend at least 8 hours a day in 
> the office, so why not someplace where people don't take things too 
> seriously and where you're not under constant stress?

There's "relaxed" and there's "we're a bunch of juvanile twats". Now I 
could be wrong about this, but I'm saying when I was there the vibe 
didn't feel very good, that's all.

>>> Think of it as gained confidence.
>> It turns out there's a fine line between confidence and stupidity.
> 
> Maybe you're not trying to be funny, but that is funny. ;-)  The usual 
> way that is said is "bravery and stupidity".  But ultimately, so what?  
> Again, you had the guts to do something I've never done and even today 
> never would do (OK, part of that is because I'm happily married <g>).

Heh. Even Marcus, the womanizing wonder said he'd never do that.

...so yeah, more stupid than brave. :-/

>> Well, nice to know somebody alive actually likes me...
> 
> I think you'll find that I'm not the only one.

An alternative hypothesis might be that the few other people who like me 
are just kinda quiet about it.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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