Huh.

Having been offered (and accepted!) a position at ATK Launch Systems, I'm now officially a rocket scientist.

Specifically I'm an instrumentation design engineer, but I'll be telling everyone else the former. I can hear the jokes now...

At home...
Me: I can't figure this out, honey. Do I add the baking soda in the mix before or after I add the eggs?
Mrs. Sixline: Oh come on, it's not rocket science. Figure it out.

At the movies...
Me: So, was that Mr. Sanders with the bad gang or was he an undercover cop?
Brother in Law: He was an undercover cop! Come on, it's not rocket science!

and so forth ad infinitum and ad nauseum.

Oh well. Two good things:

1.) We get to stay where we are. I like our little valley. Very beautiful sunsets in the summertime. Very tranquil, yet enough shopping for Mrs. Sixline.

2.) The money came in right where we needed it. We'll be buying a home a few miles up the road and we are EXCITED.

Of course this means I should be working on my research and thesis rather than blogging.

It's been a long time.

The posts are getting fewer and farther(further?) between because I approach my date with doom; the thesis defense. It happens the 29th. I'm worried and concerned-- not with the process of getting up in front of everyone, but the having things to say part. I feel like the advisor committee knows more than I do about the project. I'm also worried about the last leg of research that is currently synthesizing while I write this. I'm also concerned...

Well that list goes on for awhile. I'm just worried I won't get the fantastic wonderfullest job of instrumentations engineer with ATK. I had the long awaited on-site interview with them last Thursday where they actually had me go around the cube farm seeing what everyone on the team did as part of the interview. I was very happy to see that; it's so hard to figure out what you'll be doing full time from an interview. They look like a great place to work. If the pay comes through where Mrs. Sixline and I can afford housing in our current market, then we'd like to stay put. There's a home that's being built just a few minutes up the road that's very spacious and open and in a great neighborhood. We want it...

But...

It depends on whether or not I finish and whether or not the offer comes in enough to cover the cost. If it comes in below, we get to explore other options. However, my heart is set on staying put and purchasing that home. We'll see.

I'm concerned...

job hunting (again)

Tuesday I interviewed with Moog Aircraft in Salt Lake City for 2 hours. It was a good interview. They asked me questions off my resume, but nothing too technical. After that I drove 3.5 hours with Mrs. Sixline to Pocatello for an all day interview with AMI Semiconductor. That was one nasty interview, my friends. There were 5 different interviews with 5 different engineers on very technical bases. I can't even remember them all. Some op amp questions, some derivations of transfer functions, tons of clock signals and violation problems (setup, hold, etc...), state machines describing behavior, using Laplace transforms to analyze circuits, transistor configurations, CMOS configurations, etc...

All this was getting us down. The interview in Pocatello took longer than anticipated, so they put us up in a hotel for an extra night. The following morning we drove around looking at housing with a realtor. It was all right; Pocatello isn't as ugly a town as I originally thought. But it didn't feel right... I know it might have been just a foreign feeling in a new town, but I wasn't excited by AMI's work, nor by the prospect of becoming a Pocatello resident. Nothing against the town, but it wasn't my taste.

Same with Salt Lake. Just not feeling it.

The worst part was, the house we want to buy in our home town needed some choices. It's being built, and not quite finished. We've chosen paint color, carpet style and color, and tile. We've been conservative with our choices, knowing that there's a good chance we won't get the house. The reason why this stinks is because we're emotionally (and partly monetarily) invested in the home and if ATK (local company) doesn't call me back for a second interview, then we don't get the home we've been customizing. So as we were at the house waiting for the builder to show up so that we could choose countertop options, we were in rather a melancholy mood. We were really sad that ATK exhibited so much initial interest that's been noticeably lacking since the first interview contact.

Happily, that night I got an email from the guy who has been interviewing me saying that they want to bring me out the first thing after the new year. Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. I really want to go build rockets. He asked if I've been interviewing elsewhere, likely aware of the mass amount of time that has elapsed since our last contact, to which I replied yes. Then he asked if I've entertained any offers, and I said that I would soon receive two. I fully expect them to come, but to be frank, I have no guarantee that they will. That information is on a 'need to know' basis... I told him that unless ATK's offer comes in well below what the other two would be, I'd take ATK's offer. That part is 100% honest. He reassured me that their offers are competitive. We'll see.

So, ray of sunshine. :)

More job hunting crud

ATK (Thiokol) interviewed me last week. They build rockets. I was invited to tour the facility, and the engineer who interviewed me took me and another grad student from a neighboring school on a separate tour to see the places where engineers actually work. We met hiring managers and talked with some of the guy's colleagues. Of the tour group of students, we were the only ones who were given that special treatment so I felt, well, special. They do rockets. I'll finally be able to say "Yes, Ma'am, I am a rocket scientist."

Then yesterday I had three interviews. Moog, pronounce 'mowg,' does airplane systems; integration, control, and embedded. Now this was an interview where I felt like I nailed it. I rarely come out of interviews feeling like I did well. Less often do I hear things like "Wow, this is a really impressive resume. I think you'd be an excellent fit with us. I'm will definitely recommend your resume be reviewed by the hiring managers. I hope you'll be able to come out for a second interview."

AMI Semiconductor was kinda the same way. They even gave me two technical questions. The first of which was to design a block diagram of an FIR filter (which I did correctly.) The second of which was to explain what happens in a lossless system, where two capacitors are hooked up in parallel and an open switch is between them. Capacitor A is 1 microfarad, 2 volts. Capacitor B is 2 microfarad, 6 volts. When the switch is thrown, what happens? Got that one too. They seemed pretty impressed, and said "The next step, now that you've demonstrated some basic knowledge, is to bring you out to AMI for the next set of interviews."

The last one was for NAVAIR, which is basically the Navy, and it was short and chock full of the same BS questions that never lead anywhere and don't allow a candidate or an interviewer to give or get the full scope of what someone can offer.

I feel really excited. It felt good to be wanted.

Jerks.

Job hunting updates: Interview with ATK. Good job prospect, way to early to tell. One of those "Tell me about a time when you did something that would impress HR." kinda ordeals. I did well; I felt like I represented myself with confidence and such... But those questions are so unbelievably cursory and plain retarded that I don't have much reassurance that I'm heads and shoulders above or below the rest simply because such interviews can't provide that kind of information. Anyway. I was encouraged by the fact that they don't have heavy technical interviews when they do the on-site rounds. Technical interviews scare the bejeebers outta me. And... France called again... Too soon to tell what's going so I'll keep everyone updated when something concrete comes along. I hate getting back on this roller coaster.

Jerks: Hey, if I'm talking about baseball and how much I like it, and you're not involved, and you walk up and say "How can you like such a boring sport?" odds are I'm going to kick you directly in the babymakers-- girl or boy. Ovaries for girls, and giblets for boys. Shut up. I'm not talking to you. ~KICK~ I like baseball. If you don't keep your big mouth shut. I don't care about your opinion. Nyah. :P

Boeing

Good interview for me. Lousy interview for the girl interviewing me. She was extremely nervous. I think she was more nervous than I was. She was an engineer, though, which made things nice.

True to form, I have to find a few reasons to shoot this down before it takes off. (Takes off. Boeing. Get it?) GPA might be a little low. The position is for a signal processing buff, and I did not pursue that portion of EE. She even said "We're looking for more EE background types." I guess she didn't see the big "Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering" at the top of my resumé. She does have a point, though. I'm more involved with embedded systems than anything else. Whatever.

I'm not too sure I want to work in Southern California anyway. The position's in El Segundo, which means extremely expensive life and disgustingly long commutes either via traffic or distance. Let's hope someone from somewhere else calls me.

look up in the sky

This time it is a plane.

Boeing wants to interview me here on campus Tuesday morning at 8 AM.

I might have to switch times given that I have class at that time, but I like being the first person there and I highly doubt I'd get much out of class squirming in my seat about an interview any way.

The career services website says that the job is for El Segundo, CA. I'd like to live there but not at the current price.

Bad vibes

Well, this morning came and went without any news from France. When we spoke last, this past Friday, I was informed that I would know by the 'middle of the week,' referring to this week. I mentioned Wednesday, and the gentleman agreed that Wednesday was a good day to let me know. As I said in the last post, he's been extremely punctual with me on all other calling appointments and very quick to settle the matter.

His silence indicates to me that the response was not good. My attempts at securing a job in France have taught me that if no one replies to you, then they don't want you. Quite the opposite of the "no news is good news" sentiment we have here in America.

While the book isn't closed, it sure feels that way. I can't help but think that Mrs. Sixline and I need to begin looking for work locally. It's not what we were hoping for, but we can always save up and visit in the future.

I'm very saddened by this, a lot more than I thought I'd be. I keep half hoping that I'm just feeling this way to try and trick myself into 'expecting' a bad response so it won't hurt so bad, while secretly thinking everything will be fine. I admit I have no other reason to think it's over with other than the lack of news. However, I can't deny the feeling.

Thanks again to everyone who's pulled for us. I'll keep posting on the job hunt until Mrs. Sixline and I know what we're doing and where we're going. In the meantime, if you know of anyone who wants a reasonably talented engineer in the areas of controls and embedded system design/development, please let me know.

Thanks.

On to round 2.

The recruiting agency finished up their pre-screening interviews with the conclusion of the personality test. I'm happy to say that I don't come across as a nut, to the contrary and chagrin of many of my acquaintances I'm sure.

After a discussion concerning the results of the test, and what they implied, the engineer at the recruiting agency will be presenting my file as well as several others to the company that's looking for FPGA engineers. If they like me, they will decide to interview me. So I'm really not anywhere closer to getting the job, I thought there was no more 'decision' based on candidacy; I thought the recruiting agency would present our profiles (the candidates) and there would be interviews for all who were presented as a good match by the recruiting agency. The impression that I got was that they (the company actually doing the hiring) could decide that you're not a good fit based on profile and reject you as a candidate.

But I'm staying optimistic for these reasons:

1.) The headquarters of this company are in Santa Clara, California. This means that I would go there for my in-depth technical interview and it would be in English rather than in French.

2.) While it's still a French company, the Americans working at the California location will understand and perceive my degree in a better light than the French.

3.) I'll stand out in the Americans' eyes because I'll be bilingual.

4.) The other two job opportunities that fizzed out on me were consulting agencies, which translates into lower salaries. This will be a job directly with the company itself, which translates into a higher salary. We're not talking about tons of cash, here, but whatever I can garner is good.

So I'm staying positive. Next Wednesday is when the engineer in France will get back from his trip to Paris (he actually works in Grenoble) and contact me with the new company's decision, and then let's hope the next step after that is a flight to Santa Clara.

oh please oh please oh please

Yesterday morning's interview went well. It was a full on tech interview, and 100% in French. There were some shaky spots where I wasn't really sure I was being clear, but the interviewer really helped me along by asking questions and I think we had ourselves a decent interview. There's a couple of things I wanted to talk about.

On my French resumé, I wrote on there that I lived in France for two years. I feel this is a subtle way of saying that I don't just speak French from a book I learned, but rather I have a working knowledge of the way French people speak French. I feel that while it's not flawless, my French is more authentic than someone who just learned it from a book; I've picked up mannerisms, the way to stress syllables, and the way to put your tone into what you say that communicates feeling just as much as words. My interviewer asked me why I spent two years in France. I'm acutely aware of how the French treat 'new' religion, and very often the Church is viewed in a bad light. However, I'm not going to back down and so I told him straightforward it was for a religious mission. He responded favorably, even asking further questions about what I did all day, what Church I belong to, and it came out that he actually lived down the street from a Chapel in his hometown. I hope that he can see my mission for the good that it was and not a crusade to brainwash his compatriots to believe in an American cult. I think he's level headed enough to do it.

So now, at the end of the interview, he says it's time for me to take a test. I was braced for a technical set of questions, but I guess he garnered what he needed from the Q&A session about my projects and work experience. This test is the dreaded personality test. 100 questions of 3 and 4 statements such as:

1.) I make friends easily
2.) I'm relatively unstable emotionally
3.) I work hard regardless of the obstacles
4.) I prefer to stay away from large groups

I had to select the statement that represented me the most and the statement that represented me the least. After about 40 of these things, all in French mind you, and being up for 14 hours yesterday, my head began to swim. Normally I'm not prone to do well on these sorts of tests; I've failed 3 of them before that I know of. "Fail." I put answers that led the company I wanted to work for to believe that I was not a good fit, despite the preamble declaring there are no correct or incorrect answers. So I'm nervous. I sent it off last night at 11:00 PM so that he'd have it in his inbox first thing in the morning. I haven't heard back, but he did say he was going out of town.

Say a prayer for me. I really want this job.

they called back

Whee!

Amidst the flurry of snooty French 'We don't want you to work for us' e-mails, this company is really making me get excited. They're another recruiting company that sends you out to work as hired help. So I'll basically be telling people I'm a mercenary. It sounds cooler.

Rewind for a moment: Wednesday morning around 9:15 a lady from this headhunting company called me, asked some of the pre-screening questions, and basically said she's got a post that matches my profile. Sign me up, I say. Sure enough, Friday I got the two phone calls that I slept through from the same company, this time with a bit more information on what kind of a job it would be. I know that this was the reason for the missed calls because they contacted me this morning at 8:30. This is very exciting, they want engineers with a background in C++ (which I have) for the development of place and route actions on FPGA development toolkits and suites. That, dear friends, is right up my alley. I am way excited for this. They've been punctual, the job matches my profile almost 100%, it's in Paris, and I think I'll be able to get a decent salary out of them because when they asked I kept it open ended. I've got another interview of sorts tomorrow morning, so I need to get cracking on my work now.

Whee!

No more waiting.

Last I spoke with company A, they wanted to have me do a teleconferencing call. When I reminded them that we have not had that yet, they said that they'd contact me Monday. In the meantime, company B has contacted me and while they've been punctual, scheduling the next interview while on the phone with me, they require 5 total interviews before one is hired. 5 interviews could take a few weeks... Visa requirements say that a waiting period of approximately 3 months is common. If Mrs. Sixline and I want to time this right, and be gone when I graduate (Dec 17) then September 17 is the deadline. So while we still maintain hope for these two companies, if they don't come through then working in France will have to be put on the backburners for a bit (a few years bit).

So where does this put us? I'm not exactly sure. I'm somewhat partial to working for Michelin in America, in the hopes that they'll move me over to France after a few years. The Michelin plant I applied for in the states is in South Carolina. They haven't said a word to me as to whether or not they want me so this is just one big waiting game... At least for two more weeks. Then we know whether or not I throw in the towel and just take a local job.

a few things

How old were you when you began listening to the music of your time? I remember in 4th grade trying to get down with MC Hammer, but I'll admit, most of what I heard came from other students when I was with them. I don't recall trying to be on the cutting edge of music for a long time. In fact, when I was about 10, I remember turning on the radio for the first time just to hear music. I twiddled and dialed until I got a station free and clear. It must have been a mix music of the day kind of station, because I don't recall there being any real genre to it-- no country, rap, jazz, classical, or anything else. It just seemed to be a pop station. I marveled that the station was nice enough to let people call in and ask for their favorite song to be played. I excitedly informed my friend of this discovery only to find out it was commonplace and old news.

For a brief period I liked rap; again, mainly because most of the kids in my school liked rap and it appeared to be the cool thing. I had heard the dire warnings of my parents and other parental figures ominously prophesying the doom and gloom of those who were sucked into heavy metal, so I didn't listen to it. I didn't really like rap, though... It was reflective of a culture that didn't belong to me and I couldn't identify with it. So what did I listen to?

Well, besides WBAP emissions of Ranger baseball (this was in the Dallas area) I took to listening to WRR classical music and 98.7 KLUV oldies. It was awesome. I listened to music and things that no one else listened to, which pleased me. I felt a sense of refinement beyond my age with the classical music and I felt whisked away to an era marked by a different set of difficulties; less crime but more racism. In my mind at the time I wasn't aware of America's atrocities regarding civil rights so oldies offered the privilege of partaking in memories of a simpler time that otherwise didn't belong to me. The fantasy of cool classic cars, no guns or drugs at school, and more family oriented people was enough to get anyone hooked. I was more familiar with those songs than I was of the early 90s fads and trends.

Of course, when I got to high school, things were different. I'll get into it another time.

I've finally figured out why I'm so obsessed with talking about a job in France. I realized Sunday night that I have no control over whether I go there. Sure, I can send CVs (that's what they call resumés) and apply, but in the end it's not up to me. Talking about it, obsessing about it would be more accurate, gives me the illusion of control. That feels good.

The beginning of the end

Yesterday I was asked "How was your first last day?" and indeed it was just that. Barring unforeseen tragedy, I should be done in December making this my last semester. Right now I'm under the impression that I'll not return, as I'm pursuing a hire degree I think that should cover me for the rest of my life, but who knows what'll happen?

On Friday while at Costco with the lovely Mrs. Sixline, Kermit, and two of her children, I received a phone call from none other than the technical director of Amundis. I ran outside gibbering in French to be patient until I got to a quieter spot, turning quite a few hands as I passed. I found a park bench on a secluded blue spruce lined median in some distant corner of the Costco parking lot. The spruces kept the sound to a minimum, so while I wasn't in a quiet room, at least I had some measure of privacy. The technical director, Serge, asked me about my work experience, my school experience, how to avoid deadlock, and a plethora of other embedded systems related subjects. We spoke for the better part of an hour. At the end he seemed quite positive and keen to continue the hiring process, and I felt pretty good as well. He called me because the previous day the HR director shot me an e-mail saying "Well I've just got back from vacation, and we're still interested in you. Someone will call you shortly." This was an abrupt change from the no news I was receiving from them throughout August. I was quite worked up that after the first interview I had received no news and then out of the blue they tell me they're still interested. It's been pretty quick since then. Friday was the aforementioned interview, and yesterday I awoke to another email from the HR director revealing that the interview was indeed positive and indicating that an offer was in the works. One more interview, this time a teleconferencing interview. So this is looking pretty good.

Amundis (www.amundis.fr) is a consulting company, which means that while I work for them, they find me third party work to complete. Not the most glorious thing, but as I understand it, they give me a base salary regardless of whether or not I'm working. Good enough for me. This isn't a career move. This is a life experience move. Unless something better comes along while we're there, we won't stay for more than about two years I think. That estimate is down somewhat from the five years I originally anticipated, but we'll see. Provided Amundis gives me enough of a base salary to live decently enough and cover my student loan payments, we'll be in Paris in January.

I'm happy.

I can't stop.

I jokingly refer to the scar over the vein on the inside of my left arm as evidence of my former heroin addiction. I used to sell plasma, and quite a bit of it, when I was first out to purchase a home theater system. I've joked about substance abuse before, and while I struggle with my own habit forming sins and difficulties that are found in so many of my human brothers and sisters on this spinning blue marble, I've never really fought an addiction that I immersed myself in daily.

Until now.

I can't stop checking my email. I check it every after block of time spent away from the computer. I keep thinking I'll get get news from across the pond. Because of the time difference, most of my job applications come in after work hours in France. Hence, I assume that in the morning on my side HR directors and tech directors all over the Hexagon will have had an entire day to look over my resume, decide I'm awesome, and send me word. There's nothing more frustrating than applying for 4 or 5 jobs and hear NOTHING.

And yet, I go back to my email every day, after lunch, in the evening, and even sometimes early early in the morning when I wake up having to pee.

I hate this.

That's right, I'm jealous. And?

The reason I'm feeling jealous is two fold.

1.) French engineering firms (skip this if you're bored by my relentless barrage of French job hunting) seem to want their candidates to be extremely skilled. American companies ask for the degree and then decide you're bright enough to be brought on and learn your way forward given a good foundation and background. I feel under-qualified for many of these jobs. It makes me jealous of those who are qualified for these jobs.

2.) There's a couple of extremely funny kids out there. I say kids because I'm indeed younger than they and yet they are on TV and film raking in serious money while I slave away trying to implement a software Molecular Dynamics simulator that more adequately models time cycles in order to correctly monitor load balancing. It's not fair. I think I'm funny. Why aren't I getting paid big bucks?

A bit much

Lately I've been either gossiping about family or blabbing (read: whining) about France. I can't do that anymore. I think I'm boring my friends, though they have the grace not to say so. I'll find some other outlet or just plain ~gasp~ deal with it.

At any rate, I did have my HR interview with Alten. The lady was nice, but spoke extremely quick; a malady most French women suffer from. I had to ask her to repeat herself, but I guess that sounds better than answering a question she didn't ask. The questions were your normal HR questions, but it only took like 10 minutes. I'm wondering why she didn't just email them to me. I wonder if she wanted to hear my French. Oh well. You've got to chase your dreams otherwise you might end up getting your nightmares.

oscillation

Last Thursday I received an email from the company in France I'm working with that seemed rather promising. I was told by the HR director that he wanted me to figure out as much as I can about the legalities of obtaining a French work visa while he toiled away on his end toward the same goal. In the meantime, he said, the technical director would contact me for a technical interview.

I've heard nothing yet.

I know it's just a few days, but I'm still getting just as let down as I am exuberant. I hope something is figured out soon or I'll go nuts.

The French Connection

I had my interview this morning with the director of HR.

It went extremely well.

I will be contacted in the next few days by the technical director so I can be heavily quizzed on the subject of C, C++, Linux, and Embedded Systems.

Whee!

Les premières étapes

This morning my eyes about popped out of my head when Amundis (www.amundis.fr) contacted me via their head of HR. I was asked if we could select a time to conduct a preliminary interview. Of course, I said. Now I get to wait until either the phone rings or until I receive a new email stating a more planned out date and time when we can speak. It'll have to be late afternoon for them, early morning for me. Who knows-- maybe my phone will ring tomorrow morning at 2 AM. I'm really excited.

The best part is, I haven't even applied for this job. My Monster.fr account had an English resume for the longest time, and I had very little activity on it. Monster.fr lets you track how many people view your resume each day. The English version had 12 views in 2.5 weeks. The French version has had 20 in 1 week. I'd say that's progress. I suppose since my resume is available to be seen by recruiters that Amundis found me.

So now the fire's on high. I must finish my thesis work by December. There can be no delay. Late nights and hard work are going to be my two best friends.

All the same... I'm excited.