No, really.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Keeping Away the Job-Hunting Blues

So I'm finally off the market! (Again! See my post last month about the debacle with the last company to give me an offer, who, I might add, never deigned to answer my complaint.)

TL;DR short version: keep a log of your job search, network, stay on top of your field with training.

Here's some thoughts on my job search and lessons learned:

Fight the blues by keeping track of what you've done. I started a "Career Diary" that I updated every day with what I did for that day to find a job. On my low days, I could look at that and say "Well, I did all I could" and it was a great resource when I needed to see if I'd applied at a place before.
Filing for unemployment is easy, and the pay is awful. Unemploymnet paid about half my mortgage, and that's it.
I was a lousy networker, and that needs to change. If you don't network, start today. Call that old boss and your old co-workers. Start/update your LinkedIn account. When you make a business contact, make sure you connect with them even if the deal falls through. Do things to network.
I started my job search with about 25 contacts on LinkedIn. I've ended six months later with 246, and met some very interesting people along the way. If you haven't already, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Job searching was a roller coaster of emotions. The high of a successful interview just picks you up to dash you that much farther when you're turned down. Exciting jobs with awesome people make you so hopeful until you learn the bad news - they can't pay even half of your salary requirements, or you don't meet their requirements, or just you're just not the best fit in a competitive market.
Do a budget. Figure out your absolute minimum salary. Put your salary range in your cover letter to your applications. It will save heartache on your part and time on the recruiter's part. Some will still call asking if you'll take less than your salary range, but it will be a short phone call.
Apply to jobs. A lot. I applied to more than 100 places since March, at more than 120 jobs. I usually spent 6 to 8 hours on job related emails, applications and searching each day, five days a week. Only a couple hours each day on weekends. It took me about 45 minutes to find and apply to an average job. I updated my 'core' resume and the half-dozen job sites where it was posted more than a dozen times.
Tailor your resumes and don't print them until you need them. I probably killed half a forest before I learned this last part. I have 25 different versions of my resume - some for management positions, some for programmer positions, some for architect positions, and different formats for each of them. Most sites wouldn't format my Microsoft Word resume properly, so I had a PDF version and a plain text version, too.
You must manage your expectations:

You aren't going to get paid what you were making before. You're going to be paid what the market will pay for the new position you receive. In my case, I was looking at a 27% pay cut to stay in town, or a 7% pay cut if I was willing to commute an hour and a half one way to Richmond. I got lucky and got only a 14% pay cut, telecommuting, but only because I networked to get the job, and since I'm a rehire, the employer knows I'm really good at what I do.
Just because you're good doesn't mean anyone will believe you. You need training or experience. If your company won't pay for it, do it on your own. I had my first offer rescinded because I didn't finish my degree. I would've been excellent at that job, and I would've loved it. But even though I had 18 years of relevant experience, I didn't have the 20-year old irrelevant degree, so I lost the job.
I had lots of interest in my resume based on my sole certification, which is totally irrelevant to any job I've ever done. (The only reason I am certified is because the government required it, even though everything I learned is useless in my day-to-day work.)
So my priority one is finishing my degree using my employer's excellent education benefits. My boss once told us that we should consider taking vacation to get our own training. My happily-employed ego laughed at him, saying that if the company wanted me trained, they should pay for it and give me time to do it. I wish I'd listened, because the company doesn't want me trained, they just want someone trained. My unemployed-ego realizes that company benefits like vacation and education are there for me, not them.

My job sites that I checked daily:

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Dropbox Limits

I just learned that in addition to the very visible size limits that Dropbox advertises, there is also a limit on the number of files. An account with more than 300,000 files is problematic. Good to know for those looking to use Dropbox as your cloud storage solution.
Details here: https://www.dropbox.com/help/14/en

Friday, August 30, 2013

Finding a job is a lot harder than having a job

Derek Karnes

xx@gmail.com

434-242-xxxx (c)

August 30, 2013

Xx Xx

President and CEO XX Company

XX Company

XX xx xx

Fairfield, Connecticut 06828-0001

Dear Mr. Xx:

I am writing to raise to your attention my recent (almost) hiring experience with XX Company.

I applied to XX Company for an Enterprise Architect position, a role that XX had been trying to fill for quite a while, and a role for which, to me, was exactly what I was looking for. After the application process I went through the Recruiter screening, then the Hiring Manager phone screen, both of which went really well.

I took a day of vacation to complete the first set of face-to-face interviews with other architects, then another day of vacation a few weeks later for the face-to-face interview with the hiring manager.

At this point I was entertaining other interviews from perspective employers, and had several strong leads, which was lucky, because the day came when I was laid off (due to budget cuts) from my previous employer. But luck was strong with me and I received a verbal offer from XX that same day.

Now I had a quandary; I had put a down payment on a vacation house back in January when my job was secure, and now I’m facing a new job and have to decide whether to cancel this rental or work out a longer-than-normal-two-weeks start date with my new manager. I talk to the XX hiring manager and we decide my starting date to be in four weeks due to his travel schedule. This solves my quandary; I can still go on vacation and will start XX the day after I get back, refreshed and ready. I pay the thousands of dollars for the vacation rental.

I get the written offer, accept it, and do all the things required by it – reams of paperwork, travel to the drug testing center, etc. I cancel all my pending interviews, write a dozen emails to potential leads thanking them for their interest and let them know I’m off the market.

I go on vacation, spending a bit more than I normally would have because I have a fat wallet from my severance pay, and a job starting on Monday.

On Wednesday before I start, I get a call from HR that they can’t find record of my college degree. I explain this is normal; I stated on my application that I don’t have a degree. I mentioned it to the recruiter. I mentioned it to the hiring manager. I mentioned it to people I interviewed with. The Human Resources person confirms my application is factual. I start to panic and contact the hiring manager, who assures me we’ll work it out, and the recruiter who says we’re still “100%”; he’ll just have to write a new job request without the degree requirement and have me apply to it; a mere formality.

The next day, two business days before I’m supposed to start, a different Human Resources person calls me and says XX is rescinding the offer. My request to speak to her supervisor is ignored. She says the degree requirement is firm, and that XX is using the background check clause to rescind my offer, even though the background check revealed nothing interesting.

I’m now entering my second month of unemployment, having lost dozens of leads, wasted a month of severance pay, and most importantly, lost a month of job search time.

If you deem 18 years of professional experience more important than a degree based on defunct programming languages, I ask that you help to rectify this situation.

Sincerely,

Derek Karnes

IT Architect, Technical Leader, and Software Engineer

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Java Webstart: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine

Problem: Java can't allocate enough contiguous memory as specified in the JNLP.

Work around: Lower the max memory setting in the JNLP, or use a 64-bit JVM that allows for more memory availability. If you have total control over the client, close running processes.

Synopsis: Researched the hell out of this, and the problem is ridiculous. On a machine with 16G of memory, and who knows how much virtual memory on top of that, the most I can set my max memory is 900M. Otherwise I intermittently get this error when launching from my JNLP.

The problem is that Java needs contiguous memory for the JVM, and because windows throws DLLs and apps in memory all over the place, the more you have running, the harder it is to get that block of contiguous memory.

Java has no guidelines for 'max memory' settings; it's all dependent on the app, the machine, and the version of java.

Keyword tags: -Xmx, max heap size, jnlp, java, web start, Error: Could not create the Java Virtual Machine

Monday, January 7, 2013

Removing Sprint Proxy Servers on the Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G

How to remove Sprint proxy servers on the Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G

Root your phone (QBKing77, opens in a new window)
Download alogcat from marketplace
Open alogcat
Press menu > filter
Type in MSL
Press the home key then dial ##data#.
Click Edit
When asked to enter MSL just enter random numbers and press okay.
Now go back to alogcat it should be there and look something like this:

I/MSL_Checker( 220): MSL result : ******

The number (*****) is your MSL. For some reason when you enter the wrong msl it gives you the right one when looking at the logs with alogcat.
Press home key then dial ##data#
Click Edit
Enter MSL and press okay
Click on Others
Click on Multimedia
Change the following settings to:

RTSP Proxy Address changed to 0.0.0.0
RTSP Proxy Port to 0
HTTPPD Proxy Address to 0.0.0.0
HTTPPD Proxy Port to 0

For posterity, stock settings are:

RTSP Proxy Address: rtsp.vog.sprintpcs.com
RTSP Proxy Port: 554
HTTPPD Proxy Address: pd.vog.sprintpcs.com
HTTPPD Proxy Port: 8085

Monday, September 24, 2012

In the news...

OK, so it didn't make the web version, but it made the headlining story of the Halloween insert for the Charlottesville Daily Progress on Sunday:

Bring Scary To Life

One Greene County Resident’s Recipe for the Perfect Do It Yourself Haunted House

By Theresa Reynolds Curry

Every year about the first of September, Derek Karnes begins on a massive fall production, one that will consume more than a hundred hours of his time, use boxes and boxes of costumes and props, employ terrifying mannequins as well as human actors, and require many pounds of paper mache.

Karnes, a software engineer, stages an elaborate haunted house for a party each year at his home in Greene County, picking a new theme every Halloween to guide his ghoulish set construction. The themes are as elaborate as a feature-length horror film: last year the whole scene revolved around a a little girl’s nightmares; this year’s theme introduces zombies created by alien experiments on humans.

It was moving to a new house with a huge basement that first suggested the Halloween tableau in 2006. “It was my first Halloween in the house,” Karnes said, “and the basement was just calling to me. I think it started because I had so many decorations, but living rurally I had no one to show them off to. We don’t get any trick-or-treaters this far out in the country.”

Karnes didn’t have to start from scratch that fall. He’d always been interested in scary things, from reading Stephen King in middle school to the scary movies of today. “I’m a bit of a Goth at heart,” he says, “so I’ve always got an eye out for ‘dark’ things. I would end up shopping at the after-Halloween sales and picking up things that I use to decorate my office.”

Like many of us, Karnes has a complex relationship with horror: “I have a big fear—and love—of being scared,” he said. “I remember my aunt taking me to see ‘Amityville II: The Possession’ when I was 9, my first horror movie. She thought I could handle it because I read Stephen King all the time. I spent most of the movie buried in her lap and didn’t sleep for a week. Not long after, I watched ‘Trilogy of Terror’ at my cousin’s house, and haven’t dangled my feet over the edge of the bed since.”

As Karnes got older, his fear of manufactured spookiness diminished but his fascination with it continued. Over time, he’s learned the best way to approach the complex orchestration that transforms an innocent storage space to a homemade chamber of horrors. His creation is solely for family and friends, but his ideas are a great start for others, whether planning a haunted house for a fundraiser, or simply a room for a great party.

First, he researches the web and other sources to find his theme. He’s found wonderful ideas from the Internet (http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/), with hundreds of projects. He also picks up ideas from Pinterest, the DIY network, and Instructables.com.

He’ll see something on one of these sites and—if it’s too complex for his time or skills—he’ll try to adapt it so it’s a little simpler. Sometimes, he’ll make mostly decorative ideas a little scarier: he’s found that Martha Stewart has some great ideas in the annual Halloween issue, made more terrifying by adding more teeth or fake blood.

Another source is from someone not known primarily for horror.“Hugh Heffner puts on the best haunted house on the planet every year at the Playboy Mansion,” Karnes said. “He puts a lot of money and experienced people into it, and the things that group comes up with are great.”

Karnes especially likes a video from the 2007 Playboy Mansion party that he found on the travel channel. He’s reproduced more scenes from that than any other source, including a room of hanged corpses, where one suddenly moves; a werewolf cage; and a polka dot room.

The next step is to clean out the basement and open out all the crates of Halloween items. Then Karnes maps out the basement and decides what to do in each part. Once the rooms are designated for each scene he wants to create, he makes any new props that he needs and creates the individual rooms with thousands of square feet of black tarp that he suspends from the rafters to make separate rooms and mazes. “The basement ceilings are 10 feet high so there’s a lot of ladder climbing,” he said.

Next, he decorates each room with the props, figures out what part the human actors will play, and makes sure all the costumes for each room are ready. Somewhere around October first, he’ll put up some outdoor decorations, too.

One of the final—and most important—steps is the lighting. “It can make or break the experience,” Karnes says. “Too much light and the duct tape and bubblegum that holds everything together shows through. The illusion is broken and people remember they’re in your basement, not a burial chamber. Too little light, and people don’t know where to go when they’re scared, and they start tearing down walls, or you have to break character to show them the door.”

Karnes tries to do a rehearsal with the actors shortly before the party. “They’re just kids, too,” he says, “so some of them need acclimating to the strobe lights and the music so they’re not scared or lost on opening night. It also gives me a chance to see who can really act and which ones have to rely on their sense of timing to get the scare right.”

Finally, on the night of the party the actors arrive early for makeup, and Karnes puts the finishing touches on lighting before the guests arrive.

The enormous amount of advance planning means that everything usually goes smoothly, although there have been some glitches. “Most of my props are homemade,” Karnes said, “so they don’t take much wear and tear. Some rambunctious teenagers have messed up the lighting in the past, for example, and stolen some fake eyes out of the dummies.”

Last year Karnes had to chase down a young guest who lost his shoe as he was trying to get away from him in his role as an axe murderer. But he soon realized that chasing him would only compound the fear, so he waited until the end of the production to return the shoe.

Often, people can’t tell the actors from the dummies, and it’s fun for the actors to hear guests trying to figure out who is real and who is fake. To make sure the activities are appropriate both for younger and older children, he’ll have a time when the lights are on and the sound is off for the pre-teens. Many of his older daughter’s friends enjoy being actors for the teenage party.

Karnes does most of the work himself, with family pitching in as he gets near the deadline. He keeps costs down by shopping after-Halloween sales and making many of the more elaborate props himself. He’s ingenious in his horrifying creations: for instance, he has an automated grim reaper made from a clearance floor fan, and a “pool of death” made from a painted kiddie pool. He also checks out freecycle.com and Goodwill year round, and recommends that anyone wanting to set a scary scene do the same, and to also develop a sense of what really works. “I’ve found the key to really scaring someone is suspense and timing,” he says. “A bloody axe isn’t scary. A bloody axe coming out of the painting you’re looking at is scary.”

Why does he do it? It’s an undertaking that uses up huge amounts of time and energy. “I love scaring people; I always have,” Karnes says. “I can’t count the time I’ve spent hiding under beds or around the corner of a hallway to scare my wife or kids. The anticipation of the scare is addictive.”

Monday, August 20, 2012

Drawing

Been drawing a lot lately... I've done Zentangles for a while but never really drawn anything vaguely realistic until I was at the lake earlier this month. There I drew a picture of the lake using a number 2 pencil and a colored pencil I borrowed from the kids. It was... mediocre, but promising. So I bought a cheap pencil art kit from Wal-mart and went to town.

Some of these I think are good, considering I've only been drawing for three weeks. Some are meh, some are obviously practice drawing shapes. I love "Collapsed Barn" and "Stream from the Mountains". Landscapes might be my thing.