In case you didn’t know I was given notice about a month and a half ago. Since I’ve talked about finding a job before I thought I would blog my journey to whatever happens next. This will be my third update (update 2) and things are starting to pick up speed a bit. I’m not exactly where I want to be but on the other hand a) I have a lot going on at work and at home and b) I have lots of time. In fact having so much time has been something of a detriment. If I’d been told We’ve decided to remove your position. You have two weeks or even better You have two weeks but don’t have to work it I’d probably have gone into high gear, not slept much but really pushed things. At least that’s what I’ve done in the past. But I’m older now (15 years since I did this last) and I have a lot of time. So procrastination has a chance to kick in, but also planning.
Here’s where I stand so far:
- My resume is done. I got it written and sent it to a couple of friends who’ve helped me polish it up some. I’m pretty happy with it at this point.
- I had planned on sending my resume out to a bunch of people this week. That hasn’t really happened, but I have had several people contact me and I’ve done a few interviews. Nothing even remotely concreate yet but hey, one of the first things I’m telling people is that I can’t start till Nov 2nd. Which to be fair is why I waited until Aug 1st to really do anything. I figure I can’t start for three months sounds a lot better than I can’t start for four and a half months.
- I’m blogging pretty well. I’m up to three posts ahead which isn’t bad, but I’d really like to get to five or higher. Why does that matter? Well, blogging is my online resume. It’s how people know how good I am at my job. It even covers both technical and communication skills. And it’s also how people know me before ever meeting me. I also find that a consistent blog improves my confidence and makes me feel good.
- My personal education goals have gotten completely sidetracked. Not that this is a bad thing. I was asked to review a book so that has taken priority for any training time I’ve got. The book was recently released and I’d like to get the review done as quickly as I can. I’d just started Learn Powershell in a month of lunches and Learn DBATools in a month of lunches when this came up, so I’m a bit into each of those and I’ll pick them back up when I’m done with this one. I’m about 1/3 of the way through it, and you’ll find out which one it is when I post the actual review. Really good so far though.
- On an interesting note that combines the interviews I’ve done and my personal education, I try to make a point of taking notes about anything technical that comes up during an interview that I’m not confident in my skill level, or feel like I could use a refresher. I then tend to review my notes and any of my blogs, and then depending on my skill level I’ll probably at least browse some of what’s in Microsoft Docs, other blogs, etc on that subject. So for example Availability Groups has come up a couple of times so far. I’ve done some work on the subject, and I’m certainly not going to be an expert in a week, but I can at least familiarize myself with a few extra terms, how to check AG performance, what are some of the issues you might run across, etc.
- And last but not least I was in fact renewed as a Microsoft MVP. So I’m pretty excited about that.
If there’s anything I didn’t cover that you’d like to ask about feel free. If you want to leave a comment or hit me up on twitter I’ll do my best to answer whatever I can. Also, I’m curious if you think these are helpful or not? The idea was to help other people who are looking for a job, or might be in the future get some ideas for themselves.