So today I lost half my job.
More specifically I was cut back to part time, or about 20 hours a week. And so it goes.
Talking to Jenn about it she made me realize that in the long run it seems that I have had more them my share of REALLY bad luck in the job hunting process.
Lets review shall we:
Last year about this time I get a job in a QC lab at the juice company. It’s a nice place, pay is good and they liked me enough to talk about hiring me after two weeks of temping. Then on the third week they lost their burger king orange juice contract and its bye bye Andrew.
At about the same time I was in talks with the Boston PD crime lab about a job with their soon to be formed computer crime lab. Well that fell through when they didn’t get their funding.
Then there was the Syracuse,NY computer forensics job. From the on line posting they were looking for computer forensics techs for a new section they were starting. Well when I got to the stage of the phone interview they tell me that they are really looking for some one to START the section and run it. Which made me a touch under qualified, to the point I guess where after the phone interview they stopped returning my emails or calls.
Then out of the blue I get this nifty call from the NYPD last March or so about a job with their crime lab doing drug testing. (Most reading this know the story but for sake of completeness I’ll go over it again.) Well I go and interview and am offered the job. Yay right? Well I go, fill out paperwork, have to suddenly justify that I am qualified for the job I was offered, get drug tested (I did look dead sexy with smooth legs), and fingerprinted for a background check. All passed and checked out fine. That was in May 2003. It is now almost February 2004. Still no word. Sure I call and they tell me that “oh we are just waiting for our budget or funding but that its definitely going to happen”. Um..right.
So while waiting on that I start working for Omar….and that sort of brings us full circle.
Jenn says “you’re gonna end up with your dream job after all this bad shit you’ve gone through” Dear god I hope so. Other people from my class have seemed to of been able to stumble into these great jobs (some of them have had 2 or 3 jobs, any one of which I would of killed for).
So um…any one who reads this and runs a forensics lab I’m available any time (I do windows!)
Me thinks I gona open me up a bottle of wine tonight. I’ve earned it.
“TO ALCOHOL! THE CAUSE OF, AND SOLUTION TO, ALL LIFES PROBLEMS”
RSS Issues »« Job Hunting
So tell me please. Do most of these Forensic science jobs I see posted ever actually get filled? I would really like to know if they ever fill them or if many of them go vacant because they want too much god damn experience. I mean sure…I understand you wanting to hire some one who can do that job and will have some clue as to what they are doing. But are some of these states/labs actually able to fill these: entry-level-scutt-work type of jobs with people that have 2 years forensic lab experience and are qualified as an expert witness? I really, really, would like to think that they don’t and some day maybe they will wise up and actually hire oh you know…entry level people for the entry level jobs. Oh sure there are some places that will just take a college degree. New York was more then glad to offer me the job…a job that for all intensive purposes I still have, just have yet to actually start doing and at this point probably never will. (was I really that bad in a past life?) . At this point I am really starting to wonder what would do into a career switch at this point in the game (can you transfer credits once you have a degree?)…though transfer to where and for what? Grad school for forensics would be pointless and I really wasn’t THAT good in upper level chemistry to go for that. What does that leave? Some other random science? Psych? Law?(eww) Sure I think something computer related would be cool….me and about a billion other people.
So visitors to Captain Science.com what do you think? Comments/options? I’m open to any suggestions. (well anything but coffee)
And so it goes »« A day in West Haven
So I decided to play hooky from work today and take a trip down to West Haven. With all these jobs I have been applying for I figured having a few copies of my transcripts on hand couldn’t hurt. True I can do it over the phone but the few times I tried that it ended…um poorly to say the least so doing it in person usually ends up just being easier. Well after the expected 20 min wait in line for the business office I was able to get my transcripts and all so yay! What was really cool was on the way back to my car I was going past the business office again (which had a much longer line at this point) when I run into Ginger waiting there in line. We got to talking for a bit, all about UNH and jobs and graduations and the like (she gets sprung from the jail that is UNH this May). So yah it was cool to get to visit with her again (even if it was for 20 min while she waited in line )
After that I went across town and visited with Val for a few hours. Finally got to exchange Christmas gifts. She got me a nifty fleece shirt thing! She liked her gift and Dominic seemed to love his light and sound hammer from “Uncle Andrew”
All in all a good day. I think I have come to the conclusion that I have to start getting out more.
alot more.
Job Hunting »« Christmas in January!
It’s Christmas in January! I just got Meg’s Christmas gifts today! W00T! It’s a nice surprise to get some more Christmas gifts now! So you as what was it that the great and powerful Meg got for the Andrew? Well,I got a ultra cool magnetic picture frame with a picture of the Meg in it looking cute as ever. As well as a Simpsons trivia desk calendar and the book Quicksilver by Neil Stephenson (which is a uber long book that will keep me in reading material for quite some time). And to top it all off I also got a 25$ Target gift card from Meg’s mom as a Christmas/thank you gift for the coffee I sent her for Christmas. I will likely use it to buy my self a few decent shirts of which I am quite lacking. So to Meg and her mom thanks for the nifty presents!
A day in West Haven »« The death of email and other randomness
Wasn’t it Nietzsche that declared email dead? Well if he didn’t then he should of. Oh don’t give me that “he was dead long before email was invented” crap. That’s just an excuse for laziness on his part. In theory email was a good thing. It let you get in touch with another person at times or in situations when mail would be too slow and a phone call would not be practical or useful. But lately I’ve come to question just how useful it really is. Having near given up on the god forsaken NYPD job I have started very actively looking for a forensic related job yet again (sigh) while working at the coffee place. Most of these jobs I simply fill out the application and slap a resume/cover letter to it and send it out US mail. But some places, private companies mostly, want you to fax or email their HR dept. first with either just a email with resume or email and cover letter/resume to show interest for the job and in theory get more information about how to apply. Well up to this point I have had little to no luck ever hearing back from these people. It seems that the same ease that email allows you to contact some one also fosters a great ease in them ignoring you. I mean sure, I am a computer geek we all know this. But when I get a actual email written by a real person (sadly a rare occurrence in this day and age) I make a point of taking the two minutes it takes to quickly write them back and at the very least let them know I got their message. The same apparently cannot be said for so-called professionals working in a business or institutional setting. I mean come on! If you actually have a job where you can get paid to email, even if its just to tell a prospective applicant that they suck and that you have printed a copy of their resume just to burn it, I would make a point of doing as much of that as humanly possible. Not that I dislike work mind you but dealing with people over email/IM is usually preferable to dealing with them in person.
Ok I think that rant is done for now. I could go into a whole other one about how all the “entry level” jobs I’m looking to apply for decide that “entry level” means a PHD or 2-4 years doing basically the same job I am applying for.
Hence I close with…Damn you UNH, George Bush (for Fucking up the economy so nicely), and all those who oh so professionally decide to ignore email! :crazy:
Christmas in January! »« Google
I just found that doing a google search for “Captain Science” has captainscience.com as the first listing!!! Not that there are exactly alot of other Captain Science’s out there but still. It’s a bit of a ego trip.
The death of email and other randomness »« Less Bugs
I had some bugs with the new Greymatter set up but they seem to be fixed now. Now it’s time to go play with my wine 
Google »« Bugs
Hum…looks like there are a few bugs in this new greymatter install. I am having issues with the music and mood tags. Right now they almost seem to be more trouble they they are worth. :angry:
Well I have all day to test/play with it so we shall see.
Less Bugs »« A new greymatter
Ohhh….a shiny new version of greymatter. 1.3! Most of the changes are minor behind the scenes stuff but it does make the smiley,music, and mood hacks part of the default install which is quite nifty. Though I do have to do a little searching for a better smiley set for now this will have to do.
I also have to say the people at my web host rock (if you need a site check em out). The little mozilla bug I mentioned in the news on the main page apparently is mozillas fault, some odd bug. But the NFS people were able to play with some of the server settings and fix it for me on their end
Now its shower and getting dressed time….whee!
Bugs »« blah snow!
…And now for weird New England weather. We just had a little snowstorm. It went from being just cold and windy to near blizzard like conditions (with horizontal snow!) and back to just cold and windy in the span of a half hour. It was enough snow to put a dusting on everything outside too. Just have to love the CT weather.
A new greymatter »« Another Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody…
Had a very fun few days getting to visit with Jenn Sadly she had to go back home to NH before she really goes back home to Nebraska in a few days. Even so, we had fun. Next time I will have to go out to visit her in Nebraska (she even has a couch like thing so I’ll have a place to sleep! hehehehe. Didn’t do much of anything else this weekend so far. The big excitement of today was getting a new light bulb at Home Despot and putting a new CD-RW in the family computer (which is a bitch for anyone with hands larger then those on say a Barbie doll) but I finally got it in and running so good for me I guess.
blah snow! »« W00T for the Jenn.
